Distribution: Angel of Mine, TPWFLD, anyone else please ask first.
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Angel and Willow etc do not belong to me. They are the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, and the WB. All characters are used without permission. No copyright infringement intended.
Feedback: Yessssss!!!!
Summery: Willow and Angel get caught in a storm and discover new truths about each other.
Spoilers/Warnings: Season three.
< > Indicates thoughts.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Willow left her house and quickly walked down the street, headed for Angel's. Looking up nervously at the setting sun, Willow wished that she had taken Giles' advice and at least brought some protection with her, but she had been in such a rush to leave before it got dark that she had totally forgotten.
As she walked towards her destination, Willow wondered how Angel would react to her being there. After Angel had returned from hell, Willow had made every effort to try to help him with the guilt he was feeling. She was well aware that Angel still blamed himself for the things he did as Angelus even if she did not. She had spent a great deal of time with him those first few weeks he was back and during that time Willow had come to build a friendship with him, but she still felt sometimes that they were strangers.
Breaking out of her thoughts, Willow glanced up and saw that she was approaching the mansion. Shifting the heavy book she was carrying to her other hand she walked up the path and knocked on the door.
After waiting for a moment the door slowly opened to reveal Angel carefully avoiding the last few rays of light that were filtering through the door into the mansion.
"Willow."
"Hey Angel" Willow said cheerfully, pushing the uncertainty of her early thoughts away.
"Hi, why don't you come on in." Angel said, moving side to allow her to enter.
"Thanks." Willow said as she entered the house.
After shutting the door behind herself Willow turned around shifting the book from hand to hand. After a few moments she looked up to notice Angel staring at her.
"So...."
"So?...Oh!" Willow said figuring out what he was waiting for. " I um, Giles found a book the other day which he thinks could hold some important prophesies, but it..it's in some kind of code."
"Go on."
"Gil..Giles said that any...er help or...um information you could give us in decoding it would be greatly appreciated. So I brought it for you....So here it is," Willow said handing the book over to him.
"Sure, I'll be happy to help." Angel said taking the book and headed towards the sofa.
Noticing that Willow wasn't following he turned around and saw her staring intently at the floor.
"Willow? Are you okay?"
"What? Oh, um, I'm fine." Willow said finding a particularly interesting spot near her feet.
Sighing to himself, Angel started walking back over to Willow, expecting this.
"Look Willow, I know it must be hard being here with me after everything that's happened...when I was Angelus and I understand if you being here with me is making you uncomfortable and......."
"What are you talking about Angel." Willow said, her eyes lifting up to meet his.
"Well when you just stood there I just thought that..."
"Angel, being here with you isn't making me uncomfortable, and you should know by now that none of us blame you for what happened when you were Angelus, no matter what you say."
"Then what's the matter?" Angel asked confused.
"It's just that I didn't think you'd want me around, you know. I mean I'd probably just get in your way. So I...I can leave if you want me too."
"Of course I want you around Willow and you wouldn't be in the way. Besides, wasn't the point of you coming so we could put our heads together?"
"Yes, but..."
"No buts Willow. I want you to stay and help me....unless you don't want to of course."
"Of course I wanna stay and help, but if you do want me to leave later just say and-"
"Willow!" Angel said exasperated. Reaching over he grabbed her hand and dragged her down to the sofa with him. "Now, what does Giles want to know?"
3 hours later
Sighing, Angel looked over at Willow. He could see that she was as exhausted of doing research as he was. Deciding that they should take a break Angel shut the book and tossed it on a nearby table.
"Willow, what do you say we take a break for a while?"
"Ugh, that sounds great, I feel as if my eyes are about to explode...well not literally explode but-"
"It's okay Willow, I know what you mean."
"Oh...um okay."
"Come on then, I think I've got some drinks and things in the kitchen."
"You have food Angel?"
"Well, I figured it might come in handy with you bein-"
As they walked towards the kitchen, neither Willow nor Angel noticed the storm that has started to build up outside.
Ten minutes later Angel and Willow returned from the kitchen with a bottle of Coke and a handful of what Willow called 'munchibles', much to Angel's confusion.
Sitting back down on the sofa Angel once again picked up the book and he and Willow returned trying to find any clues as to what was contained in the book.
Willow and Angel were still bent over the book finally making progress when they were suddenly interrupted by a resounding crash outside. Both jumping at the sound Willow and Angel's heads collided together.
"Ouch!" Willow said grabbing her head in her hands.
"Willow, are you okay?" Angel asked concerned, ignoring the pain that was spreading through his own head.
