The Colony of Lost Souls

Angelic Slayer

Daydream Believer
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Sineya
Title: The Colony of Lost Souls

Author: crystalix

Rating: 14A

Summary: AU! Buffy lives in a human colony, taught to hate demons. Angel, a centuries-old vampire comes to the colony (by order of the council) and is immediately rejected by the locals. They treat him poorly, acting on what they've been taught all their lives. Except for one warrior girl, whose undeniable attraction to the handsome stranger, curiosity, and loving heart leads her to question her way of life, society, and possibly to love.

Pairing: Buffy/Angel (may be some minor others included later on)

Disclaimer: All characters belong to Joss Whedon and co.

Distribution: Please ask first!!!

A/N: I'm planning this to be a full-length fic (instead of my usual ficlets). When I say "AU", yes: there are vampires and demons, yes: there is a council (although their roll is somewhat different) but no watchers, and as for the slayers you'll have to wait and see. 😉 But no, Buffy is not a slayer at this point. I've really made an alternate world (so the term AU really does apply here).

A/N2: Some of you may recognize this fic from fanfiction.net (and/or my site), it's posted under my pen name (crystalix) all over, so just to let you know, YES it is the same fic and I AM the actual author! (lol) 😉 So far I have quite a few chapters written and posted (on other sites), but I've finally decided to put it up here as well. I won't post all the chapters I have so far at once (since that will be WAY too overwhelming!) but I will update if I get replies, and I'll TRY not to leave you hanging too long 😉


Anywho, now that we're all informed, on with chapter one.....

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Slowly, Angel took a deep breath and looked up to the towering structures before him. There stood two great walls higher than he had ever seen and impenetrable from the outside. Around him were half a dozen guards, glaring at him in hatred. It was not his choice to be here, in fact for the past few centuries he had purposely avoided coming near places like these. But now, the decision was out of his hands. He had been ordered to come here, allowed to bring only a small suitcase of belongings, which he held tightly in his hand.

You see, Angel had witnessed something that very few people have; the transformation of an entire civilization. The small cities he had grown up in were lost; the way of life he had known was long forgotten. Now the world was in almost constant battle; the forces of good and evil always trying to gain the upper hand. Most humans were secured in small colonies that were scattered across the globe. They worked under a single group of superiors and never knew of the millions of other people inhabiting the earth. The numbers of their population had decreased severely, and the right to live where you pleased had been stripped from them. Almost everyone was forced to live in a colony somewhere in the world; most people were now born within the small cities, where they would spend the rest of their lives.

As for the demons, most of them had free reign. Those who fought for evil were rewarded; they did as they pleased and had no one to report to. However the demons that were peaceful lived an even more dangerous life. They were shunned by their kind if not killed as soon as they were exposed, but their fate if they turned to the humans was less than an improvement. They were never accepted and were treated like animals. Some humans didn't even care if you were peaceful; they simply saw all demons as a threat and would attack you at the first chance they got. Angel was somewhere in this category.

He is a three hundred year old vampire, cursed with his soul by gypsies two centuries ago and has fought for the good ever since. He had lived in solitude, helping whenever he could, but never letting anyone close to him. He had only ever known a few tolerant humans that were willing to bargain for information, or the odd group of demons that had somehow managed to remain undiscovered. But even those were brief meetings, most of his days Angel had spent fighting off demons or alone in whatever apartment he had been staying at. Every few years he would have to move, usually across the country to avoid people getting suspicious. Even with his private lifestyle, he had almost been killed several times after being discovered.

A few weeks ago, he had been living in what was left of New York; a city that was overrun by demons a few decades ago and now was mostly deserted, only a few bars and hotels were still open. It wasn't his favourite place to live but he had been there for a few months and had found it a nice change from London where he had been before. London was practically a war-zone, everyone was suspicious of everything you did and someone was always watching you. Because of the few people living in New York (and since most of them were "rebels" or people trying to escape the war) everyone mostly kept to themselves and no one had ever really given Angel a second glance. Then one day, just before sunset, there was a knock on Angel's door. Before he even had time to decide whether to answer it or not, they had already broken down the door and he had found himself surrounded by dozens of fully armed warriors sent by the council.

The council is now one of the most powerful groups out there, divided throughout the world, controlling all of the human cities and one of the major players in the war. They had demanded that he come with them to a colony in California (which ironically, was where their main base was located), allowing him to pack a single bag before forcing him into the back of a black truck headed to his "new home".

And that's how he ended up here. Standing in front of the great walls that he knew surrounded the colony. It was nearly impossible for any uninvited demons to get in, the front gates were too massive to knock down and there were dozens of warriors posted there. After feeling one of his "escorts" kick the back of his foot he reluctantly walked through the entrance. And as he heard the giant doors slam behind him he knew that was it. That he would never be able to walk through those doors again.



End of Chapter One.


Please Review!!! ANY/ALL feedback is graciously welcomed, and like I said, if I get enough replies I will update quicker. 😀 😀 😀


-Katie

PS: Don't worry, the chapters do get much longer 😉
 
this is a very interesing fanfic, angelic_slayer.
i'm interested in reading more, but i'll refrain from commenting until i can see more.
 
I'm always a sucker for alternate reality tales so please continue. You have gotten off to a promising start here. Only one nit-pick - your tenses seemed to get a little out of whack at one point in the pararaph describing Angel - but that's not really anything to worry about. I look forward to the next instalment.
 
Thanks for your replies guys!! I really appreciate it! 😀

I'm sorry about the tense-thing, I'm afraid it will probably appear in some of the future chapters as well, but I am working on it, and it gets better as well, so please bear with me!! 😉

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After entering the colony, Angel was quickly lead to a large building a few blocks away. As he walked through the hallways he could tell that this wasn't his apartment building. The halls were long and narrow and the walls were made from a silver metal that reflected the fluorescent lighting. After many twists, turns, and key cards, he was finally brought to a large room. The walls were no longer silver but white, covered with pictures of what Angel assumed were former council members. In the middle of the room was a large desk, made from steel with papers neatly resting on top of it. Behind it was two men. The first was seated at the desk, a larger man with a stern face, studying the papers before him. The second was taller and well built; his grey hair was cut short and was dressed in a black and white suit. His eyes were fixed on Angel's, cold hatred burning within them. Angel held his gaze until the man finally turned to the other, clearing his throat in annoyance.

The larger man looked up from his papers, giving Angel an inquisitive look.
"Ah yes, Mr. Angel. Welcome to Colony 015. My name is Quentin Travers, as you may know I am head of the Council. This is my colleague Richard Garrison, he is what you would call second in command." Standing up, Quentin crossed the room to stand a few feet in front of the vampire. "I'm pleased to see that you came quietly, I'm sure my men wouldn't have enjoyed trying to sedate you."

Angel clenched his jaw, his expression becoming unreadable.
"Well, I'm overjoyed that you are satisfied but all I'm interested in at this point is why the hell you brought me here."

The taller man, Richard, turned red with anger.
"How dare you speak to us like that you ungrateful-"

"Now Richard," Quentin started in a stern voice, "The vampire asked a reasonable question, and to answer it Mr. Angel, we brought you here because we know of your good deeds and think that you may be of more use here than your past residences."

"That's a lie and we both know it." Angel said, glaring at the man.

"You're right, it is. But lie or not it's the only information on the matter you're going to receive. Now, the locals have been alerted to your presence, they will know what you are and I will warn you that this colony is full of warriors and this is the base for the Council. You are not to become violent towards the inhabitants and are not to drink from any human while you're here. You will be given a small apartment to stay in but you will have to find some way to get anything else you may need. Also, be aware that you will not be allowed to leave here and that because of the large number of warriors here, all who eventually report to us, we will know if you try anything."

When Angel didn't reply Quentin waved his hand.
"Very well, I'm assuming you understand the rules. These men will take you to your apartment and then you will be free to do as you wish."

The men surrounding Angel quickly turned and started ushering him towards the door. With one final glance at the two leaders, Angel turned and followed the warriors down the halls.

Once they were outside, the men began leading Angel through the roads and he couldn't help but notice the strange appearance of the city. The roads were paved, however the once black pavement had turned a light grey and cracks and potholes seemed to fill the streets. As expected, there were no cars of any kind on the road, nowadays it was really only council members who drove at all. They passed a few subway stations, which Angel guessed ran throughout the whole city, and although few people were outside at this time of night, there were small groups of people wandering around. Most of them wore plain, lightly coloured clothes, only a few of the teenagers seemed to wear vibrant colours. Another thing Angel noticed were the huge buildings around him. All of them seemed to be made of metals and it looked as though most of them were housing complexes. Angel had always heard that California was one of the mostly highly populated areas, but he had never thought that there would be enough people to fill that many buildings.

Suddenly, the sound of a loud motor broke Angel from his thoughts. He quickly looked around for the source of the noise, until his eyes came upon a small red motorbike coming towards them. The warriors around Angel halted as one of them; a tall black man came forward as the bike slowed to a stop.
"Summers," the black man started, "Mind telling me what you're doing out here at this time of night?"

The biker reached up and removed their helmet, Angel could only stare in shock as their face came into view. Standing only a few feet away from him was the most beautiful women he had ever seen. Her hair was golden blonde, reaching just past her shoulders. She had fair skin and emerald green eyes that Angel knew he would never forget. There was something about this girl, a spark that seemed to illuminate everything around her. Angel had an incredible urge to protect her, ensure that no one would ever hurt the blonde goddess before him. After only seeing her for a few seconds, Angel was certain of one thing- he was completely and truly in love.

The blonde woman turned to the man who had questioned her,
"Gunn, hey. I was just heading back home. Having one of those late nights at the Bronze you know."

The man, Gunn, gave her a chastising look.
"Buffy, you shouldn't be out patrolling. If the council wanted you out on active duty you would be. You're not ready."

"What gives you the idea I was patrolling? I'm simply on my way home." She replied, giving him her best innocent, puppy-dog eyes.

Gunn sighed,
"Whatever you say Summers. Get home and stop trying to-"

"-Do your job. I know, I know. Fine, you guys go along your merry little way; I promise I'll scurry home."

Deciding not to argue anymore, Gunn nodded to the men and started walking again. As Angel turned to glance at the blonde beauty, his eyes locked with hers. It was as though he could see into her very soul, watch as the many emotions rushed through her. Entranced, he could only stare at her, unwilling to move. It was only when one of the warriors pushed him forward that he was forced to break eye contact. Reluctantly turning, Angel started down the road again; slowly growing further and further from a woman he was sure would never remember him.

Little did he know, the small blonde warrior stared at his retreating form, her mind already filled with questions about the handsome stranger. Who was he? Why had he affected her so much? And how, after only a few moments, had he managed to get closer to her than anyone else had before?


End of Chapter Two.


Please tell me what you think! :smile:

-Katie
 
def like this chapter better!! the alternate universe has really got me hooked.
this is such an original idea, and i can't wait to read more.
keep the chapters coming!! i wanna read the whole thing!!
 
Thanks so much Lyri! I'm glad you like what I have posted so far. Sorry it took so long to post this one, I've been busy and I totally forgot (*writes note on forehead to remember next time* 😉 ) I hope you like this one!

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Buffy watched as the mysterious stranger faded into the distance. She was overwhelmed with so many emotions when she saw him; she had still yet to move from her position on her bike. He was without a doubt the most handsome man she had ever met; he had short, dark hair spiked up in a way only he could ever pull off. He was muscular and tall, dressed fully in black, but the thing that she couldn't seem to get out of her mind is his eyes. Those deep, soulful, chocolate brown orbs that had been watching her so intensely. She had felt an enormously strong pull towards him, and when they had locked eyes it was something so unreal"¦ like they could see into each other's souls, she had felt his emotions as though they were her own. She could have sworn she had seen his eyes briefly flash gold when he was forced to start walking again, this and the connection that she now felt with a man she didn't even know, had filled her mind with so much confusion and uncertainty that she wasn't sure of what to do.

Shaking her head, she pulled on her helmet and started to speed through the streets of the city to the building that her surrogate father, Rupert Giles, called home. Buffy had never known her birth parents; she, like most other warriors, was taken away from them at a very young age to be trained as a warrior. Giles was the closest thing she had to a father, he had trained her all of her life and knew her better than most people did. Warriors live with their trainers until they're at least eighteen, Buffy, being almost nineteen, had moved out a few months ago.

She slowed to a stop as she reached the familiar house that she used to call home. Giles was one of the few trainers who had chosen to live outside one of the complexes, he had built his own library and gym inside the building to accommodate Buffy's training and although the gym was similar to the ones in the complexes, the library he had built was enormous. Entering the large building, she looked around for the "˜stuffy British man' shrugging, she decided on a different approach.
"GILES!!" she yelled

A few moments later, an English voice rang out and a familiar man came into view.
"Buffy would you please stop yelling like that! It's extremely unnecessary, I was in the library, all you had to was look."

