The Morning After

by Maygen

Disclaimer: All characters, etc. belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, Fox, etc. I don't own them. I'm simply dreaming on paper...
Time Line: next part in the Dreams & reality series, start at the begining or it won't make sense!

Buffy woke up to the incessant beeping of her alarm. Stretching she felt less pain in her arm than she had in weeks. Suddenly the events of the previous night came flooding back to her and she groaned in shame. How could she have told Angel all of those horrible things? She had wanted to talk to him, not yell at him.

Angel Investigations, she'd have to go there, today. Before the damage was irreversible. The rain pounded against Buffy's window as she headed downstairs to make a plan.

The taxi driver stopped a few blocks from Angel's office as requested. The cabbie looked Buffy over and spoke, "You sure this is where you want me to drop you off girlie?"

Buffy tried not to cringe at his vocabulary. "Yes, I'm sure."

"It ain't exactly the safest neighborhood. Only a couple of months ago an office building not two blocks away got blowed up."

Fishing some money out of her purse Buffy paid the driver. "Trust me, I can handle it." The taxi quickly sped off into the night. Buffy clutched her coat around her and hurried in the direction of Angel's office.

By the time she was outside the building Buffy was certain something was following her. The puddles from the mornings rain made her attacker easy to hear and whatever it was, it obviously wasn't big on stealth. She hoped she could avoid a fight by going inside the building.

Upon entering the building Buffy quickened her pace and ducked behind the nearest doorway, listening. Hearing the squeak of the main door she sighed. Whatever it was that was following her was brazen, she'd give it that much.

Looking over her shoulder she saw the doorway to Angel Investigations in the far distance. She only hoped she could make it into the office before it could catch up with her. Buffy knew she was weak and in no shape for battle. Silently she prayed.

Angel heard something upstairs and stopped hitting his punching bag. Straightening he cautiously headed up to his office. As he approached the door he heard a muffled argument between Cordelia and Wesley. Relaxing he stepped into the office.

Wesley paused mid-sentence and looked his employer over as he entered the room. "What's wrong Angel?"

Angel took one last look around and lowered his guard completely. "I thought I heard something. It must have just been you two." Lowering himself into a nearby arm chair he relaxed and ran his fingers through his hair.

Cordelia looked Angel over. He had obviously been working out, he was barefoot and his white tank top and sweat pants were sweat stained. This had to have something to do with Buffy. "So how'd you dinner with Hank go?"

Angel did his best to look emotionless but failed. "Perfect. As it turns out Hank is Buffy's father and she showed up. Let's just say that she wasn't too happy to see me."

Cordelia rolled her eyes. "Well duh! Angel you showed up like a knight in shining armor to rescue her from Darla and then promptly disappeared into the night. How do you think you'd feel?"

Buffy took her brace off of her arm so she'd have better mobility and set it on the ground, doing the same with her purse. The demon was getting closer. Turning in the direction of the office she ran. Effortlessly the demon kicked her in the small of the back and sent her flying into the nearest wall.

All three investigators heard the crash in the hallway but Angel was the first to the door. He threw it open and silently cursed himself for not checking out the hall sooner. At the end of the hall he could see a very large, hairy demon on top of some one. Cordelia handed him his battle axe and he ran in the direction of the demon.

When he was a few yards away the girl took her arms and lifted the demon off of her torso as best as she could. She succeeded partly, enabling Angel to get a clear view of her face. It was Buffy. Angel's heart skipped a beat. He reached the demon and used the upward motion Buffy had given it to allow him to kick it in the chest, sending the demon into a stair rail.

It struggled to stand and Angel approached it. Quickly glancing back he saw Wesley and Cordelia help Buffy into his office. The demon lunged at him and Angel blocked it's attack with the handle of his axe. Thrusting upward Angel slammed the handle into the demons chin. The demon staggered and Angel beheaded it, watching as it disappeared into a fiery orange glow.

