DISCLAIMER I don't think I own any of these characters, but I could be wrong so if you see a name you don't recognize from the shows, it's my character. Lyrics belong to Gabrielle.
SPOILERS One line is a spoiler, you'll know it as soon as you read the story. Think prom.
FEEDBACK alwaysluv@lycos.com
RATING G all the way
AUTHORS NOTE Feedback is motivation.
SUMMARY Angel's back, will Buffy let him stay?

She threw her head back, closed her eyes, and released an annoyed sigh. It had been fifteen minutes and she could still feel someone watching her. No, not someone, him. Fifteen minutes and he hadn't said anything to her. He lurked in the shadows like he thought that she couldn't feel him. Wouldn't he ever realize that she always felt him? It was like a silky caress over her skin, raising goose bumps all over her body, making her heart beat an irregular rhythm. And God it was annoying sometimes! Even after suffering a severely broken heart, watching him walk out of her life when she all but begged him to stay, and being forced to move on against her will and try to date an obnoxious Iowa farm boy, she could still feel when he was in her city. It was like a sixth, actually more like a seventh sense. Spidey sense definitely took sixth place. What she didn't understand was why he lurked instead of talking to her. And she was getting tired of waiting for his muteness to pass.

"What is it, Angel?" She called; her eyes remained closed as her ears picked up the soft rustling in the bushes as he finally stepped out into the open. "Why are you here? What's the big bad? Is it the apocalypse? Is some stupid vamp trying to open the hell mouth? Did some Hollywood starlet give you a happy and you've decided that it's your mission to kill me? Because, really, that was old the first time around." When he still said nothing she slowly opened her eyes and turned to fix her cold green eyes on him. "What are you doing in my town?"

Her town? That's how it was? Fine, he could play by those rules, for now. He shrugged. "I need permission to come to your town, but you don't need any to come to my city? Hardly seems fair."

"I've learned that life is hardly ever fair. Besides, I was only in LA because you were here without telling me."

He smirked. "Yeah, and you wanted to tell me face-to-face that you didn't want to see me face-to-face."

She nodded. "Exactly. You wanted me to move on, how am I supposed to do that if you're always lurking?"

He shrugged again. "I'm not lurking this time."

"You're still in my town and I still want to know why."

He took a cautious step towards her. "Why can't I be here? Why can't I come just to see if you're okay?"

She sighed again and her eyes shut, but not before he caught the glimmer of tears that shot a small dart through his heart. "Because we're ex, remember? You made the choice, you walked away, you left town. You can't just come back and check on me, Angel. That isn't how this works. I'm trying to move on, like you wanted me to and you're not exactly helping."

"I never planned to help with that." He retorted.

"Look," she said none too quietly and fixed him with a hard stare. "Can we just skip the small talk and get to what you're doing here? I have places to be, things to do and you're kinda holding me up here."

He shrugged again. "You can patrol while we talk."

"Is that some stupid habit you picked up in LA, or something? Cuz it's really annoying."

He gave her a confused look. "What?"

She gestured angrily at him. "That shrugging. God! Can't you answer a single question without doing that?"

He smiled softly. "Sorry." He gazed at her for a long moment, his dark eyes taking in every detail of her beautiful face in the moonlight. "Are we going to talk?"

She nervously fidgeted with the stake in her hand. "I'm kind of busy." She answered, fixing her eyes on a nearby tombstone.

"We'll talk while you patrol. I have no problem with that. Besides, it's been awhile since I patrolled with anyone." He walked past her, expecting her to fall into step beside him, when she didn't he turned to look at her. "Coming?"

Her gaze fell to the ground and she crossed her arms over her midsection. "I can't."

He stepped towards her. "Why not? Is this about the whole 'ex' thing? Because I really don't see why that has to stand in the way of a friendship. I mean, I thought we were friends, ex or not."

All the promises you made
They never saw the light of day
Many times you said you'd changed
I was a fool to wait
You had your chance
When I took you back
Now we're here again and you're hurting me

"It's not that." Her gaze briefly met his before falling away again when she continued. "I have plans tonight, it's too late to cancel. I don't want to cancel."

She heard his deep intake of breath and her heart ached. God, after what he had done to her, she didn't want to hurt him. "Oh." He breathed. "You. you have a-a date."

She raised her eyes to glare at him again. "What did you expect, Angel? You told me to move on. You left me no choice. No one here left me a choice. I had to move on." She saw the pain in his eyes and it did nothing but increase her anger. "Did you expect me to just spend the rest of my life sitting around and waiting for you to come back to me?" Her eyes filled with tear that she furiously fought back. "You left me! You left Sunnydale! And now you're back and you expect me to have put my life on hold?! That's not how it works!"

