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 of them, blah, blah, blah. Do you really think I would put B/A thru all of this and have Buffy sleeping with Riley? YUK!
Rating: I dunno. PG-13 I guess. Hey, if you watch the show you can read this!
Summary: Five years after "Wait." Angel's shanshu is finally here…
Spoilers: MAJOR spoilers for the Buffy ep, spoilers on the whole rumor of the Angel/Buffy X/over.
Authors Notes: Make SURE you read "Wait," my first story, first…otherwise this won't make ANY sense. If you don't have it, but want it, e-mail me!
Distribution: My site and if anyone else can just tell me first please!
Feedback? Does Angel look hot wearing leather pants?
Dedication: Thanks to everyone that sent me feedback! This is for you guys who requested a sequel to end this.

~*Angel*~

It happened.

I can't even believe it. One minute I'm fighting a tribe of Kardarish Demons in the sewers, and the next I'm standing in the temple of the Oracles. They told me that I had done it. When the Oracles spoke to me, they congratulated me and said that I would become human. I would live and die as a normal human being with a few vampiric traits such as strength and healing. The Oracles said they were doing this out of my love for the Slayer.

Buffy…my Slayer. This had been our dream since day one: That we could be together in every possible way. This time, I felt no shame or remorse in accepting their gift. After all, I had deserved it. When I was thrown back out of their temple, my heart was beating and my blood pounded heavily in my ears.

This was the day that I never thought would come. Along with Buffy in 2003, we had stopped the End of Days, but nothing happened. I continued fighting evil wherever it was, determined to keep my promise to Buffy about my Shanshu. She had her complete and total faith in me, and I wasn't about to let her down.

I remember two weekends ago when she came to visit me. After kissing me lightly, she remarked, "Do you feel anything weird?" Honestly, I did. There was something magical in the air. That's also what Buffy said. The only thing I could think of was: SHANSHU.

When I walked back home to the Hyperion, Cordelia, Gunn, and Wesley greeted me as normal. Over the years, we had become closer than family. Cordelia was the first one to notice that I walked through the front door. (Lucky for me, she just didn't say "with an umbrella" this time.) Along with the goofy grin on my face, my friends had guessed that my shanshu had arrived.

Throughout all the celebrating we did that night, my mind was on one thought and one thought alone: Buffy.

I was expecting her today and I had never been more nervous in my whole entire life. Hours ago, I had told Cordy, Wes, and Gunn to get out. I think they understood though, since they didn't want to see all of our "PDA" As Cordy calls it.

Now all I had to do was wait for my Beloved to arrive, but believe me, it will be worth the wait.

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

~*Buffy*~

Saturday, I was on my way up to LA. Just like any normal weekend (Well…normal in my Slayer life anyway,) I was headed to see Angel. It was hard to believe that five years had already passed since that night in the graveyard. That was the night that Angel and I reaffirmed our love and he told me about his Shanshu.

Since then, we had visited each other every weekend. I would drive up to his hotel one weekend and he'd visit me in Sunnydale the next. Along with phone calls to one another almost every day, Angel and I had become what we once used to be when I was 16- a couple. I can thank him for saving my life on more than one account. At 25, I was the oldest Slayer to live today, and the reason I was alive to this day was because of him.

Two weeks ago when I had last visited him, I had almost felt something magical in the air. It almost felt like something was going to happen soon. If my dreams were answered it would be Angel's…but I didn't want to get my hopes up. Just being with him was heaven for me.

An hour or so later I was at the front doors of the Hyperion Hotel. I can remember when I first drove up to LA from the directions that Angel gave me. I gasped when I found out Angel OWNED a hotel. It took me a while to get used to.

The people that work with Angel immediately clicked with me. OK, sure I knew Cordelia and Wesley before I went to Angel's place, but that was so long ago. Cordelia had changed so much. The Scooby Gang wouldn't even recognize her. Her maturity and bravery shone in her actions. She still got the visions, a burst of pain throughout her whole nervous system. Looked painful to me anyway. We were best of friends now, especially since Willow and Tara had moved away two years ago. Wesley now was a great friend to be with also. His strategizing helped in any mission that we worked on. The gang wouldn't recognize him either since he wasn't a stuffy Watcher like when we were in high school. Gunn also hung around Angel's place a lot. All I knew about Gunn's background was from what Angel told me. Gunn didn't speak of his past, but he was a great friend and patrolling buddy in LA.

Angel's close and tight circle made him happier when I was away, I could tell. They had all formed a special bond and were a close family. He smiled more; he laughed more, and was hardly ever alone. Sometimes Cordy would hang around late at night. Today, I'm not jealous of her being with Angel so often, although I was at first. I just knew they had a special friendship.

Even for me, the Hyperion Hotel was my home-away-from-home. Most of the Scooby Gang had left and gotten real jobs after college. Giles remained in Sunnydale. He would probably live there the rest of his life. But with my own time at college completed, I was considering moving up here anyway. I drove around to the back of the hotel and parked in the garage. Reaching into the backseat of my Jeep, I grabbed my overnight bag and climbed out, heading into Angel's hotel.

