Disclaimer: Do I own them? Nope. See, my name is RACHEL, NOT Joss. None of these characters belong to me. I'm not making money off the them, blah, blah, blah. Do you really think I would put B/A thru all of this and have had Buffy sleeping with Riley? YUK! Also, don't own anything by Shakespeare…just using his stuff!
Rating: I dunno. PG-13ish I guess. A couple bad words.
Summary: SET DURING BUFFY SEASON FOUR/ANGEL SEASON 1. Buffy is playing Juliet in the college play and you'll never guess who her Romeo is (OK, maybe you will…)
Spoilers: Nothing really. Vague season 3 stuff? (OK, maybe not…)
Author's notes: <> Means thoughts. This is unbetaed or whatever. I don't have one…I don't even know what one is! ALMOST no Riley…just mentioned. IWRU Never happened either! Please excuse any mistakes.
Distribution: My site and anyone else can just tell me where it's going first please!
Feedback? < G > Does Angel look hot wearing leather pants? It's like a drug to me…and makes me write faster! (::Hint, hint:: towards the "Surprise" series)

< I can't believe this! > Buffy thought, as she raced across the campus to meet Willow and Xander. < I got the part! > For weeks, Buffy had her eye set on getting a part in the yearly play put on my the drama department of UCSunnydale. They were putting on "Romeo and Juliet." More than anything, Buffy wanted to be Juliet. She could really relate to the girl. < Hell, I have practically LIVED her life > she thought.

After two callbacks, Buffy was told that she was performing in the play as Juliet. She couldn't believe it…for once, everything was OK. College life was going okay for her. Although she longed for Angel, she had come to terms with everything and was slowly moving on.

A couple feet away, she spotted Willow and Xander chatting under a tree. "Will!" Buffy called out.

"Hey Buffy." Willow replied. The red-headed Wiccan turned to face Buffy, smiling at her. "What's up?"

Buffy only held up the script to the play. "Oh my god! Buffy! You got the part!" Willow shouted, hugging her.

"I know Will, isn't it great!"

"Way to go, Buff." Xander said, smiling at her. "Juliet huh?"

"Yeah!" Buffy smiled. The three friends began walking over to a picnic table and sat down. "This is going to be great. You're all gonna have to come. You all WILL come right? I mean, I gotta have moral support and I want you guys there, unless you really don't want to go. Oh and Giles! I'll have to tell him about this too. But what if he doesn't want to go either? What if I suck at this? What if I can't-"

"Buffy, you're babbling." Xander said, grinning at her. "Don't worry, I know you can pull this off."

"Yeah, you'll do fine Buffy." Willow agreed. "I mean, *I* couldn't do something like that. I mean, stage fright and all." Willow had forever been afraid of performing in front of real people. She remembered when that nightmare came true and shuddered. "But you'll be fine."

"Yep. I mean, you can perform in hundreds of people easy!" Xander said, snapping his fingers in the air.

"Hundreds?" Buffy asked, scrunching up her nose for a second.

"Yeah." Xander replied. "For a week or more, knowing that you could screw up the play by messing up ONE line, tripping on your dress," Buffy's face dramatically paled as Xander continued on with his list.

"Xander! Not helping me here." Buffy interrupted. "Let me bask in my glory for a second."

"So…who's the guy you're playing opposite of?" Willow asked. They all knew about the kiss scene.

"Uh, his name is Riley Finn." Buffy said. "I've seen him a couple times. Don't like him, but I guess I can deal with him."

"So Buffy, you want help memorizing your lines?" Xander asked. "We could work on the last scene."

"Xander!" Buffy grinned. "But everything else sounds like a good idea." Together, the Slayer and her Slayerettes started prepping for the play.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Several weeks later in LA, the Angel Investigations team of Cordelia, Doyle, and Angel himself, sat around a table together in awe.

"Wow…" Cordelia said. "I can't believe it."

"I know, me too." Angel said. "So Doyle, the Powers just said, 'you're human. Keep up the fight?'"

"Pretty much man. The Powers want you human. They just don't want you to stop fighting quite yet." Doyle said, staring at Angel.

Angel felt the blood pumping through his body for the first time in centuries. It was simply amazing. "So…I'm like a male version of the…" His voice died off. Even after six months, he was unable to say anything about Buffy.

"Slayer?" Doyle questioned. "Yeah."

"Buffy!" Cordelia said. "You have to go see her!"

"No." Angel said, standing up and backing away from the table. "There is no way I'm just going down to Sunnydale and returning to her. She wouldn't accept it. I can't just interrupt her life all over again."

"No, but you can just go down there WITHOUT telling her and have her bitch at you when she finds out." Cordelia said, crossing her arms. "And you know she will find out. And you KNOW she'll kick your ass once she does."

"Cordelia…" Angel began. He looked at Doyle for help. Doyle shrugged and back away.

"No! You're going down there!" She said. "You're gonna work this out with Buffy and then you two can be together again." She had the Willow-version of "resolve face." Although Angel knew he didn't have to listen to Cordelia at all, he didn't want his coworker and friend to change back to the Sunnydale bitch.