Buffy smiled,
"Could-a, would-a, should-a, didn't."

Giles sighed and walked back into the library.
"I do hope that you have something productive to share given how urgent your holler sounded."

Buffy followed him and jumped up on his desk.
"Nope, not really. Patrol was as usual, a newbie vamp, no biggie though. Almost got caught by Gunn again, luckily he's hopeless when it comes to the puppy-dog eyes."

"Yes well, I have yet to meet anyone who is immune to your "˜puppy-eyes' as you call them."

"Just part of my irresistible charm." With that her thoughts turned back to the stranger from before, her mind once again becoming perplexed.

"Buffy, are you alright?"

"What?" Buffy said, breaking from her thoughts. "Oh, ya I'm fine. Giles, is there anyone new coming into town?"

"Yes as a matter of fact. There was an announcement issued by the council yesterday, they've let a vampire into the compound. They assure us that he's peaceful however it's somewhat difficult to imagine a peaceful vampire."

"What? A vampire!? They let a vampire into the compound and no one even thought to tell me? You could have warned me you know, I should be on my guard all warrior like! I need to know these things Giles! It was important!" Buffy groaned and slumped into a nearby chair, the guy's eyes did glow gold and now she knew why.

"Buffy I am sorry I didn't tell you but I assumed you knew. But why are you so concerned, you've never bothered much with what goes on in the colony. Did something happen tonight?"

Buffy sighed, knowing that it was pointless to try to lie.
"I saw the guy on my way back. Gunn and his men were taking him somewhere; I didn't even notice him until they started to go. He was staring at me, I looked at him and it was like"¦"

"Like what Buffy?"

"I can't describe it Giles. It was like nothing I've ever felt before. I've been around vamps before, and this one- he's different."

"I see. Well if what the council says is true and he is in fact peaceful, that may have something to do with your strange reaction to him."

"I guess. Look Giles, I'm majorly beyond tired so I think I'm just gonna head home okay?"

Giles sighed, knowing that she was avoiding the subject.
"Alright Buffy, sleep well. And remember if you need me, I'll be right here."

Buffy gave him a weak smile.
"Thanks, I'll stop by tomorrow before I head out. Tell you if anything comes up."

With that, Buffy quickly and headed out to her waiting bike. She quickly drove to the complex that she now called home. It was a large one, most of the residences were warriors like herself, but unlike most of them she had yet to be put on active duty. Giles took pity on her and allowed her to do brief patrols but technically she wasn't permitted to do so, she mostly trained and took care of small non-demon problems. After parking her bike Buffy moved through the halls and up a few flights of stairs until she reached her apartment. She had purposely selected one away from other people, not wanting to have to worry about neighbours. At least that's what she told Giles; really she was just sick of being treated like a kid, as most of the on-duty warriors consider her to be.

Sighing she opened the door and threw her jacket on the couch. Her apartment was one of the typical designs. Most of the furniture was made from metal, and her fabrics were a gold colour with some bright red accents. She had a few photos here and there; some of Giles or her adopted sister Tara. But mostly the apartment was bare, even her bedroom was somewhat plain. It had a light orange and yellow colour scheme, but that's mostly because Tara had insisted that Buffy "needed some colour", and although Buffy had a few small knick-knacks scattered throughout the room it didn't look very lived in.

After changing into her pyjamas, Buffy laid down on her bed picking up her stuffed pig Mr. Gordo. Giles had given it to her as a birthday gift when she was four and it had been her best friend ever since. However sometimes not even her fuzzy pink friend could cheer her up. Truthfully, Buffy wasn't always happy with her life. It revolved around Council's orders and training, she didn't have friends, she didn't get to party, but most of all no one really knew who she was. Most people who met her just saw some warrior, but she was also a woman. She loved the colour pink and ice cream and had dreams when she was little; things that she wanted to do that she'd never have the chance to. Help people, see the world, buy a nice house somewhere, fall in love.

"˜Fall in love"¦'

The thought brought her back to her earlier experience with the man she saw. It was crazy, she didn't even know him. He was a vampire and she was a warrior. Yet a big part of her really didn't care. She wanted-needed to see him again, find out his name, why he's here, hell she'd even bargain for his shoe size. Only he could give her the answers she needed, unfortunately at the moment, she wasn't even sure if she knew the questions.

Banishing those thoughts from her mind, she rolled over and eventually fell to sleep. Maybe tomorrow things would get a little bit better...

End of Chapter Three.
 
it gets better every time i read!!
i love the introduction of tara as buffy's adopted sister.
great work!!
can't wait for part four!
 
Well, I need to catch up on some of the stories here in the Watcher's Diaries, so might as well begin with THIS one, eh?

You have quite the riveting little tale going on here, miss Angelic_Slayer. In fact it's excellent. :: tu ::

Just watch those tense changes and you'll be perfect. 😛 (This is coming from me, the absolute WORST offender when it comes to tense changes. Lol.)

Please do continue your tale. I would be most interested in seeing how this ends up.

Once again, good job. :: tu ::


:buffy_gil
 
Thanks to Lyri and Old Master III for your replies!!

Lyri- Awwwe! Thanks so much! I hope you liked this one too! :smile:

Old Master III- Lol, thanks a bunch! I'm working on the tense changes in the chapters I'm writing now, unfortunatly with all the crazyness of getting those finished (and half decent) I don't have the time to go over ALL these chapters and fix them. I'll do my best with that though! :icon12:



Rupert Giles was sitting in his dining room having some tea and lunch while reading the latest council reports. Other than the arrival of the vampire, not much was going on. The details on the demon's presence were sketchy, leaving a lot of questions unanswered. Sighing he put down the papers and took a sip of his tea.
"Giles?"

The trainer looked up and almost choked on his tea. There, standing in the doorway was Buffy, and given the look on her face he was unsure of whether to run and hide or gather her in a fatherly embrace. Her eyes were red and she looked as though she hadn't slept at all, her expression was of both helplessness and frustration. Deciding to play it safe Giles rose from his seat and looked at her with concern.
"Buffy. Are you all right? Here, sit down, would you like some tea?"

Buffy smiled at Giles' offer,
"No thanks, although I'd love to have a nice soothing glass of british-y goodness, I'm really here to see Tara."

"Oh, of course. She's upstairs, in the parlour I believe."

"Thanks."

Buffy turned and started up the stairs in search of her friend. Tara was the same age as Buffy, her parents had died when she was young in an attack, and Giles had taken her in and raised her. She and Buffy had become inseparable for most of their lives, but when Buffy had to start her rigorous training she and Tara had grown somewhat apart. Although in the past few years she didn't see her as much as she'd like, Buffy knew that she could go to her for anything. Now Tara worked for a childcare center in town and had chosen to remain living with Giles.

Reaching the parlour, Buffy found a light-brown haired woman sitting at a table; a book in one hand and a glass of water in the other.
"Hey." Buffy said timidly.

The brunette looked up and quickly put aside her book.
"Buffy, hi! What are you doing here, Giles said you were going to be training with Faith and Gunn today."

"I will be, I just wanted to talk to you first. But if you're busy I can come back later, I don't want to intrude or anything."

"No, it's fine! I was just catching up on some reading. What's up... are you okay?"

Taking a deep breath, Buffy shook her head.

"Oh, come on sit down." Tara said, leading her into a chair. "What happened?"

Buffy looked down at her hands.
"It's stupid. I mean I only saw him for a couple seconds and I don't even know who he is. And it's not like I knew what he was I just thought he was a regular guy but he's not, and then he walked away and now I can't get him out of my head and-"

"Wow, Buffy just slow down okay? What are you talking about, who's this guy?"

Buffy sighed,
"Yesterday, on my way back here from patrol? I ran into Gunn and his guys, Gunn knew I was patrolling but he let me off the hook. Then they started walking again and I saw this guy. I've never seen him around, he was the most gorgeous guy I've ever seen. He was looking at me and then I caught his eye and oh my gosh, Tara it was like nothing I've ever felt before. I was a few feet away from him but I've never felt that close to anyone in my life! It was like he saw inside me, like he knew me better than I know myself. I didn't even say anything and then he left."

Tara was quiet for a moment, trying to process what her friend had just told her.
"Wow, okay well that's good though right? I mean you know better than I do that people aren't' allowed to leave the colony, it'd be too much of a risk. So that means he'll be around, maybe you'll see him again."

"That's the problem Tara. Did you hear about that vampire that was sent here?" Tara nodded, "Well"¦"

A look of recognition crossed Tara's features, soon to be replaced with shock.
"Oh."

"And I can't get him out of my head! I could barely sleep last night because I kept having dreams of him. I mean, I don't even know him and he's a vampire! God, you probably think I'm crazy."

"No, not at all Buffy. Like you said you didn't know he was a vampire, and if he wasn't I know you"¦ okay so you'd still be this paranoid but for different reasons."

Buffy gave her a soft laugh,
"Gee thanks."

"Oh come on, you know it's true. But look at it this way, if the Council is letting him in he must be good right? And if he is then maybe it isn't as big a deal as you're making it."

"Well sure if you're going to go all logic on me."

"I'm just trying to make you see another side to this. It'll work out Buffy, just try not to worry about it so much."

Buffy smiled.
"Alright I'll try. Thanks for listening to my babble-fest. I'd better get home, get bit of sleep before dusk, promised Faith and Gunn I'd meet them downtown for a bit of training."

"No problem Buffy, I'll see you later." Buffy nodded and turned to leave. "Oh and Buffy?"

"Ya?"

"You are going to have to tell me how this one turns out, I haven't seen this much drama since a kid swallowed a hot-wheels car last year."

Buffy laughed and headed out, Tara was right things would work out. Not that they could get much more complicated.



Meanwhile, Angel was facing some similar dilemmas of his own. The warriors, as ordered, had shown him to his new apartment and left immediately. He had let out a sigh of relief when he seen his place; the council had brought all his old furniture from New York. He looked through the apartment and although a lot of his more unimportant items were missing, most of it was here. Almost all of his furniture was made from wood, he had never been a huge fan of steel furnishings and although he knew it was all a plan to get on his good side, he was thankful to have what he would call a normal apartment. And as an added bonus, they had also brought a large chest that to the naked eye looked like it was filled with sheets, it was technically, but underneath that was his collection of weaponry. Crossbows, axes, stakes, knives, even a few of his favourite broadswords were buried inside.

However home furnishings weren't his problem. He needed to get things for the apartment; first aid supplies, toiletries, and then there was the issue of figuring out how to get some pig's blood. He, luckily, had acquired a large amount of money over the years, and still owned priceless art pieces from hundreds of years ago; therefore he didn't need to work. But the challenge of figuring out where to shop and how to get there was proving to be more difficult than he thought. There was some form of a phonebook on in the kitchen, a list of a few stores in town with their addresses and hours, but Angel had trouble finding ones that were open into the night. He was also finding it almost impossible to concentrate. His mind kept wandering to the petite blonde who he had seen the night before.

Because of what he was, he had made a habit of sleeping through most of the day. Now, it being close to noon, he had got less than an hour's sleep and was trying concentrate on the lists in front of him. Sighing he threw them across the table and started pacing, no matter how often he told himself to cool down he found the task almost impossible. Every time he closed his eyes, all he could see was her. By now everyone in the colony probably knew he was there, and he doubted she would react well if she found out what he was. Unfortunately it wasn't an enormous colony, and given that no one would be leaving it anytime soon, chances were they would be forced to meet again. Angel could argue for hours over whether that was a good thing or not.

Growling in frustration, Angel picked up a nearby knife and threw it to the other side of the room, running his hand through his hair he resumed his pacing.

"Alright, remind me not to make you all too angry." Said an unfamiliar, Irish voice.

Angel whipped around to see a short man with dark hair; he was dressed in a bright red shirt and brown jacket, immediately Angel knew something was different about him.
"Who are you?" Angel asks warily.

"Name's Doyle." The man says simply, walking around the apartment.

"You're not human."

"Half human to be exact. Nice place, a bit out of the ordinary but I suppose that would apply to you as well."

"Because I haven't thrown you out or because you're still standing?" Angel asked, hoping some subtle threats would convince the man to leave.

"Well, ordinarily after stepping into a strong and fairly grouchy demon's apartment I'd have to say both, but I was thinkin' more because of you having a soul. Not an ordinary thing among vampires."

"What do you want?" Angel asked in a deadly tone.

"Just to talk. You see Angel; I've been here for years now. Me and a few pals snuck in a while back and when you've been here for as long as I have you learn things."

"What things?"

"Well for one, you know who to talk to if you wanna get info. But you also learn a lot about what it's like to be different- a demon. Now for me, it's not too bad, I can fit in as a human, but I've seen what happens to demons who are discovered and it's not pretty. They'll gang up on ya, if you're lucky they'll let you live. You thought the mobs you used to get were bad, these people can be worse. I came to warn you. Everyone knows what you are Angel, they're going to come after you. Just remember, don't fight back, if you kill any of "˜em you're a dead man." He paused slightly, before adding as an afterthought; "Oh, and watch out for the pipe it'll give ya a nasty bruise you won't soon forget."

