EMAIL ADDRESS: annaleise21@yahoo.com
DISTRIBUTION: Want it, just ask.
RATING: R Just to be on the safe side.
SUMMARY: Someone from Willows past returns. < > Indicates Willow’s thoughts, * * Indicates Angel’s thought
DISCLAIMER: Characters of Angel and/or Buffy are not mine. I have no money so please don’t sue.
FEEDBACK: I am new at this so please don’t hurt me too much.
DEDICATIONS: To ~Susi~ for all of her help and for giving me a chance.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
It had been 3 years since she had left Sunnydale. 3 years since she left her broken heart in the hands of Angel and Buffy. She hadn’t had any contact with the gang in all that time, except Giles. She would call him every month or so just to tell him she was alive. No one knew where she was even Giles.
She looked at the clock on the wall above her computer.
<Finally, I can go home. >
She walked to her apartment 3 blocks down from where she was working at a computer software company.
She shared an apartment with here friend Mark who worked with her. They were really close, both of them had been hurt by someone they loved. Mark had even begun dating Katie, a fellow witch in her coven. When she opened the door, she noticed that Mark’s keys were lying on the table by the door. She heard 2 voices she knew. 2 voices she recognized. Walking towards the kitchen she was hoping beyond hope that the other voice didn’t belong to who she thought it did. She turned the corner and her heart dropped.
Leaning on her counter was Angel. The man that had broke her heart years ago.
She walked into the kitchen and Mark was the first one to see her.
"Hey what are you doing home so early?" Mark asked.
Angel turned towards the newcomer and his mouth dropped open.
"What in the hell are you doing here?" Willow asked angrily.
"Willow." Was the only thing Angel could reply.
Mark looked back and forth between Willow and Angel.
"Well I guess you two know each other." Mark asked.
"I use to know him, you didn’t answer me Angel. What are you doing here?" Willow said not taking her eyes off of Angel. <He looks the same. Black clothes. He still had that brooding aura around him. > That pain from years ago came rushing back to her.
"Actually he saved me from a vampire tonight." Mark said. He was new at this vampire thing, having only learned about them a few months ago. Mark was walking with Willow from work when they were attacked.
Willow killed the vamp and then explained to Mark what really went bump in the night.
"Oh God. Let me see." Willow rushed over to Mark to examine the wounds.
"It’s ok. I’m fine. I hate to ask you but I have a meeting in the morning could you…"Mark asked.
"No problem" Willow laid her hand over the bite mark and mumbled a healing spell.
Meanwhile Angel just stared at Willow and Mark’s casual banter. He felt jealous, obviously they were really close.
"Thanks Will. Now, how do you know Angel?" Mark asked already knowing the answer. He was the one she ran from, the one who had hurt her those years ago.
"I knew him. He’s from Sunnydale Mark." Willow said not yet looking at Angel.
"And that’s it, that’s all you are going to tell me." Mark asked
"For now. Come on Mark, go to bed and rest." Willow said.
"Okay." He wasn’t going to argue his head was splitting open. He stood and retreated to his room to lay down.
Willow watched as Mark went to his bedroom. She heard the door close and closed her eyes. She would have no choice but to talk to him now. She took a deep breath and turned around. Angel was staring at her, a confused look on his face.
"Thank you for saving Mark, you can show yourself to the door." She said walking towards her own bedroom.
"Wait Willow." He pleaded with her. Willow stopped but didn’t turn around.
"Can we please talk." Slowly she turned to face him.
"What could we possibly have to talk about?" She asked. She was trying to keep her emotions in control. But finally standing in front of him she was losing ground fast. All she wanted to do was through her arms around him and ask him to take her back and never leave her. The images of Angel and Buffy kissing flashed through her mind. Tears came to her eyes but she quickly pushed them back.
<He is not going to see me cry>
Angel wondered why Willow was acting like this. He needed to find out why she just left. He was getting angry.
*She just left me. No letter, no thought to how I would feel*
"Oh, I don’t know, how about why you left me. No reason, no goodbye. Why Willow? Do you have any idea how much I worried. How long I have been looking for you. Not knowing if you were okay or even if you were alive." Angel shouted
"Awww. I didn’t know you cared." Willow said sarcastically. She knew she was being harsh but she couldn’t help it. The pain was still there.
"What in the hell happen to you. Are you trying to hurt me." Angel said softly
Anger flashed in her eyes.
"Don’t you dare pin this on me. I’m not the one who hurt you. I did nothing wrong. You hurt me, not the other way around." Willow yelled.
Angel watched as Willow’s eyes filled with tears. She quickly turned away.
"I saw you Angel." She whispered softly if it wasn’t for his enhanced hearing, would have missed it.
"What Willow, what did you see" Angel asked
She turned to him not caring anymore that her pale face was streaked with tears.
"I saw you and Buffy kissing. 3 years ago. I went over to see you and I walked in on you and Buffy kissing."
