When darkness gathers over all,
And the last tottering pillars fall,
Take the poor dust thy mercy warms,
And mould it into heavenly forms!
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, The Living Temple
Willow coughed loudly, feeling like her entire respiratory
system was on
fire, and tried to open her eyes, but she was immediately
forced to close
them as the bright florescent light invaded her sight.
"Ow, my head," she groaned, trying to raise a hand to
cradle her head; a
cool hand on her wrist stopped her. "That better be Angel,"
she snarled;
the person laughed suddenly causing Willow to relax visibly.
"It is," he whispered, pressing his lips to her forehead.
"Good, 'cause I've had dreams where it ends up being Spike."
"You dream about Spike?" he asked, his voice teasing her.
"Sometimes," she replied with a sly smile.
"I'm glad you're feeling better," he muttered, his voice
losing any of it's
humor; his hand reached up and stroked her cheek while
to other one
intertwined with her hand. "You almost left me," he whispered.
"But I didn't," she replied, finally forcing her eyes
open. She squinted
against the glare as she tried to focus on him. "I wouldn't."
Her free
hand touched the back of his hand that stroked her cheek
and brought it
down to her lips; she kissed the tips of his fingers.
He moaned softly and
closed his eyes. "Oh, God!" she suddenly exclaimed, dropping
his hand.
"Willow?" he asked, alarm in his voice and eyes.
"My mom's gonna kill me," she muttered, her eyes wide.
"Why?" he laughed, his fingers lightly playing along her arm.
"You're Catholic," she stated like that explained everything;
he raised his
eyebrows. "Mom's not gonna like that."
"Willow, I'm a vampire. I don't think religion's that
big a thing with me,"
he smiled, kissing her lightly. "And besides, is your
mom going to have a
say in us?"
"Of course not," she replied, shaking her head which caused
her to
immediately groan in pain. "Note to self, don't move
head." Angel chuckled
softly. "Are you laughing at my pain?" she growled playfully,
pointing a
finger at his chest.
"I love you, you know that," he muttered softly, still smiling.
"What did you say?" she asked.
"I love you?" She let out a squeal and wrapped her arms
around his neck.
"Well, that cheered you up," he stated, his hands rubbing
circles on her
back. "Willow, love, you have visitors waiting," he whispered.
She
reluctantly pulled away from him, and he rose to his
feet. He kissed her
softly before leaving the room.
Oz and Faith sat in the hard-backed hospital chairs. The
Slayer looked like
she was sleeping while Oz's hand trailed lightly over
Faith's arm much as
Angel's had over Willow's. Angel raised his eyebrows
at the pair; Oz
glanced up and smiled sheepishly at the vampire.
"Is she....?"
"Yeah," Angel nodded. "You can go see her." Faith and
Oz stood up and
prepared to enter the room. The werewolf entered first,
but Faith stopped
in front of Angel.
"Did you tell her?" she asked.
"Yeah, I did."
"Good," Faith nodded and followed Oz into the room. Angel
smiled to himself
as he leaned back against the wall so he could watch
the redhead talk
animatedly with her two friends.
"My mate," he sighed softly, at peace for once in his life.
*FIN*