Synopsis: Buffy was an unpopular ice skater in highschool. Angel is a popular student assigned to bring her her homework. Stuff happens.
Author's Notes: Tell Me if you like this fic. Its very different. I need the feedback guys.
Email: nickypoo2004@yahoo.com
Disclaimer: Don't own anything.
Website: www.geocities.com/nickypoo2004/waitingforyou.html

Prologue

"Look it’s Fluffy Summers! Come here Fluffy. Come here." The kids taunted as they Buffy shyly walked through the hall at school. The patted their legs and talked in excited baby like voices, like the way you would talk to a dog. She frowned. She hated being so unpopular. But there was really nothing she could do about it, so she shrugged and continued to walk down the hall. Ignoring the mocking voices of the other kids.

Buffy grinned at Tyson, her skating partner. They had just won another skating trophy. But tonight the win felt better, more adequate. Buffy looked over her shoulder to stare at Tyson who was hanging out the car window hooting and hollering. She laughed and pulled him back into his seat.

"Be careful. We can’t have you getting hurt, because with out you, I couldn’t skate half as well." Tyson sobered up, and started to put his seatbelt on. Buffy loudly screamed.

"Hey Buff." Xander put his arm around her and led her to the lunch table where Willow was waiting for them.

"Hey Xander." She sat down next to Willow who passed Buffy a chocolate cookie. Willow looked into Buffy’s eyes and noticed they were a tad moist. She gently touched her hand.

"Forget about them. You don’t need everyone in the school to like you. Especially when you have real friends who care about you, like me and Xander." Buffy nodded her head in agreement.

"Yeah. Forget them." Buffy agreed.

"Plus, I am sexier and better looking than any of the popular guys at this stupid school." Buffy and Willow gave Xander the ‘yeah right look’.

"You keep saying that to yourself Xander. You just keep saying that to yourself."

"Hey!." He said with mock hurt.

Tyson looked forward to see what Buffy was staring at, but he was blinded by head lights that were heading strait toward them. Buffy’s hands trembled as she attempted to steer the car to a safe place, but the truck heading toward them was relentless, and going at a very high speed.

The truck hit Buffy’s car with a loud smack and the momentum sent Tyson flying through the windshield. Buffy screamed again and covered her face. The car flipped over and everything went black.

Chapter 1

Angel rested his chin on the palm of his hand. History class was dragging on like no tomorrow, and he certainly had better things to do than listen to how the founding fathers traded fur with the Indians. Real intriguing stuff. His eyes drooped. The teacher droned on and Angel began to nod off. The door to the classroom burst open. Angel’s eyes snapped awake, and he watched as an office attendant handed the teacher a note.

He hoped it was for him. so he could get out of class and go home. "Angel," The teacher called out. He quickly walked to the front of the classroom. "You are wanted in the principal’s office." Angel frowned. He hadn’t done anything wrong, and was curious as to why he would have to go to the principal’s office. He shrugged his shoulders, took the hall pass and headed towards the office.

Angel knocked on the principal’s door and heard a voice solemnly call out ‘come in’. He opened the door and entered the small office that was adorned with a desk and shelves. "Sit down Mr. O’Connor." Principal Golding offered with the wave of his small olive colored hand. Angel sat down.

"Whatever it is you think I did Mr. Golding, I swear I didn’t do it this time." The principal half smiled.

"That is not what this is about Mr. O’Connor. I am sure you are acquainted with Buffy Summers. Her mother told me that you live next door to each other. Anyways, Ms. Summers has had an unfortunate accident and wont be a school for a long while. Her mother was hoping that you could deliver Buffy’s homework to her and possible help her catch up with any work she might not understand." Angel was confused. Yeah, he had lived next to Buffy Summers his entire life. But they had never been friends. She was Fluffy Summers, the kid who all the others mocked. And he was revered at this school. Angel didn’t even think that in all the years that he had lived next to Buffy that he had even been on her front porch.

"What if I say no? What if I don’t want to do this?" The principal gently folded his hands on his desk and leaned forward in his creaky chair and spoke softly, threateningly.

