AUTHOR: Moscow Watcher
SYNOPSIS: Angel's
arrival in season 7 happened under slightly different circumstances.
RATING:
PG-13 (for mention of nudity)
DISCLAIMER:
Characters belong to Joss, but says we can play with them, so...
TIMELINE:
Goes AU towards the end of season 7.
NOTES: Big
thanks to my wonderful beta Reddygirl who corrected my grammar and style, and
to Kean who gave me a couple of great advices. All mistakes are mine. (Funny -
it's a rewrite of season 7, but, in hindsight, I see that it's a fluffy rewrite
of season 8 as well. Kind of.)
...On his
way to Sunnydale Angel, nervous and excited, tried to imagine Buffy's possible
reaction to his visit. They hadn't seen each other for more than a year. Had
she forgotten about him? Was she angry that he didn't call her? Was she bitter?
As his car
turned to the cemetery where Buffy usually finished her patrol, he braced
himself preparing for the inevitable.
But the
actual turn of events caught him completely off-guard. As soon as Buffy noticed
him, she gave him a quick once-over and grinned.
"Long
time no see. Why aren't you naked?"
Angel
gulped. There was something about Buffy Summers that always turned him into a
12-years-old. Just a minute ago he was a responsible adult. Scratch that - he
was a responsible CEO of the biggest law firm in LA, and a responsible champion
who drove three hours to Sunnydale to bring her a magic amulet crucial to their
epic fight against evil. And now he was ready to shed his clothes and make love
to her right in the middle of Restfield cemetery.
Except...
there was something wrong about Buffy's behavior.
She crossed
her hands on her chest.
"Are
you losing your shiny powers?" Her voice was dripping with disdain.
"Or maybe you think that my secret kink is tearing the clothes off the
undead? Or maybe you plan to dance a strip-tease to make me weak at my
knees?"
He just
stared at her, speechless.
"Got
it!" Buffy exclaimed. "It's because the last time your tattoo was on
the wrong shoulder! You don't want to make such a blunder again!"
Angel cautiously
approached Buffy and touched her forehead.
"Buffy,
are you sick? Thank God, you're not feverish..."
His touch
produced a magical effect. Buffy froze and looked at him with horror and
embarrassment.
"Oh,
my God," she breathed. "You're the real one!"
*************
...The
First had a nasty habit of manifesting as naked Angel since Buffy's birthday.
That night,
they had had a little birthday party, and nothing had gone wrong, and even
Xander and Spike managed not to kill each other. Buffy went to bed with a
thought that it was her first birthday that didn't end up in disaster.
Of course,
it was that stupid thought that spoiled everything. As soon as her head touched
the pillow, she heard a familiar voice. "Buffy..."
"Angel!"
She leaped out of the bed and rushed to him - only to hug the void.
"Miss
your dead lover?" The First was already on her bed in full Angel's naked
glory.
"Stop
it!" she hissed. "You're not him!"
The
apparition laughed.
"Right.
I'm not him. Because he has forgotten about you."
"It's
not true."
"He
doesn't call. He doesn't visit. He was eager to help Faith, but where is he
when you need him so badly?"
"He'll
come to help the minute I call him," Buffy murmured, clenching her fists.
"What
are you waiting for, then?" The apparition pointed at the phone.
"Call. The situation is desperate. You need all the help you can
find."
"Don't
flatter yourself. The situation isn't
desperate for us - it's desperate for you. Only desperate idiots resort to such
stupid and pathetic NC-17 ploys!"
The
apparition smirked maliciously.
"Then
why are you trembling?"
"I --
I'm not trembling! I'm shuddering with disgust!"
"Liar.
You want your lover so badly that your knees are trembling, your mouth is dry
and your head is spinning." The First teased her with his tongue.
"And I'm only warming up."
Thankfully,
Willow's appearance saved Buffy from further embarrassment. The First hissed
and dissolved in the air.
************
Buffy tried
to keep it secret. She really did. It wasn't her fault that the very next day
everybody was discussing the First's new demoralizing tactics.
She
couldn't not tell Willow who was very concerned about Buffy talking about NC-17
ploys in an empty room. Of course, Willow promised to keep her secret.
Unfortunately, Spike heard them from the cellar - damn vampire hearing! - and
in the morning he started complaining in the kitchen that "nekkid Poof
never comes to me - and that could be fun".
Thankfully,
he had enough sense not to talk about it in the presence of the Potentials.
Unfortunately, Rona was sitting at the back porch, and the door to the kitchen
was open.
When Rona
entered the kitchen, a knowing smirk on her face, Buffy's heart sank. A couple
of minutes later she heard a burst of laughter from the living room and quickly
left for patrol, before her desire to kill something evil, ASAP, reached its
apogee. And, of course, The First was already at the cemetery, distracting her
from the good fight in the most unfair ways.
