Are We Now or Ever Were Chapter 7
Chapter 7:
Back In Time
This time Buffy and Angel landed on their feet. While the portal was closing and Angel was checking their surroundings; Buffy was vomiting.
“Okay, Willow seriously needs to find a fix for that.” Buffy groaned and vomited again.
Angel looked down at her. “Think you can walk inside on your own? We have to get in, sunrise is here.”
Buffy looked after Angel and realized they were standing in front of a gate. “Where are we?”
He gently grabbed her hand and made her trail along after him. “The Hyperion Hotel AKA Angel Investigations AKA My home; well it was until, well anyway, come on.”
“WOW!” INCREDIBLE!” Buffy’s voice echo slightly and she felt like twirling and singing as if she were five again. She giggled suddenly and Angel was worried that she might be on the verge of a breakdown. He sincerely hoped not.
“Come on, I’ll show you to our rooms.”
She looks a little pale. She might need some orange juice or something. Maybe she’s hungry?
“You go first, my Lady Slayer.” He joked
Buffy was impressed but as much as she wished she could pretend that everything was just dandy, she couldn’t. She sat down on the love seat near the little desk and was all business.
“Here’s the thing…Angel I ran away from this dimension because I’m stupid.” She held her hand up to stop him when it looked like her was going to say something to refute her words.
“There are reasons that I ran away, reasons I see now may have been childish.” She stood up then. ” I was lonely! Willow has Kennedy, Giles went to England for his vacation time or whatever, Faith has Robin, Xander and Dawn are… something, and I’m not sure I even want to know. I apologize for that. However…” I put my warm hand on his cool cheek and I was slightly shocked to find it so. “However, I’m seeing now that maybe your Powers That Be had a hand in this.”
I knew he wanted to say something so I removed my hand from his cheek and let him have the floor.
“After Sunnydale collapsed, you should have come to me, “cookies” be damned Buffy!”
He swept a hand through his hair, a sign that I take to mean he is agitated.
“Okay. Fair enough, but my point is, I’m gonna have to help save your ass. The PTB is not Wolfram and Hart’s Senior Partners, you got that?” He nodded so I moved on. “I’ve brought Liam’s journals. You probably know most of it but I dunno. I didn’t really read much. It was..too private. I respected your privacy.”
Buffy stopped suddenly and I saw her face get pale and perspiration appeared on her top lip. I quickly pointed her to the bathroom. I’ll be damned. Now I know what’s off about her. I went down to the kitchen and found we had some fruit…odd, I don’t remember leaving any food behind. So I took an orange upstairs hoping that an orange would be OK.
While I waited for Buffy to come out, I looked through some of the photos that were of her and the other me.
There was this really beautiful framed one of the two of them separated but somehow the frame drew them together.e
He looked at a Polaroid of them sitting on a bench together in a small frame. [Owen’s Polaroid. we became ‘suspects” for his portfolio. Most times, it was fine. That night, it wasn’t.] He couldn’t help wonder why or who Owen was or is.
He put the frames down and looked around his room. He also wondered why his stuff was still here. He’d pack some of it and take it…maybe.
I waited for my sick slayer to come out of the bathroom and as soon as she did, I asked her as gently as I could “Buffy, did you know you’re pregnant?”
She smiled sadly at me and spoke softly and miserably “I guessed it was more than nerves and stress. The vomiting.” I know I looked perplexed so that would explain her explanation. I remember Cordelia being pregnant with demon babies but I cannot recall if she threw up. I know she had some strange cravings. Darla, well she wasn’t really pregnant long enough for me to really come to terms with it. Just that my son had a soul and she was a vampire. I had picked her up and carried her to the bed. My musing silence must have worried her.
“So… This kinda changes things a little. Only a little though. And Angel, for the record, I trust you. You have to trust me too.”
Trust Buffy? Of course I trust her.
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While Angel sat back on the bed and skimmed the journals, I dozed on my side and looked around the room at the photos he had scattered about the room. The most surprising photo was one of me.
