Part 3

"Hey Angel, how was your day?" Willow asked as she entered the mansion
after school. She saw Angel standing in his usual spot next to the
fireplace, staring into the flames. She often found him this way. He said
that the flames somehow calmed him. When he didn't acknowledge her
presence, she put down her backpack and went to stand beside him. She
placed her hand gently on his arm, trying not to startle him. "Angel, are
you okay?"
"I'm fine Willow," he told her, turning to look into her green eyes. "Just
thinking."
"Thinking my ass. Brooding is more like it," she teased, a smile coming to
her face.
"I do no brood," he retorted playfully, falling easily into the teasing
banter that the two friends had fallen into since Willow had begun taking
care of the vampire. It was one of the reasons he enjoyed her company so
much. She made him feel whole again.
"Yeah, right and I'm not shy. Please, tell me another one why don't you.
Maybe you have a bridge in Brooklyn you want to sell me."
"Nope just some beach front property I can give you cheap in Arizona," he
countered. "So maybe I was brooding. What are you doing to do about it?
Sue me?" Angel found himself smiling at Willow, something he did much more
often since Willow had started staying with him. He often credited the red
head for that, even though he knew that there was a long way to go before he
was fully recovered from his ordeal in Hell, he knew that Willow would be
there with him through it all.
"Nope, not going to sure," Willow answered cryptically. "Have something
much worse planned for you."
"What?"
"This." Willow launched herself at the vampire, tickling him and causing
him to back away from her trying to escape. Angel was laughing so hard that
he felt himself lose his balance and fall to the ground. Without thinking
he grabbed Willow, trying to steady himself, only to pull her down on top of
him. She landed on his stomach, their faces close together. When she
looked down at him, her emerald eyes losing themselves in his chocolate
ones, she had to gulp as thoughts of what their bodies could be doing
started to race through her head. ‘Bad, Willow. Buffy's Angel. Naughty
thoughts aren't allowed. This is Angel you're talking about. Handsome,
gorgeous, taken Angel. The man that could take your breath away in a
heartbeat. He's the stuff that dreams are made of, especially mine. And
he belongs to your best friend. And, besides, he would never be interested
in someone like me. I'm only his friend.'
Meanwhile, below her, the same thoughts that Willow was admonishing herself
for having were bothering Angel, as he felt her warmth cover him. He felt
his body begin to react to having the object of so many of his daydreams on
top of him. ‘Don't even think about it, Angelus. This is Willow you're
thinking about. Sweet, innocent, shy, beautiful, wonderful Willow. The
girl that your demon wanted to claim the first night that it was free. The
girl that has spent the past two weeks in your bed with you. In your arms.
What could she possibly see in me? I'm just her friend.'
Willow and Angel's thoughts continued to runaway from them as they stayed
together, neither one able to move their body from the other, even if they
wanted to. Their eyes were locked in what could only be described as a
staring contest, a silent kind of communication going on between the two of
them. Unconsciously, Angel wrapped his arms around Willow's small waist as
she moved her own hands around his neck, both drawing the other even closer.
Anyone looking in on the pair would have sworn that they were watching two
lovers losing themselves in whatever moment they were in, instead of two
people who were unsure of what was going on.
Angel looked up at Willow and saw the light from the fire dancing in her
eyes. ‘She's so beautiful. How is it that the boys of Sunnydale have never
noticed her before? They must all be a bunch of idiots. I am so lucky that
she has decided that I am worthy enough of her kindness. I don't know what
I would have done if I didn't have her in my life.' Then, without thinking,
Angel did what he had wanted to do for the past week. He bent his head
forward and kissed her.
‘OH MY GOD, ANGEL'S KISSING ME,' Willow thought before allowing herself to
lose herself in the kiss. She had dreamt of kissing Angel, even before he
had lost his soul, but never in her wildest fantasies did she ever think it
would happen. Angel was the unobtainable perfect man that she could never
have. Men like Angel didn't go around kissing girls like Willow They went
for the girls like Buffy and Cordelia. The beautiful ones. Not the quiet
ones.
But, here she was, getting kissed by the man of her dreams and she never
wanted it to end. But it had to. Willow still needed to breath.
"Wow," was all that she could manage to say as she looked back down at the
vampire.
"Wow is right," he replied, placing another kiss on her forehead. He could
feel her heart pounding in her chest and was proud of reaction that he had
received from her. He had been surprised when she didn't pull away from the
kiss, instead responding to it with a passion he knew that no one even
suspected she had. He wanted desperately to see what else was laying
dormant in her.
"Why?" Angel looked at her confused. He didn't know what she was asking.
"Why what, little one?"
"Why did you kiss me," she amended. Angel brushed an errant strand of red
hair out her face, allowing him to look into her eyes. He found himself
wanting to just answer her question with another mind numbing kiss, but knew
that it would only be delaying answering her.
"Because of everything that you've done for me. I mean, do you have any
idea of how special you are to me, Willow," he told her. "You could have
completely shunned me when I came back, in fact I wouldn't have blamed you
if you did. Instead, you've not only decided to help me regain some
semblance of normalcy to my life, you've practically made it your life
mission to the point that you've moved into my home. Which, by the way, I
am absolutely glad that you did. I don't know what I would do if I didn't
have you in my life."