"Why are you telling me this?"

Doyle shrugged,
"I've seen enough peaceful demons get killed, I don't wanna see another one get it. You could do some real good here though man, something's tellin' me we're gonna see some great things from you."

Angel was silent, staring at the stranger for a moment.
"Sorry, I'm not exactly the champion type. Thanks for the info, but if you don't leave I'm going to have to start with the throwing out thing."

"Gotcha man, I'll see you around, and good luck to ya." He laughed, heading out the door, "Powers that be, with that little spitfire around you're to need it."

Angel stared at the spot the half-demon had just occupied, to say the least he was confused. It wasn't even as though his messages were all that cryptic, they were just unfinished. Who were the powers that be? Who was the "spitfire"- a new enemy? And why on earth did he have to watch out for a pipe?! Spying something on the ground, Angel moved across the room to pick it up. It was a simple playing card, the queen of hearts; only instead of the typical portrait expected there was a picture of a demon turned to it's right, and behind it, facing left, was a female. In her hand was a dagger of some kind; jewelled with red and white gemstones. Although the two figures were obviously separate, they seemed somehow intertwined. Sighing at what could either be a cryptic clue or just a card from a somewhat strangedeck, he walked to his room and tossed it into one of his drawers, deciding on the latter for now.

After going over and over the strange messages in his mind, trying to decipher their meanings; and only becoming more baffled, Angel turned to see that over an hour had passed. He went into his room and decided to read for a while until sunset arrived.

Hours later, when the sun had fallen and the light was safe enough to travel in, Angel headed downtown hoping to find some of the supplies he had been looking for. As he walked down the stairs and out the front door, Doyle stared after him.
"And so it has begun."


End of Chapter Four.

PLEASE REPLY!!!! *G* 😀
 
i'm not a huge fan of the buffy/angel relationship, but i have to say, this has got me hooked!
doyle was one of my fave characters in angel, so i was delighted to see him included in this. the same with faith, who IS my fave charcter!! i can't wait to see what you've got planned for her!!
maybe this is just me, but i dind't really notice the tenses thing, i was too involved in the story!
keep up the great work!!
 
This is shaping up really well. I like the way you've integrated the elements of the Buffyverse into a more (dare I say) sci-fi world. Will we be finding out more about this world and its history in future chapters?
 
Big thanks to Lyri and Mr. Pointy for your replies!! 😀

And yes, there will be more about the history and society of the colony in the upcoming chapters.

_______________________________________________

Angel walked through the still-busy streets in downtown, trying to find the local mall. Luckily, it was cloudy enough outside that he didn't have to wait too long after the sun began to set before he could travel. But even with the dim light, he tried to keep to the shadows, wishing that he could just blend into his surroundings completely. However despite his efforts, most people who walked by him defiantly noticed him, shooting confused or angered looks his way. Angel was not a fool, he knew that he would be recognized, but he had always hated large crowds and all the attention on him was unnerving. Sighing, he once again looked around, hoping to find some indication of where he was. Then he felt it, a feeling as though something was about to happen. Something that would change (or possibly end) his unlife.

Angel looked up to see a group of at least half a dozen guys heading his was; none were looking happy to see him. They all seemed to fallow three other men, the tallest (who looked to be the leader) was about the same height as Angel; he had light brown hair and was wearing a camouflage outfit. Realising that he really had no place to run and spying a few of them pull weapons out of their coats, Angel groaned. Looks like he was about to meet the "spitfire" that Doyle had referred to. He couldn't have been more right.



Meanwhile, Buffy was in the very middle of the downtown, blocking punches from a fairly strong and well-trained brunette. She had met up with Gunn and Faith to train, as promised, and at the moment she was thankful that she had managed to get a few hours of needed rest after going home again.

Buffy had known Faith for most of her life, they had started training together when they were twelve. Faith, like Gunn, had been put on active duty several years back and was usually assigned to take care of the demon problems. She was pretty wild but followed orders well, she and Gunn often worked together on assignments, they had known each other all their lives and got along like brother and sister. Even with their busy schedules, Gunn and Faith still trained with Buffy on occasion. Most would find their meeting place strange, considering they practically trained in the middle of town in the open, but there was a small platform there that they often used. It also allowed Faith and Gunn to keep their eye on the city (because it was so high up), and gave them a few minutes head start over the other warriors if something were to go wrong.

Buffy dodged a punch from Faith, retaliating with her own side-kick.
"I just don't get why the council refuses to put me on duty!" she complained, blocking Faith's attacks. "I mean, I'm older than either of you two were when you were put on patrols!"

"Don't worry about it B, your turn will come." Faith said, attempting to hit Buffy in the gut.

Buffy dodged to attack before jumping up and landing a kick to the brunette's side.
"But there's no reason why I shouldn't be out there!"

"Kid you know how it works," Gunn said, "They'll call you when you're ready. I mean come on, both Faith and I can still beat you."

Buffy took a second to glare at him,
"Ya, and you two have also been on duty for years now, you've had way more experience than me."

"That's not the only problem Buffy, not that you don't sneak out to patrol anyway. You're speed could use work, your technique is way off, not to mention your form. And your concentration is all over the place, you always should be ready to defend yourself-"

Gunn didn't have time to finish his statement before a fist collided with his jaw. Before he could react, he found himself flat on his back, the girl in question standing over him.
"What was that you were saying about "˜always being ready'?" she asked smirking.

"Lucky shot." Gunn said, getting up, trying not to groan at the throbbing pain coming from his jaw.

He looked up at Faith who was laughing whole-heartedly at him.
"Wow Charlie-boy, for someone so bad at fighting, it looks like she just knocked you flat on your ass."

"Come on Faith, you know as well as I do that Buffy's not ready to start patrolling. And you shouldn't be sneaking out either kid, if anyone but me found out about it you'd be in some major trouble."

Buffy was about to protest when a strange feeling swept over her. A feeling of utter dread emerging from her very soul, the sense that something was going horribly wrong. Panicked, she looked around, scanning the streets for anything out of place. Then she saw it. A group of people crowded around someone, weapons flashing throughout them.
"Gunn!"

Her two companions came over to her, gasping slightly at the sight before them.
"A mob." Faith said, turning to her partner.

Gunn nodded.
"Looks like civilians, we're gonna need backup for this. Buffy stay here, Faith and I have to get the others."

Buffy opened her mouth to reply, but then a slight opening in the crowd emerged. Buffy saw a man with dark hair in the middle of it all, his face was shadowed but immediately she knew who it was.
"Oh my god."

Without a second thought Buffy started off towards the crowd, but a firm grip on her arm stopped her.
"Buffy listen to me, this is dangerous you're not a part of this. It's our job, let us do it. Stay here" Gunn said, giving her an intimidating look.

Buffy sighed and withdrew for a moment, but the moment Gunn released his grip on her she pulled away and kicked him square in the chest, his body falling backwards from the unexpected attack. She quickly took off, ignoring the protests coming from behind her and ran as fast as she could towards the crowd.



Angel hurt. Everywhere. After the commando-wannabes showed up they were soon joined by several of the residents, all who were out for blood. Angel had tried to fight them off but there were too many, he was now on the ground, trying to move away, but his efforts only ended in vain. Everywhere he turned someone was there, hit after hit his strength lessened, he couldn't get a good look at how many were there before someone else would come beating down on him. Angry yells pounded in his ears, each word filled with hatred. He looked up and saw a steel pipe coming his way; he tried moving away, but could only let out a scream of pain when it came down on him.

It seemed as though the pain would never end, then he saw someone advancing on him, the leader that started this whole thing. In his hand was a large wooden stake, the man raised his arm, preparing to end Angel's unlife. The vampire cringed, waiting for the devastating blow. That's when it happened.

An arm came out of nowhere, stopping the stake mere inches from his heart. He looked up to see a petite woman kick the leader in the gut, sending him several feet backwards. He was amazed when her face came into view, it was the blonde goddess he had met before. He could only stare as she fought off his attackers, blocking their attacks and landing her own.

Buffy was enraged. As soon as she had seen Angel's injuries, any amount of self-control she possessed snapped. It had almost awakened something inside of her, a primal force giving her strength she didn't know she had. It didn't matter who they were, all that mattered is that they had hurt the man who had stolen her heart. She drove them back, blocking and delivering attacks as though it were second nature. Her eyes came upon a familiar face; it was the man who had tried to stake Angel.

"Riley!" she yelled, with such anger that everyone around her froze.

"Buffy?" Riley asked surprised.

"What the HELL do you think you're doing!?" she yelled.

Behind her, Angel almost smirked at her tone. For reasons unknown to him, she was pissed about this, and there was defiantly going to be hell to pay.

"It's not what you think." Riley said quickly.

"Oh really? Well that's great "˜cause it looked like you were about to kill an innocent man!"

"Buffy you don't understand, he's a vampire!"

Angel cringed, if the woman, Buffy, as the man had called her, was willing to help him before he highly doubted she would be too fond of him now.

Buffy advanced on Riley, getting up in his face. Those around her couldn't help but feel intimidated by the 5-foot, something blonde.

"I know what he is Riley. And I'm telling you to stay the hell away from him." She turned, regarding the people around her. "All of you listen up! This vampire is under my protection. NO ONE is to hurt him and if ANY of you even THINK of harming him in any way, shape, or form, I WILL hunt you down and make you wish you'd never been born."

Suddenly terrified of the blonde (and knowing by her expression that her threats were anything but empty) any remaining civilians fled quickly, leaving Buffy and the wounded vampire alone with Riley and his comrades.

Turning her attention to the injured stranger, Buffy slowly bent down to him, her disposition immediately changing. Carefully, she reached her hand forward and lightly caressed his cheek. Almost not believing what was happening, Angel looked up into her eyes, surprised at the concern he found there. She offered him a weak smile before coming closer to him and carefully resting his head on her lap, gently stroking his hair.
"It's okay. You're safe now." She said, whispering lightly to him.

Angel was shocked at first, not knowing how to react. But a part of him instinctively knew that he could trust her, sighing, he relaxed under her touch.

"Buffy!"

Buffy looked up to see Gunn, Faith, and a few other warriors rushing towards them, weapons drawn and shocked expressions plastered on their faces. Coming only a few feet from Buffy, Gunn eyed her curiously.
"Buffy, what happened?"

Buffy looked up at him.
"Riley and these goons attacked this man, a bunch of civilians decided to join in on the party. Riley was about to stake him when I got here, I managed to fight them off."

"You mean you fought all those people off?"

Buffy didn't reply, merely shot daggers at Riley.

"He's a vampire, I was trying to do my job." Riley said defensively.

With a glance at the fallen vampire, Buffy slowly got up, brining her companion with her. Angel groaned at the pain that shot through him at the movement, she quickly put her arm around him for support. Once Angel was steadied, Buffy let go of him slowly, before walking towards Riley.
"Riley?" she asked, her voice sweet.

"Ya?"

A crack whipped through the air as Buffy's fist collided with the warrior's nose, knocking him off balance and to the ground.
"That is for so NOT doing your job!" before he could get up, she punched him again. "And that is for what you did to him!"

"Buffy!" Faith warned, surprised at her usual-peaceful friend's actions.

"After wt he did he's lucky he still has all his body-parts intact." She said bitterly.

Turning away from them, Buffy put her arms around Angel again.
"Can you walk?"

Angel nodded. Leaning on the blonde warrior for support, the two of them slowly made their way across town. Leaving the others staring at their retreating forms, stunned into silence.


End of Chapter Five.

Replies Please! 😀
 
Thanks Lyri! I'm glad you like the characters I've introduced so far, however I'm afraid that from what I have written (and what I'm planning), even though there will be more characters introduced, a lot of the main characters you usually see on BTVS won't be in this story (mainly Xander, Willow, Cordy, etc...)
When I started writing this I decided to use the less main characters (that maybe aren't in as many fics as the main ones) and try and expand on them. I may include SOME of the other main-ish characters along the line (because knowing how I write, I can never say never 😉 ) but I can't make any garauntees. BUT there will be SEVERAL more characters coming into play, so don't worry, I'm still trying to get as many "flavours" in as I can, I just thought I'd do something a bit out of the ordinary. :smile:

You may notice that this post has TWO chapters in it, neither are REALLY long (compared to some future ones) so I thought I'd combine them when I can to try and "catch up" with my other posts (and because it gives everyone more reading material, lol 😉 )




Chapter Six

The two strangers silently walked across town, ignoring the curious glances sent their way. Buffy walked at a slow pace, allowing Angel to lean on her for support. She was furious with Riley for what he had done, although she knew that vampires healed quickly Angel would need a day or two to be able to walk normally, and from what she saw he had several deep gashes on his ribs. What probably annoyed her most, however, is the fact that even though she didn't even know his name and he was severely injured, Buffy couldn't get her mind off the handsome stranger beside her. She couldn't help but sneak looks at the vampire, he was even more gorgeous up close than she'd thought, that and the draw she felt towards him seemed to trap her mind in lusty thoughts. Thoughts that were somewhat new to her, but also ones she'd been taught to avoid.