Wes and Cordy helped Buffy into Angel's apartment and Wesley brought her an ice bag for her arm. Cordelia heard the elevator and went to help Angel in. Angel entered the room and set Buffy's purse and arm brace on his coffee table in front of her.

Cordelia glanced at the ex-lovers cautiously. She spoke, "Now would be a good time to take off. Don't you think Wesley?"

Wesley adjusted his glasses and looked from Buffy to Angel. The tension in the room was so thick it could be cut with a knife. "Jolly good. We'll see you in the morning Angel." The sidekicks let themselves out and Angel was thankful that they had employed tact.

Angel watched as Buffy took a pill bottle out of her purse and tried to get the cap off. He went into the kitchen and returned to her with a glass of water, setting it in front of her he noticed she was still struggling with the bottle. Gently Angel took the bottle from her and opened it.

She looked at Angel embarrassed. "Thank you." Taking one of the pills she drank down the water and returned the glass to the table. Gingerly she inspected her arm brace and busied herself with fastening it. She tried to relieve the tension in the room. "Here I am, one of the most successful vampire slayers in history and I can't even open a silly child proof bottle."

Her attempt worked and Angel chuckled. Buffy liked that sound, she had rarely heard him laugh. Attempting to stand she nearly lost her balance and Angel was immediately at her side supporting her. Their eyes locked and he looked away, letting go of her.

"Why are you here Buffy?"

"I came to apologize and talk to you." Silently she hoped he would let her.

"Apologize for what?" The smell of her was intoxicating to him, vanilla and shampoo, Angel had always thought it matched her personality. He took a step back from Buffy.

"The things I said last night." Buffy tried to look in Angel's eyes but he avoided her. "I didn't mean them. I was just so shocked to see you and on top of that I was medicated. Which isn't exactly a wonderful combination."

"You may not have meant to say it but you thought it Buffy. Anger like that doesn't come out of nowhere."

"Alright, I admit that I came to L.A. to talk to you, confront you -"

Angel could feel all of his anger well up inside of him and try as he might he couldn't stop it. "Well a hell of a job you did. We hadn't even talked for five minutes and you accused me of not loving you!"

"Do you love me?" Buffy asked quietly.

"How can you ask me that!" Angel's voice rose. "Everything that I have ever done has been because I loved you."

"Oh really? Because that's not how I see it at all." Buffy felt tears well up in her eyes, threatening to spill over.

"Then how do you see it? Because I don't see how you can get something else out of it!"

"Do you really want to know how I see it?" Buffy's voice was barely audible, Angel had to struggle to hear it. "Everything you did was because you were a coward." Angel's head shot up. "Whenever the going got rough you gave up and refused to try. You fooled yourself into thinking that you were being the brave one. In reality you were running because you were scared."

"All I ever did was to protect you. That's why I left. If Angelus had gotten free again what would you have done? I left because I loved you!"

"No Angel! You can delude yourself all you want, but you left because you were scared and part of that was because you didn't trust me." Buffy's tears flowed freely.

"How can you say I don't trust you!"

"Did you ever consult me for even one of your discesions?"

"No but -"

"That leads us right back tot he love issue. You cannot have love with out trust and if you loved me you'd trust me. If you trust me - why aren't we together now?"

Angel finally cracked, he unleashed fury that he didn't even know he had and with out realizing it he began to weep as well. "Because we don't work! All I ever do is hurt you, wether I mean to or not! Take tonight for example."

"Angel I'm a vampire slayer! I'm in danger every night!"

"I am not going to let you get hurt because of me!"

Buffy picked up her bag and looked directly at Angel. "I'm hurt the worst when I'm not with you."

Angel turned and rested his forehead on the wall. "Leave." He silently willed Buffy to stay, to wrap her slender arms around him and kiss all of his pain away. He heard her light footsteps ascend the stairs behind him and he sank to the floor.

On to Pain