Since that day,
everything has changed. At first, she tried to pretend that nothing happened,
but it was impossible. She couldn't train the Potentials, because they giggled
behind her back. She couldn't discuss the strategy of their fight against the
The First with the Scoobies, because very time The First was mentioned she
could see what everybody was thinking about. Willow blushed furiously. Xander
fumed. Spike smirked. Giles coughed and wiped his glasses. While Andrew has
been working arduously on assembling a magic camera that could caught The First
on tape (according to Dawn, he was into gay porn).
She tried
to ignore The First's jabs - but, of course, she just couldn't keep her mouth
shut. The First mocked her love life. She mocked his lameness.
Thankfully,
she quickly found his soft spot - like every villain, he loved to talk about
his importance. Buffy's irreverence made him crazy with rage, and usually she
managed to get rid of him after a quick round of mutual insults. It became
quite a routine until...
Until her
disastrous encounter with Angel. An embarrassment of the year would be an
understatement. It took a lot of apologizing and explanations to convince him
that she wasn't bonkers.
*******
The first
thing Buffy did when Angel entered her room was giving him a hug. "Just to
make sure that you're real," she murmured, blushing.
A week
after his arrival, it was becoming a routine. To tell real Angel from The
First!Angel, Spike regularly pinched his sire, while Buffy never missed an
opportunity to touch Angel affectionately. She had a valid excuse - after
Angel's arrival, The First started to visit her fully clothed, so she had to be
100% sure that she doesn't talk to an enemy.
Angel
smiled tentatively. "So, have you found anything about the amulet that I
brought you?"
Buffy
nodded. "We found a mention in one of Giles' books. It says that the
amulet is..." she took a sheet of paper from her pocket and read
haltingly, "transreality amplifier that works only when the soul is in an
elevated state. When a warrior goes into a battle, or when passionate lovers
kiss... and, um, do other stuff - their emotions feed the amulet and it starts
to... reform? re-arrange? rewrite? - the translation is unclear - the
environment."
Buffy gave
Angel a furtive glance and went on. "Willow says its mechanism is similar
to wish-granting pendants. It basically takes the person's needs and desires
and projects them on the reality. It's a powerful weapon. We just have to
practice it before using in the crucial battle. I say we test it on
something... less global."
Angel
blinked. "Less global?"
"Uh-huh.
I'd rather say, something intimate. We can't afford a test battle, can we? But
we can try to test it in some other way..." She blushed. "What do you
think?"
What could
he say? He forbade himself to think about it for so long it became a habit.
"It's
too dangerous. We don't know about the consequences..."
Buffy
touched his hand. "It's always dangerous. It's the story of our life, Angel.
We never had and we'll never have a normal, safe life." She stroked his
cheek. "Unless we risk everything."
"But...
"
"Of
course, if you don't want to test it with me, you can test it with somebody
else." She smiled mischievously. "Just not Willow, because she's a
lesbian, not Dawn or the potentials, because they're minors. That leaves Spike,
Xander, Giles and Andrew. Who is into gay porn, unless Dawn is making it up to
tease me".
He
chuckled, despite himself. Her flippancy was so sweet and brave, given the
circumstances. Maybe she was right? Maybe they're really given the chance of a
lifetime?
She watched
him intensely, pleadingly.
"Okay,"
he said finally. "But we'll proceed slowly - very slowly. And we stop if
something goes wrong. And it will be me who wears the amulet."
She tried
to argue but he was firm, so, in a while, they stopped talking and started
kissing.
At first,
the touches of her lips were light like feathers; but, gradually, her kisses
became more passionate, her hands - more demanding, her eyes - more rapturous.
He joined her on the wave of pleasure that swept over him and devoured his
whole being, which, inexplicably, centered around a glowing trinket on his
chest. It was their love that glowed, warm and tender; it welcomed them into a
vortex of gentle fire that engulfed and purified them, redeemed their mistakes,
relieved from the sorrows of their past and rushed them to the final point of
their destiny.
************
When he
woke up, it was morning. The sun shone brightly and its rays were falling on
Angel's naked chest. He tensed, ready to spring out of the bed and draw the
curtains - but the sun wasn't hurting him. His skin was warm, its warmth nearly
unbearable; his heart was beating like crazy and the rush of blood made him
giddy.
Shanshu. It
wasn't a myth. It happened.
Buffy
smiled in her sleep - apparently, her dreams were of a pleasant variety. Her
face was soft and serene. Ready for the new start, new life. Angel sighed
contentedly and relaxed in bed, unable to look away from her happy face.
He did it.
No - *they*
did it. Finally, they did it right.
When she
woke up, he wrapped his hands around her and she clung to him, her hair
tickling his neck.