"˜Get a grip Summers!' she thought, "˜He's just a guy! A very handsome guy maybe... with nice hair and deep, penetrating eyes and those lips-"˜

Remembering all too well where that sentence leads, Buffy shook her head and continued walking.


Beside her Angel paced along tensely, every nerve seemingly hypersensitive. Despite the enormous amount of pain he was in, he couldn't get his mind off the blonde woman that was so near. His arm was wrapped around her shoulders and because of it, his whole body was desperate for more contact; the urge to take her into his arms becoming almost unbearable. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her turn to look at him again. She had been doing it since they'd started walking, staring at him when she thought he couldn't see her. He figured either he was beat up bad (and really looked like it) or she was having more doubts about what he was than she'd let on. Either way, Angel was not exactly eager to find the reasoning behind her glances.

He knew he should say something; ask her why she saved him or at least thank her for it but he was at a complete loss of words. No one had ever shown him that kind of compassion before, most people he met didn't even acknowledge that he existed. Yet she had just saved his life, after he had done nothing for her at all. And from his initial "meeting" with the inhabitants, he got the impression that these people weren't all that understanding when it came to demons. He searched his mind for something to say, anything that would break the silence, but his mind drew a blank. Figures, after three hundred and some odd years of existence he was unable to find a way to say a simple thanks.

His thoughts were interrupted, however, when they reached a metal door in the far end of a housing complex.
"It's my apartment." She said simply, entering a small combination into a nearby keypad. "Here, come in."

To say the least Angel was in shock. He'd expected her to take him to the council, maybe drop him off at a bar if he was lucky, her home was the last place he'd expected her to bring him, never mind willingly invite him inside. Stepping through the door he looked over at her, questions swarming his mind. She shrugged in response, throwing her jacket onto a nearby couch.

Buffy looked over to Mr. tall, dark and handsome (which was the name she'd silently given him on the walk here), roughly assessing his injuries. He was beat up pretty bad to say the least, but she was mostly worried about his ribs.
"Follow me." She said, carefully taking his arm.

Slowly, she led him into her bedroom and sat him down on her bed. She turned on a nearby lamp, slightly illuminating the room. She quickly went into the closet and retrieved her first aid kit (which she now used bi-nightly) from the top shelf. Getting up again, she turned to him.
"It looks like your ribs got it pretty bad, take your shirt off, I'll be right back."

Going into the bathroom, she filled a bowl full of water, picked up a clean cloth and headed back towards her room. Upon reaching the doorway, it took all the willpower she possessed not to jump him right there. His shirt had been discarded to reveal washboard abs and strong muscles that most guys would kill for. Taking a deep breath, she set the bowl on her night table and examined his wounds. He had a deep gash on his ribs and bruises covering his arms and back. Based on how he was walking she could only guess that his legs were at least sprained, if not worse. Slowly she began washing his injuries before dressing them and moving onto the next. After finishing with the visible scratches she re-wet the cloth and slowly raised it to his eye. He flinched away slightly, a look of distress briefly flashing through his eyes.
"Sorry. You have a cut on your eye." Seeing his expression she continued, "It's alright, this might sting a bit but I won't hurt you."

Slowly he nodded, and she carefully started to clean the cut.
"Thank you." He said quietly, his voice startling her for a moment.

"What for?"

Smiling slightly, Angel looked at her,
"You saved my life today. I know that a thank you is pretty pathetic considering, but I'm kinda new at this whole concept."

Buffy took a deep breath, doing her best to concentrate on cleaning the cut.
"What they were doing was wrong, you didn't deserve it." She said simply.

"You don't know that." He said, his usual habit of brooding creeping back.

Buffy gathered her supplies and stood up; looking him in the eyes she gave him a small smile.
"Ya, I do."

Angel stared at the now empty doorway; he wasn't sure how to react to that. Sighing, he ran his hands through his hair.

"I'm Buffy by the way." She said, returning to the room. "Buffy Summers."

"Angel."

Buffy raised an eyebrow at his response.
"You're name is Angel?"

Angel smirked,
"Says the woman named Buffy."

"Hey, I happen to like my name thank you very much. And I didn't mean it as an insult, I like your name it's pretty... and rather fitting." She said, adding the last part under her breath.

"What?"

"Nothing." Looking around the room, Buffy sighed the silence once again creeping up on the couple.

"Look I appreciate the help, really I do. I'd better get going back to my place though." Angel said, rising to get up.

Buffy quickly moved to stand in front of him.
"Excuse me?"

"Ya, my place is just across town and-"

"And you honestly think I'm letting you go? Angel you can barely walk, and I happen to know that a deep gash to the ribs tends to hurt a bit."

"I'll be fine."

"What you'll be is here! I'll close the curtains and you will lie down and get some much-needed rest. I'm going to have to do a few things and when I get back you'll still be right here in a deep, peaceful slumber."

"Buffy, really it's okay-"

Buffy gave him a deadly glare, folding her arms over her chest.
"Look, those guys who attacked you are still out there and there's nothing saying if you walk home alone you'll be okay. I just saved your life and I'm sure as hell not going to let you just throw it out the window because you have some freaky pride issues. You're going to stay here and you're not leaving until I say you're well enough to go. Not only that but when I get back you will be asleep or I won't hesitate to knock you over the head with an extremely heavy object, that may or may not cause you even more severe brain damage than you obviously already have. Either way, you're sticking around for a while, even if it means being unconscious for the duration of your stay!"

Angel stared at her, his mouth hanging open slightly. He, the great Angelus: Former Scourge of Europe, was being threatened by a five foot something blonde who was less than a tenth of his age. Sighing, he laid down and looked up at her, putting his hands up in surrender.
"Scary part is, those probably aren't empty threats are they?"

Buffy gave him a cheery smile, taking out a jacket from her closet.
"Nope, thank you for your cooperation. I'll be back soon, sleep! Or you'll be facing the wrath of my frying pan."

Chucking, Angel put his head back and listened as she turned to the front door.
"You really are impossible!" he shouted, as he heard the door open.

Buffy peeked her head in the doorway and smiled,
"Yep, it's all apart of my spitfire personality that I just know you're gonna love."

With that she left, locking the door and leaving a stunned Angel sitting straight up on the bed behind her. Remembering Doyle's words and the almost sympathetic laugh that had followed, everything seemed to click. Falling back on the pillows, he let out a groan; almost wishing she'd knocked him out. There was no doubt about it. He was totally and officially hopeless.

End of Chapter Six.



Chapter Seven


When Buffy returned a few hours later, it was well into the early morning. The sun would no doubt be up in a couple hours, which would mean that Angel would be stuck inside- with her- alone- all day long; the very thought brought a smile to her face. Of course, there was a small nagging part of her brain that told her he might have already run away but that was just the sweetest part of her plan. The only two ways he could leave is a) if he'd left when she went out, or b) if he tried leaving later (when the sun would up); either way, he would be a pile of dust before noon.

Buffy shook her head, realising what she was saying. She barely knew this man, yet she had this overwhelming sense of protectiveness over him. Like he was hers, only hers, and she'd die before letting anyone hurt him; and that alone scared her more than she dared to admit. All her life Buffy had done her best to shut out her feelings. If something bothered her she kept it silent, always burying things inside herself. She kept her heart closed off from the world and never let anyone in. Giles and Tara were the people who really knew her at all, but even with them she held back. Never letting anyone close enough to hurt her, always keeping the world an arms length away. Then he came.

In only a few hours Angel had already sent most of her beliefs into chaos. Her ideas about vampires were quickly changing and after the attack, her outlook on warriors as well. All the walls she'd put around her heart started tumbling down the second she'd laid eyes on him and it wasn't stopping. It was like he had crept his way inside her and was now flowing through her every thought, every nerve, and no matter how hard she tried she could not stop or deny the feelings that were now overwhelming her. She wasn't even sure if she wanted to.

Sighing, she punched in her key-code and crept into the apartment. Everything seemed as she'd left it, carefully setting her bags on the coffee table she moved through the apartment and started to close the curtains. Picking up one of her bags she tiptoed into her room, she almost gasped at what she saw. There was Angel, sprawled out on her bed topless with the moonlight shining over his features.

His expression was one of utter peace; like one of a child- innocent and free. Her eyes were glued to him, all she could think about was what it'd be like to wake up next to that face everyday. Entranced, she made her way across the room; setting her bag on the floor she kneeled down next to the bed. She slowly reached up and carefully touched his face; almost afraid to touch him in fear that he'd disappear. Timidly she ran her hand down his cheeks to his jaw, cupping his face in her hand. This was the first time she'd really touched him at all and she was drawn to him like a magnet, the moment her skin met his it was like her blood was singing, almost screaming at her to get closer.

Slowly Angel stirred, usually after he awoke he had a good sense of awareness, knew what had happened and where he was, but at the moment he became even a bit alert his mind seemed to freeze. He immediately felt the hand on his cheek, without opening his eyes he turned his face slightly to nuzzle it, his body aching to pull whatever creature this was closer. Becoming semi-aware, he opened his eyes to find them staring into emerald green ones. The two stared at each other for a few moments, both entranced.
"Buffy?" Angel asked softly, as though just recognizing who she was.

Realising the position she was in Buffy quickly pulled her hand away and looked to the floor, her face turning a deep red shade.
"Sorry." She mumbled, quickly turning her attention to the bag she'd brought with her. "Umm, I just came in, to make sure that you were alright. God, I'm sorry for waking you I should have waited until morning-"

"It's fine Buffy" Angel said, cutting off what he already recognizing as what could lead to babbling.

Shyly, Buffy stood up.
"So how are you? Are you alright?"

"Ya, it hurts a little but it's not a big deal."

"Oh, well that's good I guess." Shifting feet uncomfortably, Buffy set her brown-paper bag onto the night-table. "Here"¦ it's blood. I stopped by the butcher's on my way back, I think it's pig's blood or something. I wasn't sure how you fed and I you're obviously can't go get it yourself and I've heard that it helps vampires heal quickly, which is good in your case "˜cause hey, you have all these injuries and stuff. Not that you're not healing quickly- because you are it's just that"¦ you know."

"Thank you. I usually go to the butcher's, I haven't been able to find one since I came here though." Angel said, giving her a faint smile, noticing her nervousness. Inside the thought of him feeding around her made him more than uncomfortable, but he ignored the feelings for her sake.

"Well umm, I'm getting tired so I'll just leave you alone. I'm going to get some sleep, I'll be in the living room if you need anything." Buffy said, moving to the door.

"Wait!" Angel said, Buffy turned back to stare at him. After a few moments he realised that she probably wanted an explanation. "This is your room, you shouldn't have to sleep on the couch. I'll move- you sleep here."

"No Angel it's fine, you're injured and I totally don't mind."

"No, it's your house and you deserve to sleep in your own bed."

"Angel-"

"I insist." He said, giving her a look that left no room for arguing.

Buffy stared at him for a moment before smirking, an idea popping into her head. She didn't want him to sleep on the couch but she also wasn't fond of the idea of fighting with him all night, so she decided to try a different approach. Shrugging, she pulled off her shoes and her sweater leaving her dressed in sweatpants and a VERY small tank top.
"Fine, you win." She said simply.

She crossed the room and grabbed a nearby stake, setting it on the night table on the opposite side of her bed, she could feel Angel's questioning gaze on her. Yawning, she climbed into the bed next to him; snuggling into his chest and pressing her body comfortably (and suspiciously) close to his before gently closing her eyes.

Angel however, for what seemed like the zillionth time tonight was beyond shocked. He took in shaky unneeded breaths, his body crying out for hers. Unsure of what to do, he began to get up but was stopped by a small hand on his arm.
"Get up and I'll stake you." Buffy said drowsily, pulling him back down and moving even closer to him.

Sighing, Angel gave up on his argument of personal space, and decided to swallow his pride. He wrapped his strong arms around her petite frame and closed his eyes, waiting until she was slumbering before he too, let sleep take him.


It wasn't until late the next day when Buffy awoke. As the memories of last night came rushing back to her she opened her eyes. She yawned and started to get up but froze as she realised the position she was in. Through the night she and Angel had both shifted positions, he was laying on his back, with his arms wrapped securely around her. Her head was pillowed on his chest and her arms were around his large frame. Their legs had tangled somewhat, leaving Buffy blushing at the intimacy of their position. Almost unwillingly she carefully untangled herself from him, doing her best not to wake the sleeping vampire. Getting up she decided to save her coffee for later and after picking up some clothes she headed straight for the bathroom for a very, very cold shower.