When I walked in, I saw Angel standing several feet away by the covered windows. "Hey Honey," I said, smiling and dropping my bag on the floor. I started walking towards him.

"Don't move." He replied cryptically. His face was in a daze and there was this goofy grin on his face. However, I stopped walking towards him.

"Okay…" I smile and nod. < What is he doing? > I ask myself. There's something different about him…something that I can't place. I hear silence in the rest of the hotel and am surprised that Cordelia or Gunn isn't here along with him. "Is there anything wrong Angel?" I ask. < Please say no. >

"Well…" In a flash, Angel spins around and throws open the drapes. Sunlight comes pouring into the room.

"NO!" I cry out. < What is he doing?! > But as I stare at him looking out the window, he doesn't catch on fire, and he doesn't turn to dust. "Oh God…" I whisper as I walk closer to him. THAT'S when I notice what's different. I look at his face with color in his cheeks. "You're human." I say in awe.

"I know Buffy." He replied, looking down at me. "It happened today. My shanshu. I got it after fighting this-"

I leapt into his arms, kissing him with a fiery passion that I hadn't dared tempt before. I wrapped my arms higher around his neck, pushing him closer to me. The rest of the world disappeared around us whenever I kissed him, and I reveled in the feelings that he inspired within me. I felt his hands traveling down my back and shivers raced down my spine. Angel kissed me long and hard, his lips so tender and luscious. When breathing became an issue, we pulled away, leaning our foreheads against each other.

I placed my hand over his chest, feeling a strong beat underneath it.

"Oh Angel…" I sighed. "I love you." I kissed him quickly.

"I love you Buffy." He whispered back.

We stood there several minutes in the sunlit room, hugging onto each other tightly. Whispers of love and kisses were the only things that passed between us. "So, what does this mean for us now?" I asked quietly.

"Well, I'm hoping you can move in with me…and help me keep this place going." Angel smiled. "After all, LA could use the strongest Slayer in history." I was crying now. However, for once in the Buffy and Angel timeline, these weren't tears of pain or despair. I had NEVER been happier in my entire life. "No more tears, my love." Angel whispered, wiping the drops from my face.

I leaned forward and touched his lips with mine once again. Sure we had a few other things to talk about, but right now, all I wanted was to…

With out lips never parting except for an occasional breath or moan, I jumped into his arms, wrapping my legs around his waist. Holding one hand on my hip and the other on my back, Angel began carrying me upstairs to his bedroom. Angel leaned me up against the door to his room as I held his head between my hands, returning his passionate and tantalizing kisses. "Oh God…I want you," I mumbled, before letting out a moan and sliding my tongue into his mouth.

"Buffy…" From that one word, I knew that he agreed with me.

Angel opened the door, clumsily because he was carrying me. After a few times bumping into a wall and the door, Angel gently lowered me onto the bed. He kissed my neck as I felt him slide a hand down to unzip my black pants. I opened my eyes and stared straight into his. "I love you Angel…" I whispered in his ear once more. Shivers trailed down my spine as I closed my eyes once more and kissed him over and over again.

I can say one thing: Even going for five years without this, to have the feeling of him within me and loving me as he was now, was definitely worth the wait.

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

~*Angel*~

Buffy and I lay together in the afterglow of our love making with our bodies wrapped tightly around each other. She lay in my arms on my side, just like after the first time we made love and before I turned. However, my mind couldn't help but drift. Never in my whole life had I ever felt safer than when I was wrapped around in her arms. She made me feel like I was the most loved man on earth. My hands self-consciously rubbed circles up and down her arm. It amazed me that I could touch her so intimately once again without the price being my soul.

My mind began daydreaming of what our future would now be like. I could give Buffy everything that she had ever wanted. We were together once again, and I would never have to leave her again. I wanted to do everything with her, have everything with her. I thought about the fact that we could have a real family, the "All-American Dream. < However, with Buffy and I, our life will still probably never be normal. But I'm okay with that. > I thought, kissing her forehead.

My soul had finally found home. My other half was back and I felt complete, in every way possible. There was no guilt bearing down on my soul anymore. I was at peace in Buffy's embrace.

I felt Buffy slowly start waking in my arms. She opened her eyes and looked up at me. "This is a dream…" She stated. Instantly, I remembered when she said that in the "Day that never was."

"But a good one, right?" I asked, smiling.

Her eyes lit up with such fire, shine, and sparkle. "Definitely a good one. One that I never want to end." Buffy leaned up and kissed me on the lips. I felt her fingers absentmindedly rubbing over my chest. I sighed, still dazed that this was possible.

"I love you Buffy." I said softly. I wanted to say that to her over and over again.

"I love you too Angel." She replied, softly kissing my cheek. She looked up at me with such love in her eyes that I was unable to speak.

Seeing her eyes light up like they were made my soul soar. Seeing her innocent and absolutely beautiful face, feeling her love for me, being so close to her with no restrictions this time, able to have a true future with my beloved, and EVERYTHING else was *definitely* worth the wait.

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