His expression was guarded when he met her eyes. It wasn't supposed to be like this. She wasn't supposed to be mad at him. This wasn't how his dreams went. She was supposed to be happy to see him and she was supposed to want him to be there and she was supposed to be excited that he was back. She wasn't supposed to be mad at him. She wasn't supposed to have a boyfriend! "I'm sorry." He managed to get out around his heart that had lodged itself firmly in his throat. "I. I shouldn't have come. I should've known that you moved on. That you'd be happy." He dropped his gaze to the ground, unable to look into the eyes that he loved so much and see nothing but anger and pain in them. "I'll go."

"So that's it?!" She shouted after him as he trudged away. "You show up, make me hope again, and then you leave? Is that how it's going to be, Angel? Every time I think I might actually be able to get through a couple of hours with out missing you, you'll show up and break my heart all over again?!" She took a single step towards him when he stopped with his head hung. "I can't do that. I can't live with that. Decide one way or the other. If you're staying then stay, but if you're going to leave again." a sob caught in her throat and the tears that she had fought so hard fell down her smooth cheeks. "Then just leave and don't come back."

His heart pounded painfully in his chest, but he did not turn to face her again, he didn't want her to see the tears running down his cheeks. "I don't think it's my decision to make anymore." He whispered.

She took another step towards him, but as she opened her mouth to speak, another voice cut her off. "Buffy!" She turned and saw her new, mostly normal, human boyfriend jogging over to her. He grinned when he reached her and planted a kiss on her cheek. "Hey, I was looking for you. You didn't show."

She spared at glance at where Angel had been, but she knew that he would no longer be there. "Sorry, I got. busy."

He nodded his blond head in understanding. "Vampire?"

She nodded absently. "Yeah."

"Tough?"

She smiled sadly and looked over where she had last seen the dark vampire. "Yeah, it always is." Trying to shake off the mood that seeing Angel had put her in, she forced a smile and looked up at her boyfriend. "Let's go Bronzing. Willow and everyone will be there already, waiting for us."

With no more questions asked, he took her hand in his large one and walked with her to the Bronze. Buffy risked one more look over her shoulder, trying to ignore how wrong his warm hand felt in hers, and then vowed to forget Angel for good and have a good time with her boyfriend. But, as she looked up at the tall commando, she couldn't shake the feeling of how wrong it felt to be walking with him and not a certain dark haired vampire.

Was this what she was doomed to for the rest of her life? He had disappeared more than an hour before, he had left her in the cemetery with her boyfriend, and she was sure that he was on his way back to LA, back to his life, but she still felt him like he was only a few feet away. But he wasn't. She had searched the shadows for him. He had always been an excellent hider, but he couldn't hide from her. All the signs were there, though; the goose bumps, the silky caress, the tingle in the pit of her stomach, all the things that only he could cause. And it was completely ruining her night.

Every time Riley touched her, she shivered and she could tell that it was really starting to bother him. She couldn't help it. He was the wrong temperature, his touch was wrong, he was wrong, everything about him.

Finally tired of all the concerned looks from her friends and the annoyed glares from her boyfriend, she made up the excuse of needing a drink, talked Riley out of getting on for her, and left the table in favor of quieter areas in the direction of the bar. But standing by the bar only made things worse. The feelings only increased and a shiver ran down her spine.

She decided to rely on her instincts and finally called out to him, hoping he was near so she wouldn't look like a complete fool. "I thought you were leaving again. You've become quite the expert at it, so why'd you stick around this time?"

"I couldn't leave." Her entire body tensed a his sudden closeness, she could feel his breath on the back of her neck. "Not like that. Not this time."

She stood straight, squaring her shoulders and taking a slow sip from the drink the bartender had put in front of her. "Why not? I would've figured it would be easy for you. You didn't seem to have any problems last time."

She felt him shrugged and she cringed at his annoying new habit even though she had no idea why it bothered it. "Things changed. I tried to leave, I was almost out of town, but I couldn't. I can't walk away from you, Buffy."

"That's not an answer, Angel." She finally turned to face him, staring up into his deep, dark eyes and finding herself instantly lost and completely at his mercy. "Why are you here?" She breathlessly whispered.

She stood frozen to her spot when he slowly lifted his hand to gently caress her cheek. She unconsciously leaned into the warmth of his hand. "Because things have changed."