A half-hour later, Buffy emerged from the bathroom dressed in a pair of jeans and a simple white shirt with a curved neckline and long sleeves. Slowly she padded to the kitchen and made herself a coffee. After adding milk and an outrageous amount of sugar (as Giles had told her on many occasions), she began sipping the caffeine-filled beverage. But before she had even finished half of it, she heard a small ringing. Letting out a sigh, Buffy put down her mug and went into the living room, picking up her small silver cell phone. It was a fairly rare thing for people to have cells anymore (since it was such a small community) but after she had moved out, Giles had insisted she get one so that he could get a hold of her.
"Hello?" she said, finally picking up.

"Buffy, it's about time, what on earth happened to you?" said a familiar British voice. "I've been trying to call you all morning!"

"Sorry Giles, I had a late night, slept in."

She heard an annoyed sigh coming from the other end.

"So, did you call me just to interrupt my morning coffee or is there like an apocalypse brewing? Because if there is I am so gonna need more ice cream."

"Buffy quit acting childish, of course there is a reason for my call." Giles snapped, getting Buffy's attention.

"Okay, what's going on? "˜Cause you're seriously giving me the wiggins right now."

"I received a call from the council today. They found out about your hostility yesterday and demand to see you."

"What? Hostility? If anyone was being hostile it was those people, I was just keeping them from killing someone!"

"A vampire if I recall correctly, yes? You are to report to the head office now, Mr. Travers and Mr. Garrison will meet you there." Pausing sligy, he continued in a softer voice. "Please Buffy, be careful and keep your remarks to yourself."

Understanding her trainer's warnings Buffy nodded.
"I will be. I'll come by after the meeting."

"Alright Buffy, but remember the council will not tolerate you attitude as much as others may."

With that, the line went dead. Sighing Buffy quickly scribbled a note for Angel and after grabbing her jacket and helmet headed out the door. Usually if someone messed up you were told to report to one of the on-duty warriors, rarely was anyone to meet with the heads of council even Buffy had only seen them once in her life. Only those who were in big trouble were asked to see them. Buffy let out a groan; it was going to be a long day.

End of Chapter Seven.


WOW that's a lot!
Please tell me what you think!! 😀
 
LOVE IT! LOVE IT! LOVE IT!

i don't even care if none of the other characters are going to appear, i just can't wait to see what happens next!
 
Lol, thanks SO much Lyri! 😀 😀 😀

Another double feature, comin' atcha! 😉

Chapter Eight

The sound of a motor ripped through the air as Buffy headed towards the council's headquarters. The bright afternoon sun assaulted her eyes as she drove, willing for clouds to cover the sky. Being the kind of person she is, Buffy usually went out in the early evening and night, avoiding going out in the middle of the day. Usually she was either sleeping or training during the day, when she was in the sun everyone could see her, over the years Buffy had been forced to bury her more social side and was now somewhat uncomfortable when in the spotlight. At night she couldn't help but feel free, it was as though it awakened an ancient force within her; one that would not be silenced unless she was in the moonlight.

Snapping out of her thoughts, Buffy looked up at the large building ahead. She grimaced as she noticed the security standing at the front doors, no doubt sent to escort her inside. Reluctantly Buffy pulled up by the building and stepped off her bike. As she walked towards the doors security moved both in front and behind her, forcing her to follow them. Buffy suppressed a groan; these Brits could be such drama queens.



Back in her apartment, Angel began to drift into consciousness. Slowly he opened his eyes; fear momentarily flooding him as he awoke in the unfamiliar room. Looking around, he stopped when the scent of vanilla surrounded him, as his memories returned he looked beside him, his eyes widening as he realised the lack-of Buffy beside him. Quickly he got up, panic rising within him. Was she hurt? Had the council taken her away for helping him? Did she decide she wants nothing to do with him after all? Subconsciously he knew it was silly to be so worried about her but his heart told a different story. Frantically he searched the apartment, his panic turning into cold fear as he realised she was gone. Walking into the kitchen, however, he spotted a note lying on the counter. Carefully picking it up, he read the loopy writing.

Angel,

Good Morning- or afternoon, I guess it'd be now. I hope you slept alright I tried not to wake you when I left, you really do need the rest. My trainer called and I had to stop by Headquarters. I should be back before nightfall, stay inside!!! Feel free to use the shower (down the hall, to your right) and/or raid my kitchen for any yummy-goodness you may desire. Oh! And I put your blood in the fridge (I hope that's alright).

See you later,

-Buffy

PS: I forgot to mention, be careful where you sit down I have a bad habit of leaving the occasional stake lying around. Sorry!


Angel stared at the paper, a smile creeping across his features. He didn't know why she had thought to give him a note, but the small gesture had warmed his unbeating heart. She cared, even if it was in a small way. And knowing that she's alright brought him more relief than he was ready to admit. Heading into the kitchen he pulled his blood out of the fridge and after quickly heating it he sat down and began drinking from a bright pink mug while re-reading her note.

As he looked over her words his brow furrowed, she said that she had to go to Headquarters. Angel remembered his visit there, the security was really tight and he seriously doubted people just stopped in for a visit. Was she in trouble for helping him? And who was her "˜trainer'? Granted he hadn't known her very long and had realised that she wasn't a typical colonist, but a trainer for what exactly? It was clear that she was some kind of warrior (which was a surprise in itself) but then why did others seem to regard her as a child? So far he'd seen her around the man, Gunn, who spoke to her like some brainless kid and then again when the others had arrived after Buffy saved him. The older teen had looked at her in disbelief and disregarded her once Riley had spoken.

He was tempted to look through her things a bit to help figure her out, but he had an odd feeling that it would be the last time he ever snooped, or walked properly, if she found out. From what he'd seen of her he guessed she was in her late teen years, and although he knew he could physically beat her in a fight when he was at his best, he still knew that she was not one to aggravate when you weren't able to run very fast. There was something about her though, besides his obvious attraction to her, that Angel sensed. It was small, buried under centuries of memories. Although he couldn't pinpoint what, he was certain that something was different about her.
"Different. Great observation there Sherlock, never would have guessed that one." He said to himself, beginning to pace around the kitchen.

Realising that all he was going to do is put a hole in her floor, Angel headed into down the hall to her shower. Hopefully it'd help take his mind off her for a while; although the very idea made even the brooding vampire laugh. Taking a shower in a place where he knew for a fact she was naked a few hours before? Ya, that would take his mind off her for sure.



Back at headquarters, Buffy was lead down the long halls by a small group of warriors. Their uniforms told her that they were apart of the council's more elite force, more like soldiers really. When she was younger, she and most of the other warriors were sent to a battle just outside of the colony. They had been put into vans and had no idea where they were going (due to the darkened windows) and by the time they got there it was too dark to see. She could remember watching them fight, and even now: years later she was unsure of her reaction. She had been partially in awe, they worked quickly and efficiently but they seemed a lot like robots; their emotions cut off and they left no room for individuality. For a lot of warriors the elite force was a goal- an honour to be on. Buffy, however, didn't know if it'd be an honour or a curse.

After what for Buffy was defiantly not enough time, she was pushed into a large room before the door was slammed shut behind her.
"That was rude." She muttered, regaining her balance.

As she looked around she noticed that the walls were white, the room was almost empty except for a large silver desk in the center of the room. As she remembered the way that Gunn was coming from a few days before, she wondered if Angel had been brought here. Buffy quickly shook her head, realising that it wasn't the time to get into those kind of thoughts again. Sighing she began pacing a bit, already bored of the annoyingly bright room.

Her boredom was ended however, when a door on the other side of the room opened; a figure emerging from the entrance. He was tall and strapping, his hair was grey and cut short and his clothes were black and white. He had an undeniable scowl plastered on his face, Buffy decided that she didn't like this man.
"Ms. Summers I presume?" he said, in a rather loud voice. "You're late."

"Oh, ya, sorry about that. My trainer couldn't get a hold of me-"

"You're lazy. And obviously have little or no regard for authority figures."

"Excuse me?" Buffy said, anger rising within her. "If I recall correctly, I was the one stuck standing here for the past five minutes."

The man's face turned a bright shade of red at her words.
"My name is Richard Garrison, I am a exceedingly respected member of the council so I highly suggest you watch your mouth girl. Now sit down and shut up!"

Remembering Giles' earlier warnings, Buffy did as she was told.

"We received a report yesterday from Riley Finn." He said, picking up a nearby file. "It stated that you attacked his team and several civilians yesterday. A few of the civilians received mild bruises and were treated; however Riley was reported with numerous injuries. Several bruised ribs, his nose broken in multiple places, not to mention dozens of small bruises all over his body. You wouldn't happen to know anything about this would you Miss Summers?"

Buffy sat there shocked for a few moments before replying.
"That was so not all my fault! The civilians weren't backing off and Riley did more than his share of damage before I even got there."

"You broke his nose Summers! Please feel free to tell me how that's his fault!" Richard yelled, throwing the file onto the desk.

"What he was doing was wrong!"

"By your standards!" Richard came up to her, his face inches from hers. "You are not on duty! It was not your place to intervene nor to make decisions on what is right and wrong. Riley is a senior officer and it is your job to stay out of his way!"

"He almost killed Angel!"

"Oh yes!" Richard threw his hands into the air. "Angel, the vampire correct? You attacked warriors on your side to defend a hostile. This is not the way to get attention and breaking more than a few regulations. He is a vampire, we do not defend creatures like him."

"But you said so yourself he's not dangerous! He was helpless! There was an angry mob beating him and he didn't even try to retaliate!"

"This is not up for discussion!" Richard once again picked up the file and leafed through it. "The circumstances in this case are irrelevant. You assaulted a senior officer and several civilians and you will now have to face the consequences. You will write a letter of apology to Mr. Finn and it will be delivered by the end of the week and signed by him to ensure that it is to his satisfaction. You are to stay off the main streets from midnight to six a.m. for the next two weeks. Also, for the remainder of the month you are not to be seen riding that offensive motorcycle, you will take it home today and no one will here it's motor for the next three weeks. You will stay at least ten feet away from the members if Riley's team for the next week and will not attempt to get any form of "˜payback'. You are also, until further notice, no longer allowed to see or speak to Mr. Charles or Ms. Faith."

Buffy stared at the man before her, suppressing the urge to wipe the annoying smirk off his face. Slowly standing, she turned to leave not trusting herself to speak. She headed to the door but stopped when she heard his voice.
"Oh, and this incident will be noted on your permanent record. I hope that it was worth it Miss Summers because this will be seriously taken into account if anyone is to ever consider letting you on duty. However given the circumstances, I highly doubt that will ever become a problem."

"Meaning?" Buffy grit out, unknowingly clenching her fists.

"Meaning, the day that the council lets a brat like you on active duty; will be the day that I die."

With her last ounce of self-control, Buffy walked out the door; silently vowing that some day she would prove him wrong. Sighing, she left the building, until then she'd have to settle with beating up Giles' punching bag for a few hours. Looking at her watch, she got on her bike and sped towards her trainer's house, willing to get over with the lecture that would undoubtedly follow her report of events. She inwardly groaned, wondering if falling off the edge of the earth seemed like such a bad idea after all.

End of Chapter Eight.


AAANNND Chapter Nine

"No regard for authority, it was not your duty to intervene, Riley is a senior officer, you're lazy"¦ this from the loser who sits on his butt all day when everyone else is stuck cleaning up HIS messes!" Buffy grumbled, hitting the leather bag yet again.

She had gone straight to Giles' after her "meeting" and started working out, avoiding the library (where he'd inevitably be) completely on the way to the gym. She had been working out for over an hour, showing no mercy to the punching bag before her. Richard's words had infuriated her, giving her the incredible urge to do some serious damage. The nerve of him to talk to her like that, completely forgetting the situation and focusing on poor Riley's bloody nose. Not to mention her punishments; taking away the closest people she actually has to friends and how was she supposed to write an apology letter to Riley when she was still wanting to punch his face in? And taking away her bike was more than a little annoying, there's no reason for her not to have it, and it's the only real way she has to get around.

But besides the snide comments and unfair judgements, one of the things that enraged her the most (besides his reaction to Angel) was her new "˜curfew'. The only reason she's been able to last this long off duty is because of her late-night patrols. Even if all she got was a pissed off drunk at least she could do something! Every night it seemed like she was driven by this unknown force, one that would scream at her to get outside and hunt. She'd always assumed it was a part of all warriors, something that somehow most had managed to repress, but whatever it was it would not be quieted until she was able to run or beat up something. She had tried everything, including doing late-night training at Giles' but nothing else was a substitute, she had to be outside. The thought of being stuck inside for six hours (four of which she was usually most active) everyday for the next two weeks was enough to make her scream.

Her anger rising, she began hitting the bag at a faster pace, her mind unable to forget her earlier encounter. She pounded on the bag when suddenly it came off it's hook completely and flew across the room, splitting open and pouring small beads everywhere. Buffy let out a small yelp, cursing as blood began pouring out of her now-wounded hand.