She spied his wallet on the table next to her head so she casually opened it and thumbed through it. Sure enough, there it was. ‘He even has it here too.’ Buffy sighed happily and then frowned. She turned over on her other side to face Angel.
~~~~~~~~~
Some of the things that Angel read had scared him and he suddenly had a need to hear Buffy.
“Buffy…talk to me, tell me what’s on your mind.”
***
I recognized the tone in her voice immediately when she told me we were going to get through this. It was her slayer tone.
“Sometimes Angel the good guys get so caught up in trying to save others that they get lost and need to be saved. Anything I read about you, everything Liam told me..I won’t let you lose your family this time. I won’t let you get lost. I’ll be your stronghold Angel.”
Then she gave me that blinding smile I loved so much and the one that anyone rarely sees. I couldn’t help myself. I put one hand on the back of her neck while the other hand touched the slight bump of her belly.
“God, Angel! I’m gonna be a mom? Ima slayer! And You! You’re gonna be a daddy again!” Then I kissed her swiftly.
“huh? Ange..” I kissed her again, though gently this time; slipping my tongue between her sweet lips and twining our tongues together. She moaned and moved closer to me and deepened our kiss. She threw her leg over my thigh and I pulled away and put my forehead against hers while she took in deep shaky breaths.
“Buffy, I realize end of the world-friends and family in peril- stuff is going on here but we really need to talk.” I tell her. I pecked a kiss on her forehead, then her cheek and then her sweet lips again.
When I pulled back, Buffy asked me,
“Angel, do you..love me? I mean are you madly, passionately, tears you up when we are apart, in love with me?” She held her breath and her eyes pleaded with me to say yes.
“Was the kiss not passionate enough? Am I losing my touch? How about the last time I told you I’d wait for you to be “cookies”?” I tucked her hair behind her ear and continued.
“Damn Buffy only you affect me this way. I smell you; I hear your heart thumping louder when I touch you, my scent is all over you and it’s taking me all the restraint I can muster not to make love to you.” I got up from the bed and paced over to the window.
***
Angel’s back was to me but I heard him murmur. “In two hundred and forty-eight years, I’ve be in love with exactly one woman.” I got up from the bed too and went over to him. He turned to me and took my hands and told me that he had some confessions that he needed to say even if I knew them, “me- Angel; vampire with a soul- I need to tell you.” I noticed he was gripping my hands a little tighter than usual but I didn’t say anything.
~~~~~~~
He pulled the frame of him holding Connor with Wes and Gunn in the Polaroid. “You know about Connor?”
I nodded and told him. “I’m not sure when but Liam told me that the spell was found by Wes. He couldn’t leave it alone. Connor’s parents will be bringing him to you, they think something is wrong with him. Angel… I’m not sure if you want Connor in your life but I will tell you that I met him once. Well I saw him from afar. Liam met him and I followed, looking back now..Maybe Connor knew Liam was sick.” I frowned but continued on. “What else did you want to tell me?”
It seemed to me that Angel was about to let go of whatever else was bothering him. However my phone rang and we smirked as I answered it. “Hello?”
“Buffy! You made it back!”
“Hey Dawnie, Yes, back and in LA.”
“Right, with Angel.” Dawn squealed with joy and told me to call soon and hung up on me.
‘Very weird.’
“Was there something you wanted to tell me?”
He shook his head then said. ” Just that I love you and it can wait. For a little bit.”
She sat down and patted the couch next to hers. As soon as he sat down she asked.” Umm, has the cyborg’s been in yet? Is Spike..is he corporeal?”
Angel groaned and replied “Yes. Why do you have to bring him up?”
Buffy laughed and pecked a kiss on his cheek. “I’m just trying to figure out where I’ve come in Angel.”
“Hold that thought.” He picked up his up phone and answered it. “Hello? Hello?” He frowned at Buffy. “Want to see my apartment at Evil Inc?” He raised an eyebrow at her. And tossed her the orange then he grabbed up their bags.
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