"Oh." Willow's face fell as Angel talked and she fought to control the
tears that threatened to fall. ‘Of course. Angel kissed me out of
gratitude. Why else would he do something like that. "Sure, that's cool.
I understand." Angel looked into Willow's eyes and watched as a light in
them seemed to darken and then go out and he had no idea of what had
happened to cause that.
"What's wrong, little one?" He asked as he watched a lone tear fall down
her cheek. He absently brushed away the water with his thumb, causing
Willow to shudder at the intimacy of the act. "Willow?"
"It's nothing, Angel," she tried to tell him. "I'm fine." Willow pushed
herself off of Angel, causing him to growl silently at the loss of her
warmth. He watched as she stood and made her way over to the couch and
cursed at whatever had happened to make his red head turn away from him.
‘My red head? What makes me think that I have the right to call her my red
head? I mean, for all I know the reason she's so upset right now is because
she hated the idea of being kissed by me. Remember, this is Buffy's best
friend after all. Buffy, as in the girl that I'm are supposed to be head
over heels in love with. The one that is supposed to be my soulmate. Of
course Willow would be upset over my kissing her like I had the right to do
it. It doesn't matter that she is the most gorgeous creature I've ever
seen. She's still sweet, unobtainable Willow.' Angel went to sit by Willow
and placed his hand on her shoulder as he sat behind her.
"Willow," he called quietly. When she didn't turn to face him, he said her
name a little more loudly. "Willow, please look at me." After a few more
minutes in which he became steadily convinced that she wouldn't even look at
him, she did and he could see the tracks that the tears that had been
falling had made down her cheeks. "Oh, sweetling, why are you crying?"
"It's nothing, Angel," she assured him, without any conviction in her
voice. "I'll be fine."
"Is this because I kissed you?" Willow didn't answer him, not even nodding
her head. "I'm sorry that I kissed you." ‘See, Rosenberg, you knew that
someone like Angel would never want to kiss you. Idiot.' So lost in her
misery at the thought of Angel not wanting to kiss her, Willow almost missed
what he had said. As it was she asked him to repeat it just so that she
could make sure she heard him right.
"What did you just say?"
"I said, I'm sorry that I kissed you," Angel repeated, deciding to take a
chance and tell her everything that he had been feeling, even at the risk of
losing her friendship. His time in Hell having taught him that people only
get a few second chances and he was going to take advantage of this one. "I
just couldn't help it. I mean, you are so beautiful."
"You think I'm beautiful?" Willow asked, hope in her voice. Angel saw the
light begin to grow in her eyes and wiped the wetness from her cheek.
"You, my sweetling, are one of the most beautiful women I have ever had the
privilege of meeting. You have eyes the color of the finest jade. Your
skin like the most delicate china. Hair the color of fire, which can also
be used to describe your temper if I remember correctly." Willow smiled as
she remembered exactly how Angel had found out about her temper. "And your
outer beauty is only the wrapping on a wonderful package, your inside being
absolute wonderful and exciting. Each day I find myself falling deeper and
deeper in love with you and I cannot believe I just said that last part,"
Angel muttered as he realized that he had said more than he had intended.
While he had meant to tell Willow how he viewed her, he didn't want to scare
her away by telling her that he had fallen in love with her. Not when he
was already supposed to be in love with her best friend.
"You're in love with me?" She questioned. Angel nodded his head. "What
about Buffy?"
"What about her?"
"She's the love of your life," Willow felt the need to remind him. "Sure,
she hasn't really been here all that much, but the two of you are
soulmates." Angel shook his head, disagreeing with what was being said.
"No, Willow, we aren't," he informed her. "I realized that when I was in
gone. She has never been able to accept me for what I am. Certainly not
like you. With you I feel comfortable with what I am. You've even seen me
eat. Buffy wants to do nothing but forget that I'm a vampire."
"Well, maybe the two of you can work it out."
"No, little one. We can't and I don't want to try anymore," he told her.
Angel cupped Willow's cheek once more. "Willow, I'll understand if you want
to do nothing but grab your things and run out of here after the things that
I've just said. You're Buffy's best friend and the things that I've just
said to you can't have been easy for you to hear, but they were true. I
have fallen in love with you over the past few weeks. But I won't pressure
you for anything. If you want to remain just friends, then I am willing to
accept that. If you want me to stay away from you, then fine. I won't be
happy about that, but I'll do what you ask. Its all up to you." Willow
looked down at her hands, and whispered her answer so low that Angel didn't
hear her. "What was that?"
"I said, I don't want to be friends." Angel felt his undead heart break at
Willow's statement and steeled himself at the thought of never seeing the
red head again. He was surprised when she raised her head so that she was
staring into his eyes. Her gaze was so intense that it made him feel as if
she could see all the way into his soul. "I love you too." With this
simple statement, Angel felt his whole being rejoice as he brought Willow to
him and kissed her with all of the love that he felt for her.
"I love you, Willow," he said into hair as he held her close to him. "I
don't know what will happen now, but whatever it is, we'll face it
together."
 

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