Quickly, she moved across the room and picked up her towel, wrapping her hand in the thick cloth.

"So have you finished brutally beating on it or should I just leave it on the floor?" said a voice from behind her.

Buffy grimaced, turning to face her watcher with a slight blush.
"Sorry."

Giles moved further into the room,
"No, it's quite alright. I suppose I just never expected you to break it down, can't say I can remember it happening before. No worries though, I'm sure in due time the council will replace it."

"Don't be so sure." Buffy mumbled, sitting down on a nearby bench.

"I received a report from Richard Garrison's secretary, it includes the accusations placed on you and your punishments. As well as a few minor notes from Mr. Garrison which given your current disposition, I feel it would be best not to repeat."

Buffy sighed,
"So this is the part where you lecture me, tell me how wrong I was right?"

Giles shook his head, sitting next to her on the bench.
"No, no lectures or inspirational speeches this time." Buffy looked up at him wearily, not quite believing him. "I feel that although your actions were questionable, your motives are somewhat admirable. I agree that what Riley did was wrong, and it seems that he would most certainly deserve what he got. However there is one cause for concern."

Buffy looked up at him expectantly.

"This person, this man that you saved, I needn't remind you that he is indeed a vampire. Although his circumstances are quite intriguing, I am still worried about his intentions. You didn't know this man before a day or two ago Buffy, and yet you risked your life to save his own. It would seem that you have an overwhelming amount of trust in him; still it was you who was, as you would put it "˜freaking out' when you were told of his arrival. I trust your judgement, and it is obvious that you have resolved to assist him. And although I am puzzled by your actions, I have faith in you. All I may ask is that you be careful, as appearances can be deceiving."

There was a long silence, Buffy looked up at her trainer giving him a weak smile.
"Thank you, for having trust in me. It means a lot. I know that all this probably sounds majorly weird but"¦ somehow I just know that we can trust him. And this is all so confusing but at the same time, the one thing that's clear is that I have to help him, I guess I'm just not exactly sure how yet. I promise that I'll be careful though, I know you have a tenancy to worry."

Giles stood up as Buffy walked towards the doorway.
"Giles? Can I ask you a question?"

"Of course."

"How do you write an apology letter to someone, when you're honestly not sorry for what you did?"

Her trainer chuckled,
"I'll give you a list of "˜big-stuffy-british-words' to use, chances are he won't have the faintest idea what you're talking about."

Buffy smiled,
"Thanks."

Exiting the house, she went out to her bike and climbed on; anxious to get home. Hoping that she may be able to actually have a conversation with her handsome houseguest, she drove towards her complex, a tired smile crossing her features as she went.



A half hour later, Buffy opened the door to her apartment. She had taken a while to lock up her bike, doubting that she could "˜sneak around' on something that loud without the council knowing about it. Putting her jacket down she headed into the kitchen and grabbed a cola from the fridge before putting in a few more containers of blood (smiling when she noticed that the others had disappeared since she left). After quickly draining the caffeine filled beverage, she headed towards her room to see if Angel was still awake. Peering inside the door, she noticed that her bed was neatly made and there was no vampire in sight. Sighing somewhat angrily, she waked in and grabbed a nearby stake from her desk before quickly heading towards the door, ready to kick some very cute-vampire butt.

She was so engrossed in plotting her revenge however, that she didn't notice the other presence in the living room before she ran into a broad chest, knocking herself backwards and onto the floor. Groaning at the pain that shot through her injured hand as she landed, she looked up to the man she had ran into.
"Buffy are you okay?" he said, crouching down to help her up.

"Angel? You're still here?" she asked, allowing him to lift her to her feet.

"Ya, it's a bit too sunny for me to go anywhere. Why did-" Angel stopped when he saw the several stakes that now covered the ground. "Are those for me?" he said, trying no to sound as worried as he was.

Buffy sighed, picking up the discarded pieces of wood and throwing them into her weapons chest.
"They were. That is before you went all shadowy guy on me."

"You thought I'd left?"

"Well, ya. You weren't in my room, and I didn't see you and I've had a majorly bad day"¦" Sighing she looked at him wearily, "Sorry, I have a tendency to overreact sometimes."

Angel just nodded, looking towards her bloody hand.
"Are you sure you're alright? Your hand is bleeding a lot."

Buffy looked down at her forgotten injury, heading into the kitchen to rinse it off.
"Ya, I'm fine. I was just at my trainer's place and I kinda split open his punching bag."

"You split it open?"

"And knocked it across the room, ya. Like I said, I tend to overreact."

Heading into her room, she picked up her first aid kit off the floor and grabbed some bandages before attempting to dress her wound. Unfortunately she had split open her good hand and was failing miserably at her task. She froze as she felt two cool hands touch hers, carefully taking over the job and easily wrapping her hand.

Finished, Angel pulled away looking sheepishly at the floor. Buffy stared at him tenderly, a small smile crossing her face.
"Thanks, that's probably the nicest thing someone's done for me all day." There was a short silence before she shrugged off her amorous emotions and turned to him again. "What am I doing, you're the one who's all beat up. Here, let me take a look at your ribs."

Leading him to sit on her bed, she carefully lifted up his shirt and pulled off the bandage to examine his wound. She was surprised to see that it was almost completely healed; there was only a small cut where the gash used to be. Carefully re-dressing the cut she looked over the rest of his injuries, most of which seemed to be healed, with the exception of his foot which, (given his slight hiss of pain when she touched it) seemed to still be sprained. Sighing she looked over his ankle, it was somewhat swelled but not half as much as it had been.
"You're doing good, at this rate you should be able to walk normally on that foot in a day or two, as long as you stay off of it until then."

"I heal fast." Angel said simply, trying to forget about the throbbing of his foot from walking around so much.

Buffy gave him a nod and put her first aid kit away before sitting in a chair across from him. They sat in an uncomfortable silence, neither knowing quite what to say. Buffy was having an inner struggle of whether to kiss him until the sky turned purple or run in the other direction. Sneaking a glance at him, she decided on neither, and looked down at the suddenly interesting floor.

Across from her, Angel was in a similar debate. Questions from earlier swarmed his mind, unfortunately so did (only somewhat) unwanted visions of what else they could be doing right now that may prove to be fun.

"Who's your trainer?" he blurted out, mentally kicking himself once the words had come out of his mouth. He was three centuries old and that was the best he could do?

"What?" Buffy asked, surprised by his question and the sudden break of silence.

"In your note, you mentioned that you'd had a call from your trainer. I was just wondering who exactly that was." He said, attempting to sound a bit better.

Buffy looked at him strangely for a moment before she remembered that he wouldn't know what her trainer was.
"Oh, okay well, the colony- it's guarded by warriors: people trained by the council to fight demons and stuff. There's two levels of warriors, ones who have been put on duty and ones that haven't. As you get more experience you get a higher "˜rank' I guess, basically it just means that you get to boss more people around. Every warrior is assigned a trainer, usually a stuffy british person who trains you from a young age to eventually do your job. Some warriors don't ever get to know their birth parents, others aren't even born here. Giles is my trainer, he's practically raised me, he lives a few minutes away from here."

Angel nodded, absorbing her words.
"Do you? Know your birth parents?"

Buffy shook her head.
"No, I was brought here when I was just over three years old I honestly don't even remember them. The council's always been really secretive when it came to my parents, I'm not even sure how much Giles knows. I wasn't ever told their names, Giles pleaded for most of the time I was growing up to try and find out where I was born."

"Did he?"

"Eventually. It turns out I was originally born just outside of New York. My parents took me to Ireland when I was two, but there was an attack on the village we were in a year after. I don't know what happened to my parents, I was found a few weeks after the battle was over hiding in some rubble, Giles said it was amazing I survived that long alone- the council either didn't know how or just wouldn't tell him. Anyway they picked me up and shipped me here, I'm not sure why they didn't just put me into a closer colony, I guess they figured I'd be safer around headquarters or something."

Angel was silent, searching for something to say. He could remember that battle; he had been in Ireland when it happened. It was a small but pretty high-populated village of rogues, no one was sure who invaded or why but most of it was wiped out overnight. He had tried to help out but there was so much destruction that there wasn't much he could do. He had been knocked out when a bunch of armed warriors had showed up and as a result forgotten most of the details of those weeks. But hearing the story again, he had a nagging feeling in the back of his mind that he had forgotten something vital.

Shrugging off the feeling, he turned to Buffy once again.
"So your trainer, Giles, raised you all your life to be a warrior? Is that what you were doing that night I saw you?"

Buffy smiled sheepishly,
"Actually I haven't been put on active duty. So technically, I can't patrol or anything yet. Really I'm not supposed to fight anyone or anything except for training- which I don't of course because that would be wrong and completely disobeying orders." She added quickly, blushing slightly.

Angel gave out a small chuckle, knowing that she probably "˜disobeyed orders' on a regular basis only was sneaky enough not to get caught. Suddenly a thought came to his mind, causing him to look at her with seriously.
"Did you get in trouble? For helping me before, is that why you had to got out today?"

Buffy sighed,
"Yes and no. I did have to go to the council's headquarters, but it wasn't as much for helping you." At Angel's questioning glance, she continued, "I had the honour of a meeting with a Mr. Garrison today, he's like second in command at the council, and he took it upon himself to inform me how wrong it was of me to "˜attack my commanding officer' and that it wasn't in place to defend you. Said that they'd never let "˜a brat like me' on active duty."

Angel was overwhelmed by both guilt for getting her in trouble and rage towards Richard for treating her the way he did.
"I'm sorry." He said weakly.

Buffy smiled slightly,
"Don't be, I'm not. Angry and feeling slightly homicidal at the moment yes, but it was way worth it. The punishments aren't a huge biggie either. I have to write an apology to Riley, and lost my bike for a few weeks. Other than that it's not too bad. I can't see Faith or Gunn for a while but they're always busy anyway, the only thing I'm totally gonna miss is my night-life."

"Night-life?" Angel asked, almost not wanting her answer.

"Ya I can't go out past midnight for the next two weeks, usually I have to patrol at least every other day or I go crazy, and training with Giles is less than a challenge these days. I'm pretty sure two weeks without it will drive me sorta kinda really crazy."

Angel nodded, wishing there was something that he could do to help.

"Actually," Buffy said, a confused look crossing her features, "they didn't say much about you at all. He just talked about me beating up Riley, he barely mentioned you at all. Kind of bizarre, I mean given how anti-demon the council is, they should have taken me off the force for even trying to help you. Not that I'm not super glad that they didn't but it seems so weird. Why would they be more worried about me fighting someone than helping out the enemy- no offence."

Angel looked up at her,
"No you're right. I've known about these guys since before they were in power, it's not normal for them to ignore something like that, unless they have a larger problem on their hands."

"Which given how things around here are at the moment seems more than a little unlikely." She said, finishing off his thought.

Buffy shrugged, deciding to worry about it later.
"Oh well, Garrison is an idiot anyway he probably forgot to bring it up." She said flippantly, only half kidding, "Besides, I got a few weeks to think about it since I really doubt I'll be doing much else for a while."

Angel thought for a moment, an idea beginning to form his mind. Getting up, he slowly, due to his sore ankle, followed Buffy into the kitchen and leaned against the doorframe as she pulled a small tub of cookie-dough ice cream from the freezer. The two of them stood quietly as Buffy slowly devoured the yummy-goodness, hoping to forget about her bad mood for a while.

"I want to help." Angel said suddenly, stirring her from her thoughts.

"What?" she asked, almost chocking on a spoonful of ice cream.

"You said that you're not on active duty yet. When I saw you fight before, you were good but you could get a hell of a lot better. It's obvious that your trainer can't help you much with that anymore, maybe you just need a more experienced opponent. We could start whenever you want."

Buffy stared at him, her mouth hanging open slightly.
"You want to help me train? But"¦ why? I mean"¦ you can fight?"

Angel almost laughed at her surprised look.
"You don't live over three hundred years by being a good compromiser."

Buffy's eyes widened as his words registered in her mind.
"You-you're THREE HUNDRED years old?! Wow, that's"¦ I mean I guessed you were older than most vamps but I didn't think that you were"¦ wow, you're looking really good for your age!"

Angel gave her a half-smiled that almost caused her knees to give out.
"So is that a "˜yes'?"

Buffy's mind was thrown into almost chaos, half of her wanted to scream out "˜yes!' at the thought of spending more time with him, but the other half was telling her to say no, that the temptation would bway too much for her to handle. (Three guesses which side won?)

"Ya, thanks I mean that'd be great." She looked up and gave him a weak smile. "I'd say more but my mind is still kinda spinning from the whole three hundred years old thing"¦ you wouldn't happen to have some really strong liquor handy would you?"