"What things?" She breathed against his lips that were only an inch from hers. "What's changed, Angel?"

"Everything." He breathed and leaned down to press his lips to her in a soft kiss.

"I don't understand." She whimpered when he pulled his lips from hers after the briefest of kisses.

His breath was warm against her lips, his body solid against hers. "Come with me, Buffy. Let me make you understand."

She shook her head, instantly denying him his request in a last ditch effort to save whatever would be left of her heart when he finally left her again. "I can't. I'm not strong enough."

He shook his head, his nose brushing hers as he did so. "You don't have to be strong, not for this. You just have to trust me. Can you trust me, Buffy?"

"I don't know." She whimpered.

She let him pull her into his warm embrace and hesitantly wrapped her arms around his neck. "I won't hurt you, Buffy. Not again, not ever." His warm breath brushed her ear and sent a shiver down her back. Would he always affect her like that? "Just come with me. Please, give me tonight and if you don't want to see me again, if you can't trust me not to hurt you, I'll leave again and I won't come back. Just give me tonight and let me make you understand."

She nodded against her shoulder and made a small sound of agreement and he pulled away from her and took her hand, leading her out of the crowded club and into the cool night air before she had the chance to change her mind. She felt him shiver beside her and was suddenly struck by how odd it was, how odd a lot of things had been that night. She peered up at him and he flashed her a quick smile before tugging open the door the of a large black convertible and helping her in.

Ten minutes later they were at his old apartment, an apartment that she was sure he would've sold as soon as he decided to leave town, or sooner, like right after her seventeenth a year and a half ago. Without a word he stepped out of the car and walked over to her side to open her door, just like a gentleman, and help her out. His warm hand held hers on the short journey to the door of the apartment and he didn't let her go until he had opened the door and flipped on the lights.

She walked inside and wrapped her arms around her middle as memories of happier times bombarded her. Times when she was with him and she was happy and in love and believed that fairytales really could come true. Times when she had thought that he was everything and that he thought she was everything. Times that hadn't lasted long enough.

She watched as he walked past her and threw his leather jacket over the arm of a surprisingly dust-free chair. She raised an eyebrow at him in question.

He smiled. "I was here earlier, cleaned everything up. just in case."

She wrapped her arms tighter around herself and looked away from him. "In case of what?"

He shrugged again and god she wanted to beat him until he stopped doing it. She hated it, Riley always did it. "In case you decided to hear me out."

She smiled sadly as her thoughts drifted back to what had ultimately broken them up. "You know, if you were anyone else, I'd think you were expecting something out of me tonight."

A wry smile flashed over his features so quickly that she barely caught it and then he was up and walking past her to the kitchen. "I wouldn't say I was expecting anything. Hoping, yes, but not expecting." He disappeared into the kitchen. "I have more respect for you than that."

She swallowed the lump in her throat and mentally begged her racing heart to slow down. Turning, she followed him into the kitchen to find him with his head in the refrigerator as he rummaged through shelves of food that were totally out of place in his fridge. He stood up and held out a can of pop for her, which she gratefully took and drank half of it before stopping for air.

"Care to fill me in on. whatever it is that I'm missing here?"

His appreciative gaze ran over her body, heating her blood and doing nothing to slow her speeding heart. "I don't think you're missing anything."

Oh, no, he could not be hitting on her. Not after the reasons he gave her for leaving. But then she remembered what he had said in the club and she hoped. "You said that things have changed, Angel. Care to tell me what things?"

He smiled lewdly and leaned back against the counter, crossing his ankles and taking a gulp of his own cold pop. Another non-Angel thing that she added to her mental list of strange things to tell Giles about, unless Angel somehow explained it first. "I was hoping to show you, but I can tell you first I suppose."

Okay, something was definitely off. He was either on drugs or. he had to be on drugs. Her brow wrinkled in confusion. Do drugs even work on vampires? "Did you smoke something on the way here?"

He laughed softly. "No, I'm not high and I'm not looking to get lung cancer anytime soon."

Okay, number, what, 1000 on the list of odd, possible hell mouthy, things that all seemed to involve Angel. "Can we quit playing hide and seek with the point of this visit? Last I checked you had left me for my own good because of some unimportant excuses that you thought were extremely important. Just step up to the plate and give me what you got so we can end this little game."

"Never knew you were a sports fan, Buffy." She fixed him with an angry glare that quickly had him shutting his mouth. "Right. You want answers and you'll stake first before you ask again."