"Then your mother will just have to be alerted about the glue incident that involved Susan Baker, wont she?" Angel frowned. This was blackmail, and he didn’t have enough playing cards in his hand. He conceded.

"Fine. I’ll do it." Mr. Golding gently smiled.

"I knew you’d come around. "

Chapter 2

Buffy looked up at her mother with teary eyes. "I can’t skate anymore can I mom?" Joyce brushed a blonde lock away from her daughter’s bruised face. She shook her head.

"No honey. I don’t think so. But a lot can happen between now and your recovery." Buffy began to sob. Her shoulders shook and she cupped her face in her delicate hands. "Please Buffy don’t cry. You have so much on your plate now. Just take it one day at a time." Buffy gave her mother a frustrated teary stare.

"Like more than one day at a time is an option! If I can’t skate what am I going to do. It’s all I ever wanted to do! I love it, and now I can’t even do it. Tyson is dead! Why is this all happening? Why? Can you tell me?" A tear rolled down her cheek and she angrily wiped it away. Her mother sat next to Buffy on her bed.

"I don’t know why this is happening. But I do know that everything happens for a reason. A defined purpose that maybe we can’t see now. But in time things will reveal themselves and maybe we’ll know why you can’t skate. Or why Tyson is dead and buried in the cemetery two streets over. But for now we just have to trust that this happened to you for the best. Okay?"

Buffy looked out the window.

"That was real comforting." She sarcastically said. Her mother patted her knee and kiss her forehead.

"I’m going to go make you some lunch. Angel O’Connor is coming over tod ay to drop off your homework." Buffy sighed. Great. Angel O’Connor was coming to her house. Maybe he would tell her how big a loser he thought she was right to her face. She dug herself deeper underneath the covers and winced at the pain she felt in her back. All she had ever wanted to do was skate. Ever since she was little and she saw the Olympics for the first time. Some how the grace of floating over the ice and swirling in its cool vastness made her feel freer than any place on the planet. Now, that dream was over. She closed her eyes and let the comforting blackness wash over her body. She was exhausted.

"Buffy honey, it doesn’t matter to me if you win this trophy. I just care that you do your best and take pride in your performance." Buffy gave her mother a look.

"But you want me to win the championship too, right?" She nudged her mother. Joyce nonchalantly grinned.

"I never said that."

"But you were thinkin it." Joyce laughed.

"Okay you caught me! I want that trophy. But no pressure or anything." Buffy shook her head.

"Mom, its okay to expect things out of me. I wont like freak out or anything." Joyce hugged Buffy.

"I know honey. I know. Okay, enough with the mushy feelings. Are you going to skate or what?" Buffy jumped to her feet.

"Of course. And I am going to win even though there is no pressure to." Buffy glanced at her mother before laughing. "Bye mom. See you after Tyson and I skate." Then she disappeared into the locker room, leaving her mother beaming with pride in the stands.

Buffy heard a knock and her eyes slowly fluttered open. "Honey, Angel is here. Do you want me to send him up." Buffy sat up in her bed and quickly fixed her matted hair and straightened her clothes.

"Yeah mom, send him in." Angel tentatively stepped into the room. Buffy told him to sit in the chair next to her bed. Angel stared at Buffy. She was strikingly beautiful despite all the bruises that adorned her face. She weakly smiled at him. "Hi Angel."

"Um, I went to get your history homework, but you didn’t have any. Math homework is pretty simple. It’s just quadratic equations." Buffy groaned.

"Easy for you maybe. Math is like Greek to me." Angel grinned.

"I can help you with that. You also have to write a short essay on The Inferno by Dante Alighieri and how that book applied to faith and intellect. Don’t ask me how to do that. Sounds confusing."

"Yeah, my teacher thinks he’s all smart, but really he’s just annoying. He does this thing with his hands when he talks and you can just tell he thinks he’s the smartest guy ever. Ugh, he’s the worst." Angel laughed.

"You also have some chemistry homework that I don’t completely understand . But I can try to explain it to you." Buffy nodded.

"You think since I’m all hurt and stuff they would give me pity homework like drawing stick figures or something. I could be really good at that."