"Ugh, I'm fine Angel."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, but I suppose it brings a new meaning to the phrase 'putting our heads together."
"I suppose it does." Angel said smiling despite himself.
" What do you think that that noise was Angel?" Willow asked, remembering what had caused her pain in the first place.
"I'm not sure, I'll go check it out. Wait here." Angel said getting up.
"Okay."
Leaving the sofa, Angel made his way over to the door. Opening it he was instantly blasted by a gust of wind. Looking outside Angel soon found the cause for the noise. On the road just outside the mansion lay a car that had been turned upside down. Taking a further look around, Angel became fully aware of the storm that was occurring outside.
<Great, just what we need. >
Shutting the door, Angel had started to make his way back over to Willow when everything went dark.
End Part 1
"Angel?"
Angel stopped as soon as they were plunged into darkness.
"Willow, don't move!" Angel said, panicked that she may hurt herself.
"What...What's going on?"
"I'm not sure, the power must have been knocked out."
"Power...Why?"
"I don't know how we didn't notice it before, but there's quite a storm going on outside."
"Oh."
"Willow, I'm coming over to you now okay?"
"Okay."
At her confirmation Angel tried to use his enhanced vampric sight to get back to Willow, but found that with the blinding flashes caused by the lighting outside, it was rendered useless.
Extending his arms out Angel tried to feel his way back to the sofa, and Willow's last position. He was almost there when he suddenly bumped into something. Angel reached out to touch it and was more than a little surprised when it reached back. Jumping back from the shock, Angel lost his footing and toppled backwards, bringing Willow down with him.
"Ow!"
Quickly recovering from the shock, Angel started to feel around trying to figure out what was on top of him.
"Angel!" Willow cried out.
"Willow, is that you?" he asked relieved that he had found her.
"Yes, it's me. Do you think you could move your hands up a bit higher?!"
"Why..Oh!" Angel said as he realized just where his hands were. "Sorry."
"That's better." Willow said when she felt his hands move up to her waist.
"Um, Willow. Not that I don't mind having you on top of me, but do you think you could get up?"
<Mind...nope, I don't mind at all. > Angel thought.
"Okay, I'm going." Willow said as she started to try to get up.
"Willow, what's taking so long?" Angel said when he noticed she hadn't moved.
"Um, my leg seems to be stuck. I must have caught it when I fell. Let me try and get it free." She said as she tried to shake her leg loose.
"Um... Willow, I think you should stop that." He said as she wiggled against him.
"Why?"
"Because it's not doing any good."
<More like things are going to get very embarrassing if you don't. > Angel thought to himself.
"Oh...Okay." Willow said clearly confused.
"Okay Willow, I have an idea?"
"Sure."
"Alright, what I'll try and do is roll us over so I can get up, and then I'll free you okay?"
"Sure."
"Okay, on three. One. Two. Three!" Angel said and on three he slowly rolled them over so Angel was on top.
<Hmm, I could get used to this. > Angel thought. <Stop that! It's no time to be thinking about these things now. > He told himself.
Forcing the thoughts that were running around his head to stop, Angel slowly rolled off Willow and felt down her leg till he got to her foot. Feeling around the area, Angel found that she had caught her foot in a nearby table.
Gently holding onto her foot he slowly removed it and set it down on the floor.
"There, all better. It was caught in the table." He said to Willow as he crawled back over to her.
"Thanks." Willow said as she tried to get up. Realizing that she couldn't she lay back down and looked over to the dark form that she now recognized as Angel.
"Angel?" Willow asked hesitantly.
"What is it Willow?"
"I don't think I can get up. My foot hurts too much. I must have hurt it when I fell." Willow said, whimpering slightly as she knocked it against the table.
"Okay, come on then." Angel said moving closer to her.
"Angel! What are you doing!" Willow squealed as Angel slid his arms under her and picked her up.
"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm carrying you to the sofa, unless of course you wanted to stay on the floor?"
"No, no the sofa's fine." Willow said.
<Of course staying in you arms would be even better. > Willow thought, a small smile coming to her lips. Then another thought suddenly came to mind.
"Hey Angel, can you see where your going?"
"Yes, don't worry. I couldn't see before because of the lighting, but now that's it's died down for a while I can see fine."
"Oh."
Setting her down carefully on the sofa, Angel moved over to her foot to take a look at her ankle.
Gently taking Willow's foot in his hand, Angel carefully examined it trying to cause as little pain as possible. At hearing her small cries of pain, Angel stopped and looked up at Willow.