"You're
crying," he said.
"I'm
not!" She wiped her cheeks hastily. "It's just... so weird. You,
human. It will take time to get used to it. I'm so scared, and happy, and proud
and have I mentioned scared?"
"We
have to learn to live happily. I'm not used to it and I suspect neither are
you."
She nodded.
"So we have to start from the basics." She tentatively stroked his
chest. "Do you like when I do this?..."
Angel
moaned. "Yes," he whispered. "Just don't stop..."
...When
they finally got out of the bed, it was almost evening. They quickly explored
their beautiful, cozy home. Hunger led them to the kitchen where they
discovered a freezer full of ice-cream and nothing else - so they decided to
have dinner outside.
Strangely,
the local club was called The Bronze. It was the first sign of upcoming
weirdness. The band on the stage was "Dingoes Ate My Baby"; Oz was
playing his guitar with especial fervor. Willow was sitting at a table next to
a pretty girl; they were holding hands and smiling at each other.
"Tara,"
Buffy said hoarsely. "How?"
"It's
okay, Buffy," the girl said. "You'll get used to it."
With a
growing sense of apprehension Angel looked around. Giles and Ethan Rayne were
sitting at another table. They were holding hands and smiling at each other
too.
Angel's
heart sank. He noticed Spike pinned to a wall by a blue demoness who was
licking him with a long snake-like tongue and petting him with powerful
tentacles.
"Hey,
Buff!" Xander emerged from the crowd, excited. "I just found out that
my real father is Darth Vader!"
Angel turned
to Buffy who gaped at them. "They're not real," she said.
Angel
nodded. "The whole place is not real. We have to get out of here,
quickly."
She looked
around.
"How?"
He
tentatively touched the amulet on his chest. "It's our only return ticket.
I think I figured out how it works, the first time. If we want to get back, we
have to feed the amulet with our desires. But they have to be very intense. We
must want to go back as passionately as we want to be together."
"It's
unfair!"
"We'll
find a way be together in any reality. I promise. Do you believe me?"
She
answered him with a passionate kiss. Together, he thought fiercely, as he felt
the amulet warming his skin. My love, my reason of existence, my salvation, my
guiding light as I make this leap of faith...
A gust of
cosmic wind swept away The Bronze, the town, the whole bizarro universe...
***
...and
suddenly, Angel was in a pyramidal tomb, together with Buffy, fighting an evil
preacher named Caleb.
"I
missed watching this so much!" he murmured, admiring her quick, assured
moves. She was about to cut the bastard in half, and Angel was guarding her
back, keenly aware of her dangerous, lethal strength, predatory instincts and
animal grace. He and Buffy - they were so similar, after all.
When it was
over, she stepped over the bloodied corpse of Caleb and looked around.
"Looks
like we're back at our world. Goodbye, normal life - hello, apocalypse."
He smiled
ruefully.
"Looks
like the mojo I brought is useless. And dangerous." He took it off his
neck. "Sorry."
"Give
it to me." She stretched a hand. "Don't worry, I don't plan to send
us to a shoe shop universe."
He put it
on her palm reluctantly. "What do you want to do with it?"
"Wear
it, of course. But not now and not here." She took his hand and led him
out of the tomb. "Angel, you sent us to that weirdo place, because you
wanted to protect me. I really, really appreciate your care. You're so cute
when you try to keep me safe..."
"Hey!
I'm not cute!"
"You
are, but it's not the point. The point is that in your hands the mojo makes us
safe. In Spike's hands it will most likely destroy the whole Sunnydale,
together with him. In Willow's hands - I don't think she'd dare to wear it. And
I'm asking myself what *I* could do with it. Could I make the world safe? Could
I make it not too safe? Could I find the right emotions, the right thoughts,
the right balance? And I think I could. If you anchor me."
She looked
at him with shining eyes. "Will you?"
Suddenly he
realized that this may be the most important moment of his life. He tried to
leave her. He tried to forget about her. He tried to convince himself that
nothing good would come from the love of a vampire and The Slayer.
But now,
staring into her eyes, he realized that he had failed spectacularly. He can't
stop thinking about her. He can't stop loving her - deeply, desperately,
tenderly. Every cell of his body wants to be with her.
And,
besides, it was the only way to save the world. Wasn't it?
"Of
course, I will," he said, and was rewarded with the most beautiful smile
in the world. "I'll be with you as long as you want me to. Until you get
tired of me and send me to hell."
He wanted
to add "again", but decided against it. Of course, they'll face huge
problems. Impossible choices. Durability tests. Ordeals. Powers That Be will
never let them have a normal life.
But right
now they were together, in the middle of the cemetery, and she was kissing him,
and her lips smelled of impatience and desire, and it was a moment that belonged
to them.
~fin~