"Can I ask what happened to you." Buffy’s face darkened. "I mean you don’t have to if you don’t want to." Buffy shook her head.

"No its okay. Knowing my mother she’ll probably try to get me to go to therapy and I’ll end up telling the therapist I never felt loved as a child. So I’ll tell you what happened for practice." Angel scooted his chair closer to her bed and Buffy sat up some more wincing when pain was induced due to her movements.

"I was coming back from an ice skating tournament. Me and my partner Tyson had just won for the paired division and I was driving back home. Tyson was really happy and was hanging out the window shouting about something stupid. I pulled him back inside the car and we were laughing. Then I saw these lights. These harsh awful lights that were so blinding. I screamed and for a split second I let go of the wheel." She brushed her hair back behind her ear.

"I didn’t mean to but I panicked. Then I tried to steer the car out of the way but the truck was going too fast, and too strong. I could hear Tyson screaming so loud so scared in my ear and I knew that we probably weren’t going to make it." Her voice became husky and labored. "The truck hit us with a loud crashing smack and Tyson was thrown threw the windshield. It was horrible. I let go of the wheel and the car flipped to its side. And when I woke up I was in the hospital and my mother told me I couldn’t skate ever again today." She wiped away tears that had began to run down her cheeks .

"I’m sorry." Angel awkwardly offered. Buffy looked at him with her watery green eyes and smiled.

"It’s okay." She slowly mouthed. Her eyes watering lightly before she looked up at Angel and grinned. I just have to find other things I’m good at. Like math." He softly smiled at her, wanting for some reason to touch her face. But he was afraid that he might hurt her delicate features.

"Back to math. What is that you are having trouble with?"

Chapter 3

Angel descended down the stairs that led to Buffy’s front door. He gazed at blue ribbon after blue ribbon that hung on the walls of Buffy’s house. She had been an excellent skater he could tell. Tables were laced with trophy after trophy. His warm chocolate eyes widened in surprise. He heard voices coming from the living room. He slowly hung to the walls and scampered towards the living room.

Joyce was watching a home video. It was Buffy and some boy skating gracefully to some classical song. Angel watched intently was Buffy spun with dizzy speed. She looked beautiful in her costume and for a split second Angel wished he could have witnessed Buffy in all her skating glory. He heard Joyce sob as they announced Buffy’s score on the video. She had gotten a remarkably good rating and Angel felt sorry for Buffy who had told him that she probably would never skate again.

Joyce turned around. "Wasn’t she beautiful Angel? Look how beautiful she was?" Angel nodded, entranced by Buffy’s grinning face on the tv screen.

"Yes. Beautiful." Buffy was different than he thought. At school she was this dork that everyone made fun of. But now she was this girl who had experienced so much, and yet still seemed so innocent. So untouched by the world. He wanted to know more about her. He wanted to know everything.

Joyce turned back to the tv and watched as Buffy hugged her skating partner. She began to cry harder. Angel backed away until he reached the door and left.

Buffy watched as Angel sauntered down the street. He was nicer than she expected. Quieter, and so much more gentle. She smiled. He wasn’t too bad in the looks department either. She giggled despite herself. Maybe things weren’t so bad after all.

Chapter 4

Angel shifted early in his seat. Art class, the last class of the day. He couldn’t wait to bring Buffy her homework. He had begun to really like the time he and Buffy got to spend together. She was so easy to talk to. So nice...so pretty. "Did you hear what happened to Buffy Summers?" Angel heard the faint murmurs of the students next to him.

"No what happened to Fluffy Summers." The other laughed heartily before repeating the events of Buffy’s accident. "Wow. Fluffy is going to be a roller dog now. We can get her a skateboard and she can scoot to us when we call her." Angel visibly tensed and clenched his teeth. The two were still giggling about the insult that had just been spoken. He didn’t understand why everyone hated Buffy. The Buffy he knew was sweet and perfect and beautiful. He kept coming back to that and he slightly smiled to himself.