Angel laughed, shaking his head as Buffy started eating her ice cream once again (now more as an excuse for her lack-of-speech than comfort food). The vampire knew he was probably in way over his head and might regret his decision once they started training. There was only so long his willpower would last if he saw her as often as he was going to have to, which would most likely end up blowing his whole plan of helping her along with any chance of them becoming friends- or anything more (because come on, why would someone like her ever want to be with a vampire like him?).

But for now, it worked. They of them stood in her kitchen, a comfortable silence between them. The two were wrapped in thoughts of what was going to happen once they begun training, but there was one fact that they were both certain of: things were going to get very interesting.

End of Chapter Nine.

WHOA!!! Okay, that was long! Lol, please REPLY! 😀
 
great, as usual. i love the fact the everyone seems to be drawn to each other, like they were in the other reality. this is my fave fanfic on the boards!!
more please!!
 
Awwwe, thanks Lyri, your feedback is MUCH appreciated! 😀

Here's chapter 10, I decided to only post ONE this time because it's a bit longer as per before, lol 😉

Enjoy! 😀


Chapter Ten

Four days had passed since Buffy's meeting with the council, it was a strange adjustment for her to not be out and running around so much (especially during the night hours) but she was surprised about how much easier it was than she had thought it would be. She and Angel had managed to fall into a kind of routine over the last few days, his wounds were now healed and he could walk normally again but Buffy had insisted he stay for a few extra days "just to be on the safe side". She knew it was really because she liked having him around but he wasn't all that reluctant to say yes so she hadn't given the matter much thought.

Every morning, Buffy would wake up and go through her early morning routine (shower, coffee and such) while Angel was still asleep. He had given up battling with her over who should get the bed and silently agreed that they would share. Although Buffy didn't know it, most mornings he was awake as early as she was; he would just lay in bed with his eyes closed listening to her move around the apartment (and occasionally sneaking a glance at her) until she left to go to Giles' place, when he would fall back asleep. Although he had yet to meet the british trainer, he had heard a bit about him from Buffy. She had told him a little about her training, how Giles had raised her as well as her friend/sister Tara. Given the little that Buffy had told him, he seemed like a reasonable man who was obviously like a father to Buffy.

Angel would get up in the afternoon and have enough time to shower and feed before Buffy would return. She would usually wander around aimlessly for a few hours, doing a bit of this and that, before she would make herself some dinner. After the dishes were clean and put away, she and Angel would usually fall into conversation, sometimes about training with the occasional bit about Buffy's life. It was strange for Angel, he was usually less than social, but when he spoke to Buffy the time would just fly by they would spend hours talking about nothing in particular. He was surprised that she was willing to open up to him in the small way she had, and he found himself wishing he could tell her more about himself as well. So far he had answered a few small questions about his life: his age, where he lived before, just general questions. Buffy had picked up that he wasn't really into sharing just yet and he was thankful that she didn't seem to mind. It was strange how their lives seemed so different and they were both somewhat reserved when it came to their personal lives, but they still managed to have a conversation.

At the moment they were standing in her living room, Buffy had a large mug of hot chocolate in her hands and was trying to explain to him some of the techniques that Giles had shown her over the years. It was hard to explain them (since she didn't know the names and couldn't actually perform them without an opponent) but Angel could usually guess what she was talking about. He was surprised how little she knew about weapons, she had only been taught a brief amount of hand to hand combat but mostly the council had told her to only use long metal rods (ironically a lot like the one that had hit him before), she had barely learned how to use a stake. From what he'd heard her colleges (Gunn and Faith) seemed to have the same knowledge of weapons, yet a lot more about hand to hand than she.
"Giles actually has a collection of that kinda stuff, but he never showed me what they did. The council always told him to stay away from weapons, other than stakes I really don't use anything else." She said, taking another sip of the warm drink.

"You don't use the rods?"

"Nah, they're practically pointless. I mean ya they can do some damage but they're easy to drop and take from someone. Chances are the other person is just gonna grab it and use it against you anyway."

Angel nodded,
"So other than stakes, you don't have any weapons?"

Buffy thought for a moment.
"No, not really. I have a couple knives, and one has a pretty interesting pattern on it, but it's nothing big. I don't even use them most of the time."

"What do you do when you find demons that don't die from stakes?"

"Honestly there's not much I can do, I don't know that much about the species of demons either, usually I just stake and if it doesn't work I try and knock it out and run in the other direction."

"You don't know about demons? I thought your trainer had some huge library."

"He does. I kinda just missed that part of the training it was- delayed." She looked away, obviously not wanting to elaborate. "The resource books Giles will let me look at, but the council designed the place so most of the stuff is off limits. Giles usually looks through the books and gives me the important stuff, but I can't ever look at anything to do with history or prophecies. I've skimmed through a few books but given the lack of good descriptions everything just kind of blends together."

"That's strange, history and prophecies are some of the most important things to know. It tells you so much, what happened, where the council comes from, it sounds like they're trying to keep you away from anything to do with the past."

Buffy nodded,
"Ya, Giles curses them a lot, history is like his favourite subject ever, but even he can't look at some of the stuff. He says he only gets "˜half the picture' like they'll say something about the council but only a few necessary facts, all the rest isn't really there."

"So he has all these books but he never reads them?"

"Mostly, I mean there's only a few that are off limits and the council would kill him if he went against orders. I mean he's usually pretty good with me and my slight habit of bending the rules, but he's just really good at covering up for that stuff if he has to. The council doesn't even know I patrol, I don't even want to know what would happen if they found out."

Angel didn't reply, lost in his thoughts.

"It's not just me though." Angel looked up at her questioningly, "All the warriors have the same thing, I mean a few of the senior guys get told more, but it's basically the same as us only in bigger words; it boosts their ego. The council has this thing they tell everyone "˜we've all made mistakes in the past, it's time to focus on the future'. It works for most people, keeps them all quiet."

Angel just nodded again, knowing how easily some people would accept what they were told, not wanting to cause trouble. Buffy drank the last of her hot chocolate before heading into the kitchen to wash her mug. Angel fallowed, watching her move around the small room. He admitted that he didn't know her very well but already he had picked up how unique a woman she really was. She was beautiful both inside and out, she seemed so strong as though unexplainable power emitted from her. She was no doubt a strong woman but as he was with her more and more he learned that she also had some insecurities. She could go from ordering to shy and quiet in a matter of minutes, her disposition changing from the smallest thing. He couldn't imagine why someone like her would have any uncertainty about herself, but she never ceased to puzzle him.

One thing he was sure of, that she had amazing potential. He was still not sure why he had offered to train with her but a part of him felt the need to teach her to harness her power, while another small, buried told him to run away as fast as he could. He still couldn't figure out why (or what) part of him reacted to her like that, it was like this nagging feeling that he should have remembered it, that it was important (so, of course it was loooong forgotten).
"So where exactly are we going to be training?" he heard her ask, placing her mug in a nearby cupboard.

He looked up at her quickly, her voice pulling him from his thoughts.
"Oh, there's a good sized empty room that's an old addition to my apartment. It used to be set up as some kind of gym, a lot of the equipment is gone but the mats and stuff is all still there."

Buffy nodded, containing her excitement about the idea of training with him.

"We could start anytime now really, that is if my lovely nurse would give me a clean bill of health." He said jokingly, giving her a small smile.

Buffy smiled back a small blush creeping across her face.
"I think that you're all better now. Although then again it couldn't hurt to take you for a test drive." She said before she could stop herself.

Angel raised an eyebrow at her words, suppressing a grin, which would have probably led to the end of his unlife. Buffy's face quickly turned bright red as she realised what she had just said.
"I- well you know as in the fighting way because you h-have a gym now and we were going to train- in the fighting way, of course. I didn't mean- not that I wou- I meant"¦ you know what can you excuse me when I go and hide under my nice roomy bed? Oh my god will someone PLEASE shut me up already?!" she babbled, thumping her head down on the table.

Angel couldn't help the smile that crept across his face or the barely-suppressed laugh that he prayed she wouldn't hear. Unfortunately she must have heard him because she raised her head slightly to glare at him.
"Sure laugh at my pain."

Angel gave her a smile.
"I know what you meant, I just found the way you "˜expressed' yourself somewhat"¦ amusing."

Buffy stuck her tongue out at him.

"You know now that I think about it I think of a lot better use of that tongue." He said winking- yep he was soooo gonna die.

Buffy gave him a deathly glare before launching herself at him. Suddenly thankful of his vampire reflexes he moved aside running out of the kitchen. Buffy grabbed a nearby frying pan off the stove and sped after him, yelling something along the lines of "evil vampire- you're so dead". Yep, life was good.


Soon after the sun went down, the (non) couple (who so didn't have an undeniable attraction to one another) made their way across town to Angel's apartment. Buffy fallowed a little behind him, doing her best to adjust to his longer strides. After almost hitting Angel over the head (several times) with her frying pan and knocking over one of her lamps (which she'd "always hated anyway") their battle had lead to a pillow fight and Angel eventually learning that Buffy was indeed ticklish (which lead to her to once again chasing him around and another hour of wackiness). Buffy had called Giles to give him the what's what before they both agreed it would be a good idea to start some training.

As they walked Buffy couldn't help but feel on edge. Despite the "deadly" broken nose she had given Riley she was still nervous for Angel to be out on the streets. She knew it was unreasonable and that he'd undoubtedly have to go out sometime but she'd seen how many people were more than willing to hurt him before and she was still afraid that it'd happen again. Looking around again, Buffy was surprised when she felt Angel's cool hand wrap around her own. She looked up at him questioningly.
"We're almost there." He said, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze.

Buffy gave him a small smile and nodded, somewhat calmed by his actions. She was a little surprised he had sensed her worry but then again he had been living with her for a few days now. Over her life Buffy had never really had a friend. I mean she had Gunn and Faith but even though she'd known them for so long they still didn't know her very well. They had always been more like "˜classmates' or something rather than friends. The only person she'd ever really had was Tara (who she considered to be her sister) but her training had always seemed to limit their time together when they were growing up. Now there was Angel. He seemed to know her so well even though they'd met such a short time ago, and in the last few days she'd found that for the first time in a while she could truly be herself when she was around him. And for her that was a greater gift than she'd ever been given.

Buffy was pulled from her thoughts as Angel led her into a large building. He led her down a few flights of stairs before stopping in front of a wooden door. Letting go of her hand, Angel reached into his pocket and eventually pulled out a small key. Slipping it into the lock he opened the door and lead her inside. As she walked through the doorway Buffy felt her jaw drop in awe. The apartment was dark, only lit with a few lamps. The walls were painted a light grey shade and the floor was covered in chocolate brown carpeting. Slowly she stepped further into the room, in the corner was a beautiful small desk that was already somewhat filled with papers; it was carved out of wood with intricate patterns etched into it. Across the room was a deep red coloured couch and a matching table across from it (also made from the same coloured wood as the desk). The apartment was filled with red and brown shades, giving it a warm feel. Buffy also spotted a large chest, which seemed to have a large broadsword peeking out of it (which she was already itching to try out).

She turned to Angel in shock, unable to form actual words.

"I haven't been in it that long. The council brought most of my stuff here but a lot of it's still packed. I know it's not-"

"It's amazing." Buffy interrupted, unable to keep her eyes off the room.

"What?" Angel said, surprised by her reaction.

"The furniture, it's all wood. Like everything is steel now, it's almost impossible to get anything else, especially not something this detailed." Going across the room she bent down to examine the nearby table, carefully running her fingers across the carvings. "The designs on here are beautiful, and the colours"¦" she trailed off, standing up again.

Angel was more than a little surprised by her reaction. She struck him as a more modern-typed person, not someone who would be this excited by old furniture or art.
"Uh, Thanks. I bought the furniture a long time ago, wood used to be almost a standard for most furnishings."

"Really? I never would have thought, things must have been so different back then!" Buffy said, her voice sounding a bit like that of a small child.

"They were, a lot actually."

"I can't even remember ever being outside the colony. I've always wondered what it's like in the rest of the world. Or what it looked like before." She said, studying one of his small sculptures he'd gotten in Rome a while back.

Angel watched her moving around the apartment curiously, she seemed so fascinated by what he considered to be everyday life.
"I could tell you about it sometime. I have a lot of older stuff, and I don't have a ton of pictures but I have lots of sketches I could show you if you wanted."

She looked at him with wide eyes.
"Really? You'd do that?"

Angel nodded and before he knew it Buffy was before him, her arms wrapped firmly around him and her body pressed against his own in a tight embrace. He (somewhat) awkwardly put his arms around her for a minute before she pulled back and let out a squeal of delight.
"You are sooooo awesome!" she said smiling.

Angel just smiled back. After a few minutes of silence Angel give her a quick tour of the apartment with plenty of "oooh"s and "awwwe"s from Buffy (and a thick silence when he showed her the bedroom, which she silently berated herself for) before leading her into the large addition. The room was brighter than the others, te walls were simple cement but most of them were covered with mats and/or bars and weapon-racks. Several mats were placed on the floor, there was also a bench on each side of the room along with a large cabinet and punching bags.
"This is great!" Buffy said, walking further into the room to examine the equipment.