"Am I hurting you?"
"No, not really, it's just a little sore, don't worry about it."
Nodding his head Angel quickly finished his examination of her foot and got up and moved to sit on the table near her.
Leaning down over her he softly whispered in her ear that her foot wasn't as bad as he has first suspected, it was just badly bruised, it didn't even need an ice pack. Realizing there was nothing more they could do at the moment, Angel go up and went looking for some candles to bring some light into the room. When he came back he noticed Willow fidgeting on the sofa. Putting his supplies down on the table, he walked over to her.
"Are you okay Willow?"
"Yeah, I'm fine, it's just that I'm a little uncomfortable."
"Do you want me to try to make you more comfortable?" Angel asked, not wanting to see her like this.
"You could try, but I doubt it'll do any good, I've been trying for the last ten minutes."
Sighing to himself, Angel tried to think of somewhere where Willow would be more comfortable, but could only think of one place, and he wasn't sure if she'd go for that idea.
"Well, the only place I can think of where you'll be comfortable is my bed."
"Oh." Willow said lowering her eyes for a moment. Looking back up to where she thought his face was she answered.
"Well, I suppose if that's the only place. But only if you don't mind." Willow added hastily.
"Of course I don't." Angel said.
Moving towards her, Angel lifted Willow into his arms once again and carried her to the bedroom, laying her down gently on the bed. When he had made sure she was comfortable he left the room to finish gathering his supplies.
Some time later...
Angel walked back into the bedroom and put his supplies down on the top of his dresser.
Walking over to check up on Willow he noticed that she was asleep. Smiling at the sight of her, hair falling around her face, he crept back to the dresser and started to set out his supplies.
Willow slowly awoke and was aware of someone watching her. Opening her eyes, Willow looked up to find Angel staring back down at her from his perch on the edge of the bed. Taking a further look around Willow became aware that the room was no longer pitched in darkness, rather it now had a soft glow to it. In her sleep dazed mind Willow slowly became aware of candles illuminating the room, perched on various dressers, tables and window ledges. Turing her gaze back to Angel she once again looked at him and spoke.
"Um, how long have I been asleep?" Willow asked.
"About half an hour give or take. If you were tired, you could have told me and I'd have walked you home." Angel said.
Willow smiled up at Angel, touched at his concern over her. "Thanks Angel but I wasn't that tired, I guess it was just laying down in the dark that made me go to sleep."
"I see." Angel said.
Absently removing a stray strand of hair away from Willow's eyes he looked at her, for a second swearing he could see something he couldn't accept flickering across her eyes.
"Willow, are you thirsty? Do you want me to get you something to drink?" Angel said focusing again.
"Um, actually a glass of water would be nice now that you mention it, thanks Angel."
"Great, I'll be right back." Angel said getting up off the bed and leaving the room.
As Angel left the room to get her some water Willow lay her head back down against the pillow and tried to get her thoughts under control. She shouldn't be doing this. It wasn't right, it wasn't right for these feelings she had for Angel to reach the surface. She had done such a good job at repressing them, to deny what she felt, that it was nothing more than friendship, but Willow knew that wasn't the case. The problem was that now they had started to appear. Everything had been going so well until she fallen down and hurt her ankle. And now Angel was acting all protective over her and being so damm kind. It made her afraid, afraid that she might slip up, afraid he'd find out about her feelings and that then she'd be responsible for ruining their friendship.
Angel slowly walked back to the bedroom with Willow's glass of water in his hands. He had almost reached the bedroom when he stopped, turned around again, and walked back into the kitchen.
Setting the water down on the counter, Angel started pacing back and forth, his mind full of thoughts.
He had a problem, a big problem. He was afraid that if he went back into that room he'd do something incredibly stupid. It was becoming harder for him to conceal his feelings for Willow. When he had returned from hell, she had been the first one to accept him, truly accept him, even before Buffy had....if she ever had that was. And after they had become friends he had started to develop feelings for her. He had tried to deny them, but he couldn't. Then tonight, something had changed, he wasn't sure what it was, he couldn't pinpoint it but something had. It almost seemed, for a second, she had felt the same way.
Realizing that she was waiting for him Angel made a decision. He was going to tell her how he felt. He knew that she most likely didn't feel the same way. That she would probably hate him but he had to do it. He couldn't risk no doing it, because what if she did feel the same way for him, what if in that split second she had let her defenses down and had shown her true feelings?
Picking up the glass of water, Angel headed back into the bedroom and to Willow, deciding that it was now or never.