**************************

Cordelia jealously glared at Buffy Summers talking animatedly to Ethan Smith, the guy she had been pining over for months. It seemed every time Cordelia finally got a man, Fluffy was there quick and fast to steal him away. Cordelia silently laughed at her name for Buffy. Her own cleverness astounded even her. She devilishly leered. She was going to take Buffy Summers down if it was the last thing she did.

*************************************

Angel was hurriedly making his way to Buffy’s house when he heard a loud, obnoxious female voice call his name. He reluctantly turned around, his deep frown showing on the etchings of his face. Cordelia and her perfect deep brown hair were staring intently at him. He groaned in protest. "What Cordelia? I really have to get going." His disdain for her was obvious even to a drunken cow peeing on a flat rock.

She smiled energetically at him. "Sucks that you have to bring that Buffy Summers her homework. She’s such a loser." She emphatically said. He hatefully glared at her.

"Actually, she’s pretty cool. She’s a really good ice skater...well she used to be." He softly smiled at the thought of hearing her musical voice as he entered her spacious room. Cordelia huffily snapped her fingers in front of his face.

"Front and center mister! Are you telling me that you actually like Buffy Summers...as a friend?" Her voice was full of righteous anger. Angel smirked at the thought of pissing her off.

"Maybe I like her more than a friend." He teasingly implied. Her bottom jaw dropped open.

"You wouldn’t?" She hissed. He put his hand to his chin in a thoughtful sort of way.

"You know what? I totally would." Then he turned around and sprinted the rest of the way to Buffy’s house leaving Cordelia seething.

Chapter 5

Buffy slowly munched on her cheese sandwich in distaste. It was three fifteen and Angel would be here with her homework soon. Her doctor told her that she had injured her spine and that stress to the spine could end up in more severe injury. She sighed. She longed to stand on her own two feet and twirl on the hard ice. She missed the smell. The smell of ice during practice. Then the memories came. Skating with Tyson and winning tournaments. A tear made a distinct path in the archives of her pink cheeks as she thought of dreams no longer possible.

She looked up as she heard a knock on the door. Her golden blonde hair falling out of her face as she moved. "Come in." She called out. Angel came in and threw her a half smile that would have made her weak in the knees had she been standing. "Hi Angel." She joyfully greeted him as she sat up. He sat down next to her in his designated spot and began talking Science and History.

Her eyes wandered out the window and into the deep recesses of her mind. Her eyes gently closed and she floated to a different time.

**********************************

"Cordelia, why are you doing this to me?" Cordelia frowned at Buffy as if making a decision in her head. Buffy shifted impatiently. Cordelia gave Buffy a hard slap on the back.

"Remember Buff, you did this to me. You always had to one me up. You always had to make me second best, but the tables have been turned Buffy." Cordelia absent mindedly mocked Buffy’s name. Buffy’s pink lip slightly trembled as she listened to the rest of Cordelia’s relentless harassment. "You are going to be second best around here now. It’s going to be Hell for you, and I will make it my personal mission to make sure that it is." Buffy looked into Cordelia’s cold orbs in confusion.

"Why? We used to be best friends. I never thought it would come to this." Cordelia haughtily laughed.

"You’re so cute Buffy. So innocent, so naive. But, I’m hip to your game. You just pretend so you can make everyone look like a fool, and so you can look perfect with your little blonde perfection." Buffy slightly whimpered.

"I’m sorry." Cordelia rolled her eyes.

"It’s too late for that now Fluffy." Cordelia said as she flipped her hair at Buffy and rudely walked away.

************************************

"Buffy? Buffy?" Angel worriedly called her name. He shook her and she look up at him with watery eyes.

"Do you think I’m horrible? Do you think that I just put on an act to run people around?" Angel shook his head.

"Never. Why would you think that? You are perfect, and beautiful. The nicest person I know." Buffy happily grinned.

"Really?" Angel half nodded as he leaned forward to gently touch his lips to hers, and for the first time in a long time. She closed her eyes and rested her head against his chest.

Chapter 6

**************

Buffy had always loved to skate. It was something that she had had a passion for ever since she could remember. But now it was a determination. Something she needed to do to prove to the world she wasn’t the failure everyone perceived her to be.