"Ya, I was relieved when I saw it. It could still use a bit of touch-ups but it's alright."

Buffy stood before him and crossed her arms over her chest.
"So, wanna spar for a bit?"

Angel smiled, taking a defensive stance. Why not? After all it wouldn't take all THAT long.

End of Chapter Ten.

PLEASE Review!!!!😀😀😀😀
 
Good story! I've only read the first few parts but so far it's very good. My only thing is theres a few places that the wording sound off but who cares its still wicked!
 
i'm so not a Bangel girl (spuffy is the only way!) but i'm really digging this story!
i love all the little bits you've put in brackets, which for some reason makes me think of joss.
anyway, really great, waiting for chapter 11!!
 
Thanks sooooo much for the reviews guys! I swear they're addictive! 😀

Lindseyiswicked- Thanks a lot! Sorry about the wierd spelling and stuff, I JUST finished a major betaing overhaul of the series (fixing all the wierd spellings and stuff) but unfortunalty I can't edit my posts here now, I've fixed the ones from now on though, so please bear with me here! 😉

Lyri-Lol, well thank you! Although there will be some bangel stuff, I'm trying to keep enough story and plots going that it would work for everybody you know? I'm glad you're enjoying it! 😀

Here's chapter 11, again, reviews are (MORE THAN) welcome!! 😀
:bigglasse

Chapter Eleven


In every being on earth there are instincts. Ones born centuries ago when their kind roamed freely, when all they had to survive were themselves. Even before the acts of speech, allies and enemies were born in the heat of battle. You cannot change these, you cannot ignore them. When they are awakened, you have no choice but to heed their call.

Angel stared at Buffy as they both took a defensive stance. Slowly they began circling each other, studying how the other moves. Carefully, Angel stepped towards his opponent and threw a loose punch towards her face, Buffy easily dodged it and threw one of her own. The two gradually began exchanging blows, as if testing how the other reacts. Steadily their force began to increase, their attacks coming quicker and quicker. Buffy ducked to the ground as Angel's foot came flying mere inches from her head. Quickly jumping up, she dodged yet another kick before twisting and hitting him square in the chest, the unexpected force of the hit sending the vampire off balance. Recovering quickly, Angel swung left, barely missing her. Before Buffy had time to recover, Angel's foot connected with her side, sending her to the ground. Angered, she got up and began throwing punches.

As the two fought, Buffy could quickly feel herself falling away. She had been in loads of training sessions, done dozens of patrols, but she had never fought like this before. The voice that urged her to patrol every night was no longer whispering, but slowly taking over. She could feel her body beginning to surge with strength she didn't know she possessed as she moved, her arms fighting like they have a mind of their own. As each second passed she felt her awareness of the world slipping away, leaving nothing but her and the battle.

Surprised by her blows and caught up in the thrill of the fight, Angel blocked her punches one by one before doing his best to sweep the blonde's feet from under her. Buffy quickly moved back and tried to get some space between them, feeling her energy starting to waver. Noticing this, Angel moved closer and swung left, trying to get her off balance. With her last bit of energy, Buffy launched herself at him, at the same time Angel tried to hit her in the side. The two collided as the force of their attacks sent them falling to the ground.

Reacting on impulse, Angel pinned Buffy's arms above her head and positioned himself so she couldn't move. Despite her struggles, Buffy eventually realised that her efforts were in vain. Forcing herself to admit defeat, Buffy looked up at her captor, half-expecting to see a smirk adorning his features. However when she looked at him she was surprised by what she saw. In his eyes was the gleam of a predator- but not one of battle. As she stared at him she could slowly feel her awareness returning, and as she recognized the look on his face she began to wonder if she was really awake. In his eyes was something she knew was mirrored in her own, something she hadn't really known until she met him. Desire.

Lost in a wave of passion, mixed with the heat of the fight, the two warriors stared at each other before slowly tilting their heads. Creeping closer and closer to the other until their lips were a hairsbreadth apart. Buffy closed her eyes in anticipation as she started to close the space between them.

"BEEP, BEEP, BEEP"¦"

Both Buffy and Angel jumped at the sudden noise, Angel scrambled to quickly get off the blonde before looking around for the source of the beeping. Buffy, still dazed, looked around the room slowly, not being able to find anything out of the ordinary.
"Buffy?" looking up at Angel, she saw him looking towards her questioningly.

Realizing that the beeping was coming from her, she quickly looked down and eventually pulled her cell phone out of her pocket, the small screen flashing "warning, battery low!" Suppressing a growl (and the urge to throw the wicked device across the room) she quickly turned the beeping off. Timidly, she got up and held up her phone.
"Low battery." She said quietly, offering him an explanation.

Angel nodded, looking away. They both stood in silence, trying to piece together what had just (almost) happened.

Buffy's mind was in utter chaos. Despite her quiet appearance she was having an inner battle of thoughts. Noticing that he was averting her eyes, Buffy groaned. She obviously misread him before, he was probably just caught up in how much she sucked at fighting that he didn't realise what she was doing. He's gorgeous, smart, charming, there's no way he'd ever want a warrior wannabe like her!
//Great! First he kicks your butt and now you make a complete idiot of yourself! Nice job Summers! Way to win him over!//

Angel, on the other hand remembered fully well what had happened (in vivid detail) but had skipped past the embarrassment and went straight to the self-blaming part. Could he have been more of a jerk? All she wanted to do was spar and he had pinned her down and tried to kiss her! She was probably too dazed from the blow to even tell him to get off! She won't even look up at him, he'd be surprised if she didn't stake him by sunrise.

Deciding that a possible staking was better than the excruciating silence that filled the room, Angel finally spoke up.
"T-that was good. You, uh, got some really good hits in."

Buffy didn't know whether to cry in joy or misery as Angel completely dodged the subject. Mentally kicking herself (again) she looked up at him, praying she looked a little calmer than she felt.
"Thanks. You totally beat me though."

Angel shook his head, smiling slightly.
"No, I got lucky." At Buffy's questioning glance he continued. "For one, you got tired, from what you told me you're not used to fighting that hard. But really, I won because I was lucky enough to land on top."

Buffy (thankful for the distraction) sighed as she replayed the fight in her mind.
"I should have been able to flip you though, you got me down and I couldn't even move."

Angel gave her a nod, thinking for a moment.
"What was the first thing they taught you? As far as fighting techniques go?"

"Uh"¦ the basics I guess. Kicks, punches, blocking, that kind of stuff."

"What about pinning people down?"

"Ya, they taught us that with blocking."

"And what was the last thing you learned?"

Buffy smiled,
"Giles tried to show me how to use one of these new hand-weapon things the council made. They're like long distance tranquilizers or something."

Angel gave her a small smile before standing before her.
"One of the things that I've figured out is that sometimes the right answer is the one you'd least expect- the simplest one. I went back to the basics; one of the first things a vampire learns after he is turned, is how to pin a man down to feed. Even now, after centuries of staying away from that, if I'm in a battle and have the opportunity, I'll pin someone down, it's a reflex. An instinct I guess you could call it."

Buffy sat down on a nearby bench, trying to absorb the information. She hadn't ever actually thought about what to do before, it was more like remembering what she was taught and carrying out plans. She knew that different people reacted different ways to an attack, she had just never thought of why. The council ensured that the colonists had always led an isolated life, never releasing information about other cultures or the past. Buffy had always wished to see the world, and although she'd never admit it to Giles, she had always had a curiosity about history. When did the war between humans and the demons start? Why were they all forced to live in colonies? She guessed a large part of it was the mystery of her own life, why there was an attack on her small Ireland village all those years. It seemed with each day that she knew Angel, he gave her more and more outlooks that she had never considered. Most of which went against what she had been taught all her life. Unfortunately, it also caused her to draw some unsettling conclusions about her culture and herself.

Sighing, Buffy looked down at the ground. Angel carefully put a finger under her chin and lifted her head to face him. Tears were building up in her eyes.
"Hey," he said softly, "what's wrong?"

Buffy sniffed, and shook her head slightly.
"For almost all my life I've been training, I've been doing my best to be the best warrior I can. I've had to give up so much, and I'm still not good enough. For as long as I can remember I've been taught to become fighter, it's the only goal that I had to reach and now"¦I can't help thinking why me, why am I the failure, the one that everyone knows won't accomplish anything? I thought once I moved out things would get easier, but they didn't. They just got worse"¦ Garrison's right. I'm never going to be good enough, why do I even bother trying?"

Angel couldn't believe what he was hearing, how Buffy could be so unaware of the power that she possessed, how someone so amazing could be so insecure. He sat in front of her, her eyes locked with his as a look of seriousness crossed his features.
"Buffy listen to me. This world isn't perfect. It's complicated and it's cruel, and no matter what anyone does there will always be someone there challenging you, trying to bring you down. I won't lie to you; your life will be hard. It will be painful and you're going to have to do things that no one should ever have to do. But no matter what Buffy, promise me that you won't give up. That if there's something out there that you truly believe in fight for it, don't let anything stand in your way. If you do that no one can ever stop you. I know you have the power within yourself. Promise me when the time comes, you'll use it."

Tears spilled down Buffy's face as he spoke. He looked so sincere, the realization slowly dawned that he believed in her. He honestly believed that she could to do something, that she had power. A spark of hope ignited in her heart; she hadn't believed in herself for a long time, nor had she trusted anyone when they told her otherwise- always keeping the world an arms length away. But as she looked into his eyes she trusted him, more than anyone or anything in this world. He believed that she was strong; maybe she did have a chance after all.
Slowly she nodded,
"I promise." She whispered, before burying her face in his chest and sobbing.

Angel was surprised by her reaction, but quickly wrapped his arms around her small frame and held her gently; whispering soothing nonsense into her ear as she cried. Closing his eyes, he pulled her close; he wished that he could show her how amazing she was, erase any doubts from her mind. Things were only going to get harder for her; somehow he knew that. Silently, he vowed to protect her in any way he could, keep her delicate heart safe from those who dared harm it. If he accomplishes nothing else for the rest of his existence, he'll ensure that the brilliant light she possesses will never fade, that he will protect it with all that he has, from now until eternity.

@-@-@-@-@-@-@-@-@-@-@-@-@-@-@-@-@-@-@-@-@-@-@-@-@-​

The two sat there for a long time, wrapped in each other's embrace. Eventually Buffy's tears died down and they held each other in a comfortable silence. Love radiated from them both, their hearts longing to pour out their secrets to each other; to declare the love that had so quickly taken over them. After what seemed like forever (yet not near long enough for them), the two slowly released each other and stood up, exhaustion from the day overwhelming them. Buffy looked up at the clock and groaned, cursing under her breath.
"What is it?" Angel asked quietly, suddenly afraid he had done something wrong.

Buffy sighed,
"I didn't realise how late it was, my curfew started a half hour ago. It's gonna be almost impossible to get home without at least one guard noticing me."

"Oh." Angel considered her words for a moment before looking up at her again. "You could stay here."

"What?" Buffy asked, surprised by his suggestion.

"You don't have to," Angel said quickly, mistaking her reaction for a no, "it's just that it's late and we're both tired. You're more than welcome to stay here if you want, I don't want you to get into trouble again."

Buffy gave him a small smile, a blush threatening to cross her face.
"Thanks, that sounds really good at this point."

Angel gave her a small smile, and led her through the apartment and into his bedroom.
"Uh"¦ you can sleep here. I haven't had a lot of time to unpack but it's alright for now. The kitchen and bathroom are just down the hall, I'll be in the living room if you need me."

Nodding, Buffy pulled off her shoes and sweater and sat on the edge of the bed. The frame was enormous, made from strong, dark brown wood with carvings etched into its surface. The sheets were deep red and made from silk, somehow it seemed only fitting to Buffy, considering what she knew of the man that owned them.
"Angel?" she said quietly, just as he reached the door.

"What is it?"

Biting her lip, Buffy reached out her arm, her face taking on a childlike appearance.
"Stay with me?" she asked quietly, willing to be in his arms again.

Giving her a small smile Angel took off his shoes and joined her on the large bed; lying down next to her, he put his arms around her again. Snuggling into his embrace, Buffy quickly began to drift to sleep murmuring something so quiet Angel could barely make it out.
""¦love"¦" she whispered before drifting off, as a look of peace crossed her features.

Angel smiled werily, and planted a kiss on her crown.
"I love you Buffy." He whispered, before letting sleep take him.

The two murmured words of devotion in their sleep, dreaming of what their hearts desired so much. Their souls silently prayed that one day, they would tell each other of their love in the waking world, each astonishingly oblivious to the feelings of the other.

End of Chapter Eleven.

PLEASE Tell me what you think!!!!!! Any kind of feedback is welcome, it's the only way for me to improve! 😀
 
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