*Oh, God, please no* Angel closed his eyes. *No wonder she left*
"How could you do that to me Angel?" Willow sobbed
"God, Will. I am sorry you saw that but you have to listen to me. Let me explain." Angel begged
"No! I don’t want to see you or hear you or even think of you again. Leave." She yelled
"I am not going until you listen to me. You have to hear me out." Angel pleaded with her.
"I just said no damn it. And I sure as hell don’t have to listen to you trying to lie your way out of it." She said angrily.
"I am not going." Angel said stubbornly
"Fine, I’ll leave then." Willow began walking towards the door. But Angel was too fast for her. He grabbed her arm as gently as he could.
"Please don’t. Let me explain what you saw."
Mark had heard the yelling in his room and decided to make sure everything was okay.
"Willow, everything okay?" He asked
"Yes Mark, Angel was just leaving, Wasn’t you Angel?"
"No. Actually I wasn’t." Angel countered. He needed to talk to her, to make her understand.
"Wills, maybe you should talk to him." Mark commented
Willow was just so tired of the drama. Even if she didn’t like his explanation, she needed closure.
"Fine. But not tonight. I have some business to attend to in the morning. I need some sleep, I prefer not to look like shit in the morning." Willow remarked
"Okay, good. So I’ll meet you here at sundown?" He asked
"No. Meet me at Jillian St. Cemetery. I have to patrol anyway." Willow told him
"I’ll be there." Angel said gratefully for the chance to tell her what had happen.
"Fine. Just go. Please." Willow asked ushering Angel to the door.
Angel walked out and turned to tell her goodbye but found the door in his face instead.
" Well. Goodbye then." He said to the door.
Willow leaned her back against the door and took a deep breath. She looked at Mark.
" Good night."
"I don’t think so." He grabbed her arm and steered her towards the couch.
"Start talking."
"Okay, okay. It all started when I was a senior in high school..." After she had told him the whole story of her relationship with Angel, he sat there lack jawed. Of course she left some parts out but she told him most of it.
"So that’s it. The whole sordid story."
"Well, what are you going to do about Angel? I like him, of course he did save me tonight so I am kinda partial to liking him." Mark said with a little laugh.
"Angel is complicated. I really don’t want to talk about him anymore. Hell, I don’t even want to go talk to him tomorrow but I have no other choice."
"Just see what the guy has to say."
"That’s easy for you to say. You didn’t have your heart broken by him. I did. It still isn’t healed." She whispered.
"I know. Okay let’s just go to bed. We both need sleep. Plus you have to meet with Mr. Yates in the morning. I know it is a big closing for you." He commented heading towards the hall.
"Yep, huge. Good night."
"Night Willow." Mark said
As willow got ready for bed she wonder how she was going to get through the day knowing she had to face Angel that night. As soon as her head hit the pillow, she was out.
The next day
The meeting went good and she got the account. Now, it was facing Angel that left her dreading the night.
She was in the process of staking a vamp when Angel showed up. He stood in the shadows so he wouldn’t distract her. Once she had staked the vamp she turned in his direction.
"Come on out Angel"
"Guess my stealth guy routine needs working on." He said smiling.
"Where did you learn to fight like that?"
" Some from Sunnydale. Most from here, I train at the Dojo on 45th street. So here I am. Let’s talk."
Angel sat beside Willow on one of the headstones. He took her hand and placed it in his hands.
"First, I just want you to know how happy I am to know you are okay. Second, the kiss you saw was a big mistake. Buffy came to me and started saying how we were not over and how you and Oz were meant to be together. She told me that she saw you two together, kissing. I didn’t want to believe her, then she kissed me. For a moment I did kiss her back but then when I realized what was happening I pushed her away. I love you and I always will." He finished by putting a gentle kiss on her hand.
Willow was silent for a moment, letting his words absorb in her head.
"Angel, when we were together back then, did I ever give you any reason not to trust me? To doubt my loyalty and love towards you?" She asked
"No, you didn’t." He said looking down towards the ground.
"Then why would you believe her? Why would you think I would go kiss Oz when we were together? And for the record, no I didn’t kiss him. When I was with you, I was exactly that, with you no one else." Willow finished.
"I am so sorry baby. Please forgive me. I was stupid."
"I am trying. But I can’t forget it happened. I don’t know if I will ever be able to." She whispered
"I guess that is all I can ask for. Maybe we can get together sometime, you know just to talk." He said hopefully
"I think that would be okay. I mean, it couldn’t hurt anything." She said with a little hit of a smile.
Angel stood and pulled Willow up with him. They held hands while Angel walked her home.
6 months later
Boxes littered the hallway of the apartment building at Willow’s door. Mark and Katie were moving into the apartment across the hall from Willow. While Willow was losing a roommate, she was also gaining one. Angel was to move in that night. That winter a double wedding took place. Two couples joining hearts with one another. What ever may come their way, they knew that they would make it through. Together.
THE END