She put a determined look on her face as she skated it out onto the ice. This was her new home, the place where nobody could touch her. Not even Cordelia Chase, who had certainly succeeded in making her life a living Hell as she said she would. She was free here, she always would be.

**************

Buffy and Angel diligently watched the tv in front of them. Angel watch Buffy who’s eyes were a light of passion and remembrance. They were watching an ice skating benefit on television and Angel could see how much Buffy wanted to skate again. She was okay to walk now that her spine had healed considerably. Angel wondered if she really couldn’t ever skate again.

Buffy eagerly gripped his hand as she watched the figures float across the glowing screen. "Look at them. They look so happy." She wistfully smiled. Her legs ached to skate across the cool ice. "Look at her double axle, she was so wobbly and her landing sucked." Angel chuckled as she critiqued the skaters that danced across the ice.

"And you could do so much better?"

"Pusha!" She jokingly said. "Of course. My dead grandmother could do better than this." He raised a brow.

"Oh really." She happily smiled, her lips spreading across her face.

"Of course. Even you could do better than her." Angel leaned closer to her.

"Show me." Her face visibly darkened.

"I can’t. Not anymore. Not ever again." Angel sat back in his chair.

"Why not? Because some doctor with a degree told you that it could be a risk? Life is a risk!" Buffy bit her lip and turned her head away from Angel ’s scrutinizing gaze.

"No! That’s not the reason." Her voice became thick.

"Why?" Angel’s voice softened as he touched her smooth fingers.

"Because. Because I’m scared that without Tyson I might not be able to skate as well. Or maybe at all." Angel pulled her closer to him.

"Listen to me Buffy. You have me, and with me you will always have something to count on." She shook her head in disbelief.

"How do I know that? How do I know you will actually stay forever? Huh?" He r voice rose as she became more frustrated. Angel became silent as he looked down to his feet. His head suddenly rose as he stared intently into her green eyes.

"Because I love you." She was taken aback. She didn’t expect this. But most of all she didn’t expect to feel the same way. He lifted her chin to see what she was thinking. "Do you love me?" Angel asked, his voice sounding almost scared.

"I do...but I’m afraid to." She softly answered. Angel brushed her golden blonde tresses out of her face.

"Why?"

"Because, I could get hurt. I don’t know if I could lose you and still be okay. Loving you keeps me vulnerable." Angel smiled at her innocence.

"Don’t worry Buffy. I’ll be here. Always." She kissed his cheek before resting her tired head to his chest. She could hear his steady breathing and it slowly made her fall asleep.

Chapter 7

Xander and Willow knocked on Buffy’s door. They hadn’t seen her at school in awhile, and begun to miss her like crazy. It occurred to Willow and Xander that they had never been to their friends house. Angel opened the door and Willow brightly smiled at him.

"Angel, what are you doing here?" Angel let them and showed them to living room where Buffy was watching SpongeBob Squarepants.

"Just doing the usual. Hanging out with Buffy." Buffy laughed.

"And eating all my food." Angel took his hand in his and sat next to her on the couch. They laughed as the yellow, talking sponge sang the FUN song. Willow and Xander gave each a look.

"Seems like you two are pretty friendly." Xander commented as he sat in a c hair across from them. Willow joined him.

"Yeah, we are." Buffy said as she turned her head back to the screen and laughed as Patrick the starfish said another stupid pun. Angel grinned and put his arm around her.

"Right. Anyways, Buffy we saw all your metals, we didn’t know you ice skated." Buffy sighed.

"Oh yeah. That. I forgot to tell you." She sheepishly smiled.

"Sure you did." Willow jokingly chastised. "Did you think that we would think that you were a dork? Because we pretty much already did, that’s why you hung out with us." Buffy giggled.

"Thanks for the encouragement guys." Buffy sarcastically quipped.

"So you guys a couple now?" Xander called from the kitchen as he put some popcorn in the microwave." Buffy groaned. If she kept having Angel and Xander over, they would eat her out of house and home.

"That’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you about..."

Chapter 9

As soon as Buffy and Angel walked into school they were instantly met with disapproving looks. Taunting whispers followed through out the narrow halls of the school. Buffy stared blankly back at everyone. Looking through them. Angel shifted uncomfortably on Buffy’s arm. It was weird being stared at. Not liked. Something he would have to get used to.

