Chapter Ten – Old Habits and Revelations

"So, how are they?"

Giles looked up from the book he was reading at Willow. "They?"

"Yes, they – as in the lovers in the basement…that sounds so wrong" Xander said sitting down on the couch and helping himself to one of the candies on the watcher’s coffee table.

Giles sighed and put his book down. "I’m not quite sure. Buffy has to go back to Hogwarts in a few days, Angel is getting better, but as much as the two of them are trying to keep their distance, it’s quite obvious to anyone that it’s just not possible to keep them apart, even with the curse.."

Willow looked at Cordelia and the two smiled knowingly. Giles saw the exchanged glance and stood up. "What are you two up to?"

"Oh nothing. Just a little discovery is all" Willow said smiling and pulling the printouts from her bag.

"Discovery?"

"Yeah. Of the Angel’s-soul-is-permanent kind" Cordelia said handing Willow’s notebook to Giles.

Giles looked at the two girls as if they had sprouted three heads. "That’s not possible. It can’t be possible – it "

"Is. Buffy – felt like something was – not wrong, but different when Angel came back. So we checked out the translations. If you look at Jen – at Ms. Calendar’s and then you look at mine, the line that ends in el in hers ends with permanti in mine. And I used my translation in the hospital"

"Permanti?" Giles asked.

"It means permanent Giles. His soul was restored to him – permanently. Buffy pretty much freaked out, but – Giles what’s wrong?"

Giles was pacing around the livingroom, Willow’s translation in his hand. "How can you be sure?"

"I’m not" Buffy said, coming down the stairs from her room. "But – I just feel it Giles. He’s different now. He’s – I’m not sure how to explain it. I just know"

"Have you had any prophetic dreams? Any at all?"

"Not since I’ve been back. I think it was Hogwarts – all that magic in the air. It made my spider senses go all wiggy" She sighed. "Look, I know this seems odd and sudden and like a convenience to make any hope I ever had of being with Angel come true but – I know this is right" She walked over to the stairs. "Trust me"

Buffy walked down and saw Angel standing at the bottom. Buffy jumped slightly, not expecting him to be waiting there for her. "Angel. What are you doing – "

"I heard"

Buffy took a step back. "You what?"

"I heard. Your conversation. I heard what you said about the spell. About my soul being permanent – "

"Angel – "

"It’s not that I don’t trust you Buffy, but – we can’t risk it. I can’t – we can’t do anything"

"Did I say I wanted to take this for a test drive?" Buffy said walking up to him. "I’m very aware of what will happen if I’m wrong Angel. I’m not about to go fuck up what I just got back" She gently touched his face, her voice softening. "I’m not going to try anything stupid. But – can’t you just trust me? If this is real…" her voice trailed off.

"Buffy – if this is real – we’ll probably never know"

Buffy just looked at him, nodding. "Okay" She pulled her sweater off of her shoulders as he unbuttoned his shirt.

"What are you doing?" Angel asked.

"I’m going to watch, and then attempt to follow. Is that alright with you?"

Angel just looked at her and nodded minutely.

Angel concentrated on the exercises, but Buffy watched his moves and did her best to mirror them. Buffy glanced over at Angel, watching his elegant movements. She turned her attention back to the exercises. They ended up with their backs to each other, hands held high. Angel took two steps over to Buffy and put his hands over hers. Buffy looked up at his hands on hers as he pulled her arms down and around her. She slowly turned to face him and angled her face up toward him. Their lips almost met when Buffy suddenly pulled away and walked over to one of the chairs to pick up her sweater.

"Uhh... I gotta go. Big night for us slayer types"

Angel turned away, a confused expression on his face. Buffy pulled on her backpack. "People to see, demons to kill. Better hurry before somebody figures out what we're doing"

Angel pulled on his shirt and asked, "What are we doing?"

"Training" She looked down and said quietly, "And almost kissing"

Angel looked at her and steps toward her as he buttons his shirt. Buffy turned to face him. "Sorry. It's just... old habits die hard"

"I know"

Buffy sighed. "I'm gonna try and vent a little hormonal angst by going out there and killing demons. After all, that’s what I do best. It’s not like it’s never worked before" She paused at the bottom of the steps nodding a little. "I’ll see you later" She walked up the stairs as fast as she could without making too much noise and headed for the door, but not before grabbing Willow’s arm. "Patrol with me"

Willow just looked at her. "Um – okay"

~*~*~*~*~*

"So, we almost kissed and…I just pulled away" Buffy shook her head and sat on one of the headstones. "God Will, what am I doing? I mean – I want him so much and I’m sure that this is real, but – "

"He’s worried that it’s not"

"A resounding yes" Buffy sighed and threw a stake back and forth between her hands. "Oh well – I guess being with him is better then nothing at all right?"

"Once more with even less feeling" Willow said, smiling wryly.

Buffy gave her a small smile. "You’re right. Oh boy – what am I doing? I need to kick some vampire ass. Let’s go walk"

"So, have you heard from Faith yet?" Willow asked.

"Nope. She said that she’s not getting to the whole ‘When Angel met Buffy’ thing until the end of the week" Buffy smiled. "God, I wish I could see the look on their faces when she tells them. That’s going to be a sight to remember"

*~*~*Hogwarts*~*~*

"1898 – A wooded area of Romania. Angelus has just made the second biggest mistake of his undead life. A sixteen year old gypsy caught his eye. As per usual, Angelus caught his prize and killed her. But what he failed to realize was that this certain gypsy was a Romany princess of sorts. And her people were not happy. So, they decided to punish Angelus – by restoring his soul"

"What, they were all out of boils and blinding torment?" Draco asked gleefully.

Faith rolled her eyes. "When you become a vampire, the demon takes your body, but it doesn’t take your soul. That’s gone. So, by restoring his soul, the Romany made Angel re-live everything he had ever done, every life he took, every act of violence he ever committed – the difference was now, he cared. And so began his path towards redemption. It would be years until his path would finally prove anything less then a brooding existence, years of hiding in dark alleys, traveling across the world, living off of rats – years of nothing but torment"

"Sound terrible" Hermione said, looking up from her notes.

"It was" Faith grinned, because this, in her eyes, was where the story really began. "Until 1996. Manhattan. We find Angel scraping around for anything to sustain himself. And this is where he meets Whistler, a man who changes his life forever. Whistler, a good demon of sorts, told him about a girl in LA, a girl who’s destiny was to protect the world. This was how he could redeem himself – by protecting this girl. She’s just a kid – a fifteen year old ditz whose entire life changed in one night. Because it was on this night that she found out she was the one girl in all the world who could stop the forces of darkness – the slayer.

"Her name is Buffy Anne Summers" She looked at her class with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. The entire class was shocked beyond words.

"Buffy – Buffy Summers? As in Professor Buffy Summers?" Ron asked, still not believing his ears.

"Yup. One in the same. As I understand things, the slayer is something of a fairytale in the wizarding world. But she is real. Very real. That place she lives? It’s called the Hellmouth. That person she’s helping? His name is Angel" She perched herself on the desk, smiling. "So, anyone have any questions before I really blow your mind? No. Good.

"Buffy is coming back. And Angel is coming with her"

:: Chapter Eleven ::