End Part 2
Willow looked up at Angel as he re-entered the bedroom. Walking over to her, he handed Willow the glass of water and sat down beside her on the bed, hoping he was doing the right thing.
Noticing that something was wrong, Willow set the glass down and sat up, wondering what was the matter.
After staring at him for a few moments it became apparent to Willow that Angel wasn't going to just come out with what was bothering him. Deciding to help him along, Willow looked him in the eye.
"Angel, is something the matter?"
"N..no, why?" Angel said.
"Well, it's just that you've been staring at that same spot on the wall for the past five minutes. Now what's wrong."
"It's..it's nothing wrong exactly Willow it's just...."
"Just what Angel?"
"Well I...I have something I need to tell you, It's just I'm not sure how your going to react."
"Oh come Angel, you know you can tell me whatever it is."
"That's just it though Willow, I don't know if I can tell you, five minutes ago my mind was set, but now I'm having second thoughts."
"Oh Angel, whatever it is can't be that bad. I mean what is it, there's a new prophecy, a new demon has arisen, Xander's given up chocolate? Hell, next thing you'll be telling me you love me!" Willow said with a small laugh, hiding the pang of sadness at knowing that he never would tell her that.
Her laughter soon died down however when she noticed his sudden silence. Looking up at him, she noticed the brief look of pain flicker across his face just before he turned away from her.
"Hey, come on Angel, it...it was just a joke." Willow said, becoming increasingly nervous at the vampire's behavior.
"Yeah, but that's the whole point isn't it Willow, it's just a joke."
"What do you mean?" Willow said, unable to stop a sliver of hope rising within her.
"Nevermind." Angel said as he started to rise off the bed.
"Angel!" Willow practically yelled, grabbing hold of his arm and dragging him back down to the bed. Noticing that Angel still looked ready to bolt any second, Willow tightened her grip on him and put on her 'resolve face'.
"Look Angel, you are not going to just walk away from this, I want you to tell me what the hell's going on!"
Angel looked over at Willow and knew it was futile to try to get out of this. Earlier he had been all set to tell Willow he loved her, but now fear had started to surface...fear that she would be angry with him...fear that she would reject him.
Sighing, Angel removed Willow's hand from his arm and held it in his own. Figuring that the best thing was to just come out and say it, Angel took a deep breath and told Willow what he had wanted to tell her for months.
"Willow, I...I love you."
"W..What?" Willow said, her voice trembling at his words.
"I love you, I have for a long time now. I know that you don't feel the same way but-"
"Angel." Willow said, cutting him off. "Why do you assume that I wouldn't feel the same way?"
"Oh come on Willow, who could ever love me?"
" Me." Willow said, her voice barely about a whisper.
"What did you say?" Angel asked, unable to keep the hopefulness out of his voice.
"I said I love you Angel."
"No...no you don't, your just saying that to make me feel better." Angel said, shaking his head in denial.
"No Angel, I do. I don't care whether you believe it or not. I love you, just like you love me, and if you still don't believe me then maybe this will convince you." Willow said.
"What will?" Angel asked confused.
"This." Willow said as she grabbed hold of Angel's shirt and pulled him towards her.
Not expecting Willow's sudden movements, Angel didn't resist her pull and was suddenly aware of her lips on his as she kissed him, softly at first, but becoming more urgent as the kiss progressed.
Pulling away from him, Willow let go of his shirt and looked at him. "Convinced now Angel?"
"Uh huh." Was all Angel's confused brain managed to get out.
"Good." Willow said, briefly wondering where this new found confidence had come from, before Angel decided to lean down to kiss her.
Pulling back from Angel to breathe, Willow remembered why she had come to visit Angel in the first place.
"Um Angel, as much as I hate to say this, I think that maybe we should finish taking a look at that book, I mean I did promise Giles."
Siighing Angel nodded his head and left the bedroom, knowing that there would be plenty of time to discover their new found feelings later on, and that for the moment translating the book was the priority.
Picking it up, Angel headed back into the bedroom and laid down on the bed next to Willow, resting the book in between them.
"Well, I suppose we'd better get back to work." Angel said, leaning over to kiss Willow before opening the heavy book.
"Yep, I guess so." Willow said, looking back over at him and smiling.
After about ten minutes of reading, Angel looked over at Willow and noticed her staring at him.
"I love you Willow." Angel said, reaching out to take her hand in his.
"I love you too, Angel."
And with that, the two of them lay on the bed together, translating the book... long after the storm had finished.
The End