DISCLAIMER: I don't own them. Derh.
SYNOPSIS: Post-Chosen fluff. Buffy sends Angel a package.
FEEDBACK: Please!!

Angel sat at his desk at Wolfram & Hart, mulling over the latest dilemma his position at Wolfram and Hart had put him in. He had been there two years and it had been a constant struggle to contain the evil that the Senior Partners plotted to release. Fortunately, on this day, his problem wasn't that serious - just a shady legal case that Gunn had asked him to take a look at. He had begun to read the file again to try and determine if the case was part of some demonic scheme when Harmony barged into his office.

"Hey, you got a package!" she said brightly, placing a small box in brown paper on his desk. Angel, always suspicious, checked the box out to try and determine if it contained some evil spirit or something that he was going to be tricked into releasing. The address label was typed on a post office tag and offered no clues, but Angel's supernatural senses didn't find anything else suspicious so he opened the package. Both he and Harmony were surprised to find a box of chocolate chip cookies.

"Who would send you cookies?" Harmony asked, confused. "You're a vampire. You don't eat cookies! Wait, maybe they're special cookies for vampires. Do you think they make those?" As he had been accustomed to doing, Angel tuned her out. Instead, he opened the envelope that had also been in the package and was pleased to see familiar handwriting.

//Dear Angel,

Since I last saw you a lot has happened - too much to put in a letter. But there are just a few things that I need to tell you, that I needed to write down to clear my head and compose my thoughts in a way that wouldn't come out as an incoherent ramble.

Willow let it slip that she, Fred and Wesley had bound your soul. At first I was really pissed that you didn't feel compelled to tell me that there was no more pesky happiness clause that has been the bane of our existence for years. But knowing you, I soon realized that you probably didn't tell me because you were respecting the space I asked for. Since then, I've had a lot of space, a whole world of space in which I've traveled and learned and found out things about myself and about life.

Although we've had bad experiences with gypsies in the past, I made friends with a very wise gypsy in Tuscany who taught me two things. The first is an appreciation of fine wine. The second is that life is short. Which I already kind of knew, what with the dying twice and all. But this woman set me on a path to discovering a different way of looking at life. I've always been a believer in destiny. It was my destiny to become the Slayer, to die at the hands of the Master, to fight all the battles I've fought. I believe it was my destiny to fall in love with you. With all this destiny piled on my shoulders, I began to lose sight of myself, my own free will. I became just someone who fought because that was her fate until it was her fate to die again. I had all but given up on the belief that I could change whatever plans the Powers That Be had for me and I was just getting by until they sent me on my next mission. What the gypsy taught me was that there is fate, but it only takes you so far. The rest you have to do on your own. I couldn't just wait for happiness to be handed to me on a silver platter or just think that it's my destiny to never be happy if that doesn't happen. I had to find ways to make myself happy. I couldn't just wait for the experiences that would help me figure myself out. I had to seek them out. And that's what I've been doing these past two years.

Recently I've been thinking a lot about the last time we saw each other. I hope you remember it too - otherwise my gift won't make sense.//

Angel did remember that night well, just as he remember every moment he had spent with Buffy. He remembered what a relief it was to see her after everything he had been through with Jasmine and Connor. As long as he knew she was still out there, strong and fighting, he could rest easier. He remembered what it was like to kiss her after so long; her lips to him were like water to a man dying of thirst. He remembered sitting on the bench listening to her rambling about cookies and somedays. He remembered the spark of hope she ignited in him when she told him that sometimes she thought about the future and the smile in her eyes when he assured her that he would always wait for her.

//Anyway, I gave you some lines about how I couldn't have a relationship until I was done figuring out who I was. But now I realize that it's an on-going process so I'll never be done. And I think that maybe one becomes a cookie not by waiting for a day that will never come, but by finding a way to live your life that makes you happy while you go through this process.

I don't know if all this makes sense to you. I'm hoping it does because you're 250 years old and very smart. But if it doesn't I'll try to explain it better in person. I've got to tie up a few things but I plan to be in L.A. by the end of the month.

Until then, I've enclosed a little something to tide you over.

Love,
Buffy//

"Angel, what does it say?" Harmony's shrill question cut through his daze. Her boss's big grin was unnerving.

"It's nothing," he told her, although the fact that he couldn't stop smiling said otherwise. "Go back to work."

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

Two weeks later, Angel collapsed onto the couch in his office, utterly exhausted. A rash of demon activity had broken out keeping him constantly busy over the past few days, leaving him no time to do anything but fight, feed, and maybe grab a few hours of sleep if he was lucky. A knock on the door roused him from the beginnings of his nap and he prayed it wasn't Wesley with news of another attack.

"Come in," he called, too tired to get up and open the door himself. But when he saw who entered his office, he was suddenly re-energized. A huge smile broke out on his face matching the one of the little blonde Slayer standing in front of him.

"Hi."

"Hi."

Authors Note: Hope you guys enjoyed this drabble (if you did, let me know!) I am continuing to write The Girl Downstairs and probably will post again soon, but my muse on the story abandoned me for awhile and was replaced by a fanart muse. So if you care to, you can check those out at http://monkeygreen.tripod.com and send me feedback on those as well :)

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