"Are you okay?" Angel bent his head to look into Buffy’s green eyes.

"Sure."

"You look like you are gonna hurl." Angel shook his head.

"I’m not. I just feel a little shaky." Buffy stopped walking.

"It’s my fault isn’t it. You were all cool before and now you’re not." Angel sighed and rolled his eyes.

"It’s not that!" He could see Cordelia glaring at him from the other side of the hall.

"Then what is it?" Buffy argued as she got into his face. He backed away from her.

"I don’t know what the hell you are talking about Buffy! I mean one minute we are walking down the hallway, and then the next minute we are arguing about who knows what!" Cordelia leered in the background. This was all too perfect. Exactly like she had planned. Soon poor little Angel would end up in her arms broken hearted and weak. Just like she liked him.

People in the hallway had begun to stare at the fight that was going on between them. "Don’t talk to me like that! You’re being a jackass!" Angel growled.

"Buffy you need to hold your tongue or something because I don’t know what the hell you are talkin about!" Buffy stared up at him with two furious e yes.

"You just leave me alone Angel O’Connor!" She turned on her heel and ran away, but not before she tripped on the ground. Her cries of agony hit Angel’s turned back. He swung his body in her direction to see her fallen form on the ground. She was crying.

"Oh my God! Buffy are you okay?" She sobbed harder.

"I’m an idiot. A complete idiot. I knew I shouldn’t have been rushing, and I did anyway." Buffy lay flat on her back.

"Can you stand?" He asked.

"I don’t think so."

Chapter 10

"It looks like you gave us a scare." Dr. Fienstien mused as he helped Buffy to her feet.

"So I can walk?" She asked.

"You’re standing just fine." Buffy hesitated.

"But you said further injury to the spine could result in complete paralyzation." The doctor nodded.

"I know what I said. But fortunately, you didn’t land on your spine. You took most of the force from your landing in your hands." He simulated falling down. He pushed his hands out in front of him and landed on the ground rolling on his back. Buffy grinned. She might be able to skate after all.

"So, I still might be able to skate!" Her voice was excited and high pitched. Dr. Fienstien’s face darkened.

"No Buffy. You can’t skate. I told you the risk is too great!" Buffy glanced at the doctor.

"You don’t understand Dr. Fienstien! Skating is my life. Next to my mother, and A-" She stopped when she was about to say Angel’s name. She had told him to stay away from her. She missed him so much. "Let’s just say that it was an important part of my life, and I want to get back into it, no matter the risks involved." She remembered Angel telling her that she could skate even without Tyson’s help. She wanted to do that for him.

"I don’t know Buffy. I strongly recommend that you don’t!" Buffy gave Dr. Fienstien a saddened look.

"I’m sorry, but I have no choice." She walked out of the room as Dr. Fienstien’s protesting voice echoed down the hall.

Chapter 11

Cordelia hung eagerly on Angel’s shoulder. He felt gross. Like this wasn’t right. "Let’s go somewhere more private." She seductively whispered in his ear. Angel shuddered. He wanted this to be Buffy hanging off his arm. Buffy whispering softly in his ear. He wanted her so badly. He didn’t understand why she had pushed him away.

Buffy walked along side curb. She saw Cordelia softly talking into Angel’ s ear, and the comfy way they looked together. Her heart wanted to break in half. She was too late. She had pushed him too far. And suddenly the words ‘I’ll be here. Always,’ sounded like such a like. She had come here to apologize, to tell Angel how sorry she was for telling him all those things, and here he was with Cordelia. A tear ran down her eye as she murmured his name.

Angel looked up in surprise as he heard Buffy calling out his name. ‘Angel," She had said. Just like that. Broken hearted and in a trembling voice. And then Angel realized why. Cordelia was softly kissing the skin on his neck and he hadn’t even noticed. Cordelia smirked at Buffy.

"Come to collect your dues Fluffy?" Cordelia berated. Buffy’s lips began to shake.