"So you better get to the point sometime soon." She added. "What things have changed? Why are you in my town and playing with my heart again?"

He grinned. "I always hate coming in at the ninth inning so why don't we rewind and start again?" She growled softly and he instantly became serious. "A few months back, Wesley found a scroll, a prophesy of my future, of my redemption. It wasn't supposed to happen until after the end of days battle, but for some reason it came sooner, not that I'm complaining at all, well not yet, that depends on how tonight goes. It scared me, usually when something is prophesied it happens when it's supposed to and not earlier. So, I went to the Oracles just to make sure."

"The Oracles?" Buffy interrupted.

"Yeah, their messengers of sorts for the Powers That Be. The big guys upstairs." He explained off her look. "Anyway, they said that there was a reason behind everything, that my redemption came early because I would need it and because without it I would never seek you out and we have to fight the end of days together."

Buffy raised her hand to stop him. "Hold up. What, exactly, is the end of days battle?"

"The end of days battle is exactly what it sounds like." He fixed his eyes on her. "It's the end of the world, Buffy, and if we don't fight it together, side by side, the world doesn't have a chance."

"So that's why you're here? To get all friendly again so we can fight together? Angel, you could've done that the day before the battle and I'd still help you."

"I know." He agreed. "But that's not the only reason I'm here."

"What else is there?"

He smiled happily and Buffy's heart soared. In all the years that she had known him, she had never seen him smile like that, she had never seen him so happy. "There's happily ever after, Buffy."

Okay, cryptic is apparently back with a vengeance. "What are you talking about, Angel? Happily ever after only exists in fairy tales."

"Then give me a sword and call me Prince Charming." He replied with the same smile.

She gave him a sceptical look. "Are you sure you haven't been smoking anything? Cause you sound like you're on cloud thirty-two right about now."

He moved from the counter, putting his now empty can down, and stepped towards her. "Haven't you noticed, Buffy? I thought you would have put it together by now."

"The only thing I'm noticing is your lack of a straight jacket when you obviously need one." She answered, backing away from him as he moved towards her.

"My redemption, Buffy. My reward."

She backed into a wall, stuck, she looked up into his eyes, pressing hard against the unyielding wall as he approached. "What reward? What are you talking about?"

His hands rose to cradle her cheeks in their warmth. His breath warmed her lips when he spoke. "I'm talking about the heart in my chest that  suddenly started beating yesterday. I'm talking about my ability to tan without turning into a big pile of ash." He stared into her wide eyes for a  long moment as silence reigned. "I'm talking about being able to give you everything that I left so you could have. I'm talking about a happily  ever after, if you want it with me."

She couldn't talk, she couldn't breath, she couldn't move. This was not how her dreams had gone. She had always been very articulate when she threw her arms around him and professed her undying love and need for him whenever she had let herself dream of this absolutely impossible moment. Not in a single imagined scenario had she been frozen to the spot and mute. It had to be some sort of cruel joke. Someone had cast a spell on her, why couldn't she do anything?

"Buffy?" Angel's uncertain voice broke through the haze around her sluggish mind. She felt his hands leave her face and watched through a fog as he stepped away from her. "I can leave if you want me to. If you don't  want this, I'll go back to LA, no hurt feelings, well, not many."

"Don't you dare." She croaked. When she was able to pry her foot from the place where it had become one with the cement floor, she jumped after him as he quickly backed away and grabbed his arm. "Don't you dare drop that on me and then disappear from my life. Don't you dare ask me for happily ever after and then run off before I get a chance to put on the glass slipper." He stared at her with wide eyes. "You asked for it, pal, and now you're stuck with it. You came all this way, you better go the distance."

That wonderful, never before seen smile lit his features again and she swore his eyes actually danced. Non-broody Angel would definitely take a lot of getting used to and she was more than willing to volunteer the time. "I don't need to slay any dragons or double-cross any ugly stepsisters, do I?"

Buffy grinned up at him. "There might be a few demons between now and happily ever after, a couple best friends, a watcher, and a mother that you may have to slay or sweet talk. Oh, and a boyfriend. But other than that, I'm thinking it'll be smooth sailing from here on out."

He leaned down to brush his lips across hers. "How about we do the boyfriend first, I can't wait to get my hands around his neck."

She giggled. She couldn't remember the last time she had actually giggled. "Careful, honey, you don't want to spend happily ever after in jail."

"No, I definitely wouldn't want that." He breathed against her mouth before kissing her like he hadn't kissed her in years.

END.