Title: The Prom
Author: Tracey G
Email: rainbowflutterby@hotmail.com
Summary: Takes place during the break up scene in the sewer, except in my version they don't break up.
Spoilers: The Prom
Rating: PG-14
Disclaimer: Don't own 'em so don't sue 'cause ya won't get much.

Angel jumped down into the sewer tunnel. Buffy followed soon after and Angel caught her.

"I always say patrol's not complete without a trip to the stinky sewers," Buffy joked as they started walking.

"I'm sure I saw him come down here," Angel replied.

"Couldn't we just let him be the one that got away?" Buffy asked. "We could say he was this big." She spread her hands apart in front of her.

Angel shrugged. "What can I say? I need closure."

"You need clothes," Buffy said remembering the prom. "You don't have a tux, do you?"

"Since when did patrolling go black tie?"

"For the prom, silly."

"We have more important things to think about right now than a dance, Buffy," Angel snapped.

"Sorry, *Giles*, I'll just be quite now," she said in a hurt voice. He had never snapped at her before.

"Come on, don't be that way," he begged, instantly regretting snapping at her.

The vampire they had chased down there suddenly jumped down from the roof, growling. "Not now." Buffy staked the vampire before he even had a chance to attack.

She turned to Angel. "I'm not being that way. Every time I say the word 'prom', you get grouchy."

"I'm sorry," Angel apologized. "I'm just worried that you're getting to invested in this whole thing."

"What whole thing?" Buffy demanded. "Isn't this the stuff that I'm supposed to get invested in? Going to a formal, graduating, growing up."

"I know," Angel said softly.

"Then what?" she asked. "What's with the dire?"

"It's uh, it's nothing," Angel lied, not wanting to do this in the sewer, of all places.

"No," Buffy argued, "you have something face."

"I think we need to talk," he told her, "but not here, and not now."

"No," she said firmly. "No, if you have something to say, then say it." She waited for him to start talking. "Angel drop the cryptic. You're scaring me."

"I've been thinking," he said hesitantly, "... about our future. And the more I do, the more I feel like us, you and me being together, is unfair to you."

"No, it isn't," Buffy protested.

"You deserve more," he told her. "You deserve something outside of demons and darkness. You should be with someone who can take you into the light. Someone who can make love to you."

"But I already have that!" Buffy cried.

"W-What?" Angel stammered. "What are you talking about?"

Buffy sighed. "I was hoping to tell you this on prom night. I knew the break up thing was coming, I could feel it. I was hoping you'd wait 'til after prom, then I could tell you my news and you would forget all about-"

"Buffy," Angel interrupted, "you're babbling. Tell me what?"

"You remember Giles' friend, the one that pretended to take your soul away?" He nodded and she continued. "Well, he told us that your soul was permanent."

"My... What?" Angel asked in shock.

"Your soul is permanent," Buffy repeated. "You can be as happy as you want to be."

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"I wanted it to be a surprise, you know, make prom night all the more special." She paused, then asked, "Are you still breaking up with me?"

"Buffy just because I can't lose my soul doesn't mean you shouldn't have a normal relationship with a normal guy."

"Shut up Angel, just shut up!" Buffy yelled angrily. "Did you ever stop to think about what I might want? Don't you think if I wanted normal I would be with someone normal?" Buffy stopped to yelling and tried to hold back the tears that were threatening to spill over. "All I want is you Angel. You make me happy. I don't anything or anyone else. Why can't you see that?" By now the tears where running freely down her cheeks.

"Oh god, Buffy. I'm sorry," Angel wrapped his arms around her.

"You can't leave me," Buffy sobbed into his shoulder. "I need you so much. I love you."

"I'm not going anywhere," Angel reassured her while stroking her hair. "I love you. I'm sorry I hurt you."

"I forgive you," Buffy said, drying her tears. "But if you ever try that again..."

Angel smiled. "Why don't we go back to the mansion and clean out a drawer for you?"

"Really?" Buffy asked hopefully. "Do you mean it?"

"Definitely."

Buffy's face burst into a smile and she threw herself into Angel's arms.

The End