Ice Cream

The September evening was lovely, especially by East Coast standards. By LA standards, it may have been a tad chilly, but Immortal Watcher Willow Rosenburg didn't care.  She happily squeezed her lover's hand as they strolled hand in hand along the San Clemente beach.  The two of them had the entire beach to themselves, other than some teenagers they passed a while back.  Angel gave Willow a side-ways glance and offered her a slight smile.  Dreamily, Willow smiled back and returned to watching him devouring his ice cream cone. 

They'd been back together less than one week after a twenty year separation.  It still felt like a honeymoon.  The specialness and wonder of the renewed love still shone like a new penny for a young child. Willow felt wonderful, happy, free...  She wanted to shout her love to the heavens and run up and down the beach shrieking with glee.  She wanted to tell everyone they met about how much she adored the two hundred and sixty two year old vampire holding her hand.  And right now, she also wanted Angel's ice cream cone. 

She covetously watched his tongue wrapping around the smooth, dark chocolate.  Angel could eat, thanks to one of his brother's magical rituals.  She still found his child-like greed for something so simple to be amazing.  While she herself suffered from... envy?  Envy of tongue, or envy of ice cream...?  Willow giggled.  He'd offered to buy her one back on the pier.  She'd turned him down, claiming it to be "Too cold." 

Angel just shook his head.  "Your loss," he'd stated. "Ice cream is one of the greatest inventions of the last two hundred years," he'd proclaimed authoritatively and ordered himself a chocolate cone.  Willow had laughed and shaken her head.  Now she wondered what she could have been thinking; she should have ordered one too. 

"I still can't get over how well you and Xander get along now," Willow commented.  His tongue circled again; her mouth began watering.  "Twenty years ago, he could never have made it through an entire conversation without insulting you."  They'd come down to the beach for a walk after going out to dinner with Xander, and his wife, Cordelia. 

Angel snorted softly.  "He still can't.  He insulted me three times, twice while you ladies were in the bathroom.  He's just too smart to let you catch 'em."  Angel smirked, not sounding even remotely offended. He'd settled his differences with Xander a long time ago.  Nowadays, their conflicts were primarily for show.  Of course, neither he nor Xander would ever admit to that. 

He stopped walking and turned the ice cream cone around to lick at the melting sides.  Willow's eyes enviously followed his tongue.  Sweet, dark, rich...  Edging closer, she gave him her best "I'm so cute and adorable, please feed me" look.  She widened her eyes as she gazed up at him pathetically.  She tilted back her head and whined slightly. 

Angel chuckled, seeing through her ruse.  "I offered you one.  This is mine," he teased.  Still, his eyes softened.  Willow stepped up her pity ploy, letting her lips pull down into a pout. 

"Please..." she begged.  Her hand latched onto the wrist not holding the cone and she scooted closer.  Even the most hardened Watchers on her Council couldn't resist her for long.  Forever sixteen, Willow's apparent innocence and vulnerability won out every time.  Angel shook his head.  He knew her too well; he understood the true depths of the cunning mind lurking behind her innocent eyes. 

His tongue circled the ice cream cone again like a lazy bird of prey. More for him, less for her.  Willow needed to work fast, before it was all gone.  "I could pull rank," she suggested, reminding him that technically speaking, he worked for her.  Willow was the Immortal Watcher; Angel was only a mere Watcher. 

He snickered.  "You could.  But you're going to look awfully silly, Seabhaicín, when you call me before a tribunal for refusing to surrender an ice cream cone." 

Willow considered pursuing that angle, then abandoned it.  It wasn't worth it, and he already knew that she was bluffing.  Instead, she fell back on the oldest and dirtiest trick in the book.  Feminine wiles. Seductively, her hands settled on his waist.  Caressing, she drew them up along his ribcage and turned her pleading pout into a sexy one.  "I luv you..." 

Angel took another thoughtful bite of ice cream that left a chocolate smudge on the corner of his mouth.  Willow couldn't help herself.  Her eyes caught, fixating on that smudge like a predator on its prey.  His eyes darkened.  Absently licking his lips, he slowly lowered the ice cream cone to her level.  Willow opened her mouth, extending her tongue. 

She felt his body hardening under her hands as every muscle in his body tensed.  With sensual fascination, he touched the ice cream to her tongue.  It was cold, wet, and wonderful.  Willow closed her eyes, savoring the rich chocolate.  Heaven...   She made no move to take the cone from him.  Instead, she submissively allowed him to turn it for her.  She deliberately kept her eyes shut the entire time he was feeding her, knowing that she was driving him nuts. 

Angel loved submission, as much or more than he loved defiance.  The balance of power in their relationship shifted constantly, like quicksilver sands.  It was beautiful and free.  Willow wouldn't have done anything to change it.  She loved the games as much as he did; she delighted in pushing him and in being pushed.  Deep down, each knew that they could blindly trust in the other's love.  Nothing to risk, nothing to lose, nothing to withhold. 

Willow finished the ice cream.  Nothing was left, but the cone.  Her mouth was a mess and she eagerly buried her tongue deep into the cone, trying to reach the last bit of the chocolate.  Angel couldn't stand it anymore.  He took the cone away and replaced it with his mouth.  His tongue began to clean her mouth, tracing the edges of her lips.  He lapped delicately, and thoroughly, much like a cat cleaning its paw. Once finished, he cast the cone away, and took her into his arms. 

The cone hit the sand and bounced away, already forgotten.  Sea gulls would fight over it in the morning.  Willow and Angel weren't noticing the cone or the sea any longer.  Wrapped up in one another, they knew only the other's arms, lips, body pressing firmly against their own. Willow reached up to lock her fingers around her friend's neck, to pull him closer to her.  Angel tasted like chocolate ice cream.  Smooth, rich, sweet, and wet.  Heaven.  She sighed, suddenly wishing that they weren't on a public beach. 

Fervently, Willow pushed open the link.  <Let's go home.> 

Reluctance.  Surprised, Willow whimpered in protest when he pulled away from her.  Why did he feel reluctance?  Had she displeased him? 

"Not yet," Angel whispered.  He pressed a quick kiss to her lips. "Soon, I promise," he reassured her.  "First, close your eyes?" 

Uncertain, Willow hesitated.  It wasn't a question of trust; she had utter trust in him.  He felt fear and uncertainty and she knew it.  That fear made her hesitate.  Anything scary enough to frighten Angel scared her too. 

"Please?" he whispered.  "For me?" 

Put that way, she couldn't refuse.  Willow closed her eyes.  Angel moved slightly. 

"I've owed you something for a very long time," he said.  He took her hand in his own.  "Open your eyes."  She did, staring down at their joined hands.  Her breathe caught.  Angel held a gold ring in his hand. 

"Will you marry me, Seabhaicín?"  His voice, his heart, his mind held complete and total commitment to her.  He'd never wanted anything more than he wanted her in his life.  He wanted her with him forever. 

Willow felt tears spilling over, shining on her cheeks.  She choked up and could barely breath, let alone speak.  Scared to death that he'd mistake her silence for rejection, she threw open her heart and mind to him.  Her acceptance, her love pervaded his being. 

Tenderly, Angel slipped the ring onto Willow's finger.  Then, he took her into his arms and merely held her for the longest time.  "Yes, oh yes, oh yes..." Willow finally managed raggedly against his chest.  His arms tightened around her in hug that began their future together.