"Okay, okay." Angel said, holding up his hands in defeat. "I'll go."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The night of the play, Buffy was a wreck. She was pacing back and forth, nervously wringing her hands on a piece of cloth. < What is I screw up? What if Xander is right? What if I can't do this? What if I forget a line? > Although Buffy knew this play like the back of her hand, nervousness ran throughout her body.

When she peeked out from behind the curtain, hundreds of people were already piling into the room. Xander, Willow, and Giles said they were coming on the opening night and were going to try to see her before the play.

Taking a deep breath, Buffy turned around and began pacing more, ripping the cloth into shreds.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A room or two away from Buffy, Xander, Willow, and Giles waved their way through people to get back to their seats after talking to Buffy. "This is gonna be so cool." Willow said. "I've seen Buffy practice this. It's like she literally becomes Juliet."

"Well, think about it Will. She's lived Juliet's life just about." Giles said. "With-with Angel and everything…"

Xander and Willow nodded. Both of them knew this. "Hey…speaking of Angel…" Xander said. "What's Dead Boy doing here?" He pointed across the room to Angel.

"Angel?" Willow questioned.

The gang walked up to him. "Hey Willow, Giles." Angel greeted, smiling. "And…Xander."

Xander rolled his eyes. "Angel, how are you doing?" Giles asked politely. Long ago, Giles had forgiven Angel for his wrongdoings as Angelus. Secretly, so had Xander. Both of them knew that Angel was completely different from his demon.

"I'm good Giles, and you?" Angel asked back.

"Good. We're all good. I don't mean to be rude, but…why are you here?" Giles questioned.

"I…I was turned human." Angel stated. Beside Giles, Willow gasped. "I…I am still fighting for the Powers in LA, I just…I was hoping…is Buffy here? Cordelia told me that she was in the play, 'Romeo and Juliet.' I…I wanted to…" He lowered his eyes, unsure if what he wanted to say was all right.

"Oh wow…" Willow whispered. "You mean, you're 100% human?"

"As real as I can get." Angel said, smiling. "So…is she here?"

"She sure is." Xander replied. "She's getting ready to go on, so you'll have to watch with us. You can sit with us and after the show, go backstage and tell her."

"Thanks." Angel said. "Let me just…I kinda wanna look at her…"

"We understand." Giles said. "Come along you two. Angel, I'm hoping we can all talk later at my house?"

"Sure thing Giles." Angel said. The three of them turned around and walked away. Angel continued walking back behind the stage, searching for Buffy. All around him, people were shouting commands, things needed for a scene, and actors were practicing their lines.

"Where's Riley?!" Someone shouted. "WE CAN'T HAVE A ROMEO WITHOUT RILEY FINN HERE!" A man wearing a headset walked up to Angel. "You. Have you seen Riley?"

"No…" Angel said. "Sorry, I'm just looking for Buffy Summers?"

"Juliet? Room 3." Angel started walking back there. "Wait!" Angel turned back around. "Do you know the play Romeo and Juliet?" < It was a little before my time > Angel cracked to himself. But he slowly nodded. "By heart?" The man questioned. Once again, Angel nodded. The man grabbed Angel's shoulders and led him back to a dressing room, "Good. Welcome to Verona my friend. You have five minutes to get your butt out there."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Where is Angel?" Willow whispered to Xander.

"I don't know. I thought he was gonna be right back after seeing Buffy." Xander replied.

"Shh you two." Giles warned. "The play is getting ready to start."

Willow and Xander lowered their voices. "But don't you think this is awfully romantic? Angel coming back for Buffy as a human?" Willow said. "They can finally be together without his soul or him being a vampire or-"

"Willow…look." Xander said, pointing to the stage. They both looked closer and finally saw who Romeo was: Angel.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Buffy hadn't been watching the play carefully except when she was in a scene. The end to act one was coming up, where she would finally meet Romeo. The only thing was, she hadn't seen Riley all night long. But there hadn't been anybody saying anything, so Buffy assumed everything was okay.

When Buffy entered on the stage in act 1, scene 5, she looked to her left to meet eyes with Romeo, as the script had planned. The only thing the script HADN'T planned was that she meet eyes with Angel.

< Oh god! > Buffy thought. < What is he doing here?! Is he Romeo?! I can't do this! THIS IS OUR LIFE! > Buffy wanted to cry, but the play must go on. With ease and grace, just as though she was acting with Riley, she carried out her first scene with Romeo. The only difference with Angel was the way he looked at her and met eyes with her. As though it was just them and no one else.

Buffy and Angel ended up walking off different sides of the stage. As soon as Buffy walked off and an intermission began, she fell to her knees crying. < God, how am I going to get through this night? >

~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Oh my gosh, poor Buffy." Willow moaned, sitting down in her seat for the last act with Xander and Giles at her side. "She must be feeling horrible." They had checked in on her during intermission. She was crying and trying to not fall apart, muttering nonunderstandable words about Angel.