"What are you two doing together?" Angel didn’t know why he didn’t protest. He didn’t understand why he didn’t call out her name and tell her it was all a misunderstanding. He kept silent.

"What does it look like Buffy? Come on. You can’t be that naive!" Cordelia stroked Angel’s shoulder and he looked a little irritated. It gave Buffy a glimpse of hope.

"You two aren’t...together?" She could barely utter the words without wan ting to choke on them.

"Poor little Fluffy lost her way. She thought she had made it big with Angel O’Connor." Buffy sobbed. Angel’s heart wrenched, but he was so mad at her.

"Angel why are you doing this to me?" She blinked and more tears ran down her face.

"What? You actually thought he loved you? You were meaningless to him. Nothing but a good fuck!" Buffy winced at the words. She had never even slept with him. She turned away, her shoulder slumped and walked home. Angel stood up and pushed Cordelia away.

"Cordelia if you ever speak to me again, I swear you will make me do something I regret." Cordelia smacked him and walked away. Angel sat back down and frowned at what he had just done to the love of his life.

Chapter 12

Buffy was beginning to tremble. ‘Oh God. I thought I could do this, but I can’t!’ She stood by the cool ice as her mother waved her on from the stands. She couldn’t believe she was about to do this again. Ice skate for the first time since her injury. Funny, Angel was the one who wanted her to get back into skating and he would even be there to see her. Her heart ached for him, but he was no longer hers.

*****************

Angel rested his head on his palm. This was not the way he thought things would turn out. He was in love with Buffy, right? This feeling in the pit of his stomach couldn’t be fake. The phone rang. He ran to it, hoping that it would by some chance be Buffy calling to berate him for letting Cordelia kiss him. He answered. "Buffy?" A chuckle.

"You wish. No, this is Xander. I ‘ve got something to tell you. Although I want to kill you for what you did to Buffy, I know she wants you more than anything else. So, I will tell you that she went to the ice skating tournament that she was scheduled to go to before Tyson, I guess he was her skating partner, died. She needs you Angel." Angel’s heart began to pound.

"No, she doesn’t. I was so mean to her. Unforgivably horrible." He stayed silent. Xander groaned.

"I’m not going to talk you into going over there Angel. She needs you, and she’s nervous as hell. Just do it. Please." Xander’s voice began to sound a tad desperate as he pleaded with Angel into going to Buffy’s tournament.

"She needs me?" Xander laughed.

"That’s questionable to me."

*****************

Buffy breathed harder. This was scary as hell. She had done terribly in the practice and she knew that she would. She was nothing without Tyson and Angel...wait, she had to forget about him. He was with Cordelia now. That sounded so foreign inside her head. Angel was hers, and she couldn’t picture it any other way. Then the images came. The images of Cordelia softly kissing Angel’s neck. Buffy closed her eyes and hoped that the blissful black ness would calm her spirits.

She felt a soft tapping on her shoulder. Her heart raced as she turned around at the familiar touch. She turned around to see Angel staring eagerly into her eyes.

"Buffy." He softly said.

She winced at the sound of her name. Why was he here? Did he want her, or was he here to mock her? "What do you want?" She finally spoke.

"I want you back. I want to say sorry for what I did. But you hurt me too. You told me to leave you alone, what was I supposed to think? I mean, when I was with Cordelia I was just confused and hurt. I didn’t mean any of it. But, then I realized why you were pushing me away. You were scared. Just scared, and I was too stupid to see it. I’m sorry." Buffy closed her eyes and turned her head. Angel took that as a sign of rejection and hung his head in defeat.

She finally spoke, breaking the awkward silence she had created. "You apologize."

"What?" He questioned as he looked up.

"Someone once told me that only sorry people say their sorry. So you apologize." He half smiled at her attempted joke.

"I apologize." He corrected. She smiled and ran to him, throwing her arms around his neck. He hugged her tightly to himself.

"I apologize too." She whispered into his ear. He kissed her cheek.

"Now get out there and skate like you’ve never skated before." He put her back down on her skates and she smiled proudly at her.

"Thank you." She happily called out to him as she skated out onto the ice.

"For what?" He asked.

"For loving me. For helping me live again."

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