"Poor Buffy? What about Angel." Xander said. "I mean, I don't think he meant to meet her again like THIS."

"I agree with both of you." Giles said. "It's…a rather unfortunate turn of events. So much for Angel just wanting to get a look at Buffy."

"Oh Giles! This is the scene! The kiss scene." Willow said, her eyes wide. "How is she going to do this?" The lights dimmed and the final act in the play began.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The play was almost to an end. The last few minutes were being played out. Angel's speech before he died touched everyone out in the audience. Now it was Buffy's turn. Willow was watching the two with tears in her own eyes. The way they moved and talked to and about each other, even just their characters, was so obvious that they were in love.

Buffy started speaking her line, knowing all too well what was coming up next. She started crying, but was able to slightly control it.

Juliet: What's here? A cup, closed in my truelove's hand?
Poison, I see, hath been his timeless end.
O Churl! Drunk all, and left no friendly drop
To help me after? I will kiss thy lips.
Haply some poison yet doth hand on them
To make me die with a restorative.

Buffy leaned down. She couldn't do this. < I can't. > But she willed her mouth to meet Angel. Instantaneously, sparks shot through her body and she felt like she was in heaven. Angel lips contoured to her and for once, everything was okay. < Oh god… >

Juliet: Thy lips are warm.

And it was true. They were WARM. < What is going on here? Is he…? > Buffy/Juliet picked up the fake dagger and plunged it into her side, falling onto Angel's body. What she felt was NOT what she expected. Thump, thump, thump, thump. Warmth. A pounding in his chest. < Oh my…Angel is ALIVE. >

~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Angel and Buffy wrapped up the play. They bowed holding hands and even hugged as though nothing was between the two of them. To everyone but 5 people, this was meant to happen. To everyone in the audience, they were just two normal people who had some great onscreen chemistry.

When the play was over and everyone was changing out of their costumes, Buffy could only sit in a chair, facing a mirror, and cry her heart out. Tonight should have gone perfect. Only…her TRUE Romeo WAS Romeo. She thought she had moved on. Slowly, she was beginning to place Angel in her past and behind her. However, all those wounds had been reopened and they would never seal again. She put her head down on the table and cried.

"Buffy." Angel called out to her softly. She lifted her head and looked in the mirror. < Duh, you can't see a vampire in a… > Angel stood behind her, his perfectly sculpted body reflected in the tall mirror in front of her.

She whirled around in her seat. "Angel?" Tears fell down her cheeks.

"Oh Buffy…" He walked up to her and sat down next to her, wiping the tears off her face. "I'm so sorry. I…I didn't want to have this happen."

"I know…" She whispered softly.

"You do? Somehow I doubt that…" Angel said. "I never meant for this to happen. I didn't want to…reopen those wounds. If I just hadn't come here in the first place then…"

"Why DID you come here?" Buffy had a theory, but wanted to see what he would say.

"Buffy, I…I should probably go…" Angel started getting up.

"No Dammit! Don't you do this to me again! You don't get up and walk away from me without explaining why I hear a HEARTBEAT when I fall on you and feel WARMTH when I…when I kiss you!" Buffy said, also rising to her feet.

"You want to know? Fine! I come here tonight, to tell you that I'm human. That I have always loved you and always will. That I want to be able to kiss you again and hold you in my arms and make love to you all night and now I CAN. But when I come, I just mess everything up again and make you cry. I was just better off never coming here in the first place." Angel started walking past Buffy, determined to leave again.

"Angel!" Buffy cried out. She fell back down into her chair, crying madly again. Angel froze. He didn't turn around but made no move to get up and leave. Buffy sniffed back her tears and looked at him. "Romeo and Juliet…the story of our life." She commented.

Angel looked down at the floor. "Yeah, tell me about it."

Buffy sighed. "But Angel…" She got up and walked to him. She stood within inches of touching him. "We can make this work. Our story doesn't have to end like Romeo and Juliet's. In fact, I'd like my life to NOT end like theirs. Angel please…talk to me."

"What do you want me to say Buffy?"

"I don't know…how about 'I love you,' 'I'll never leave you again,' 'I want to be with you again,' 'I want you back,' 'I-" Angel spun around and kissed her softly at first, becoming more and more passionate.

"I love you." Angel said after a few minutes.

Buffy grinned. "Well, that's a start." She leaned forward and kissed him again. "I love you too." With one more kiss, she took a short step back, "now THIS is the way Romeo and Juliet should have ended." Angel hugged her, vowing to himself to never let go of her again.

Together, the newly reunited lovers walked outside the college auditorium, holding hands and occasionally kissing one another.

"My only love, sprung from my only hate." Buffy whispered.

"What Beloved?" Angel asked, looking down at her.

"Nothing. Just a line from the play tonight I was thinking about." Buffy said, smiling up at him. They met lips, their kiss sealed with promises of a new future together.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A glooming peace this morning with it brings
The sun for sorrow will not show his head.
Go hence, to have more talk of these sad things;
Some shall be pardoned, and some punished;
For there never was a story of more woe
Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.

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