Back in Time

by Mariah

Part Eight

"You are absolutely stunning!" Liam exclaimed, not able to take his eyes off Buffy, as she was reviewing herself in the long mirror in Ilana's room.

"Thank you," she beamed, "it was very nice of your sister to let me wear one of her dresses. It's really beautiful."

"Not nearly as beautiful as the lady wearing it." He offered her his hand and she took it, moving away from the mirror towards him.

"Here it is!" Ilana returned from the next room with a shawl to go with Buffy's gown, and handed it to her. "I told you I had it somewhere." She inspected Buffy. *Now it is complete.*  "I can call for someone to do your hair, if you wish. A lady can never appear too respectable."

Liam still had his eyes on Buffy. "I do not think you could ever make her more beautiful than she already is, Ilana."

Buffy smiled at him and squeezed his hand, then she smiled at Ilana. "Thank you for doing this. But are you sure it won't get you in some sort of trouble with your mom? I mean, wouldn't she realize it's your dress I'm wearing?"

"No!" Ilana dismissed. "Do not worry yourself over my mother. She can barely recall all of her gowns. She certainly cannot recall all of mine. I have too many. You can keep this one, if you like. I would not necessitate it anymore, I suppose, since it has been a while now that I have been planning to order an entire new wardrobe for myself. I can scarcely track the fashion changes these days," she laughed.

"Well." Liam said finally, entwining his arm with Buffy's, "may I have the honor of escorting the lady to diner?" he questioned.

She smiled sweetly. "You certainly may."

Ilana grinned at the two of them as they were leaving her chamber. She had never seen her brother so happy before this Anne or whoever she was entered their lives. If she could make him so happy, why would she ever wish to oppose this relationship? The possibility that this girl could be a plain nobody deserted her mind for the first time in these three days.

She sighed and followed Buffy and her brother down the stairs.

Liam opened the dining hall's doors for Buffy and led her to a large oak table in the middle, which already had been loaded with different foodstuffs by a few servants. He showed her to the chair near the one at the head of the table and pulled it out for her, not letting go of her arm until she sat down, and he gently neared her to the table, taking himself the seat at the head of the table.

Buffy inspected the dishes before her. They were all evidently expensive, the finest china she had ever seen, with an exceptionally delicate flowery outline, manifestly handmade. The cutlery were silver, all burnished and shining dazzlingly. As the plates, daintily and skillfully patterned. It seemed almost perfect.only if there weren't so many of them.

Liam couldn't help but notice her confused stare with concern. "Is anything wrong?" he wanted to know.

"There are too many of them," she hissed timidly, sending a glance at the silverware, "how am I gonna know which one I gotta use and when?"

At first, Liam was surprised she didn't know, but he let it go at once. She didn't know - no problem. He'd be more than happy to show her. "We do not have time now," he apologized, "you will have to look at what I use and do the same. After that, I promise to teach you the function of each and every one of them. Do not worry. You will do fine," he reassured, "you will learn it all before you notice. It only looks confusing at first impression. I also was not born with the knowledge. It is no shame not to know something. We all learn new things in some point of our lives."

Buffy beamed thankfully. There hadn't been a single time when his smile and the tenderness in his tone hadn't made it all better. He possessed a gift, a gift to make all of her troubles and all of her pain go away. Whether they were as minor as this, whether they were not. Just looking at him and having him there beside her made her feel better and a lot more secure.

Liam was pleased when he witnessed her tenseness fading. He had never wanted to make her feel nervous or worthless. He took a tidily folded silk napkin from the table, and smoothed it on his knees. Buffy aped his actions. That very moment, the Duchess walked into the room, followed by her two daughters.

Liam instantaneously stood up for them, and understanding it was the manner, Buffy did the same. He pulled a chair out for his mother, across from Buffy, and the Duchess greeted him and her with an edgy nod, and an icy glare in addition for Buffy. Buffy didn't even shiver.

Laura shot curious gazes at her siblings, but receiving no response, quietly took her seat by her mother, while her elder sister sat beside Buffy.

"My son has not informed me of any guests coming over for dinner, miss," the Duchess remarked icily.

"I did not see the need, mother," Liam stated, "the lady, after all, is a guest of mine. I do not require your approval to entertain her in my home. She will be staying for a while as well, mother. I hope you do not mind that." He strove to retort her with the same coldness she had used on him.

Shocked gasps escaped Laura and her mother's lips, while Ilana simply sat in silence, praying intensely for the ground to please open and swallow her this instant.

"This is an outrage! Liam, I will not tolerate such offensiveness!"

He smirked. "I do not believe you have a say in the matter, dear mother. The lady shall stay in MY house. You can do nothing about it. You have wanted me for so long to take charge on things since father has not been well, so here I am. This is MY house, mother, and I will not have you approving or disapproving any of my guests."

"You have no right!"

"On the contrary, I have every right. I did not ask for the responsibility along with being the man in the house, and yet you pushed me to it. Now that I finally perform my duties, you are displeased?" he inquired dryly.

Buffy was literally astounded. Now she finally understood how Angel must have felt being in the same room with her mother. But now SHE wasn't good enough for HIM. The roles had flipped irrevocably. *See the irony in that.*

"I will not have her in the house, William!" she talked about Buffy as if she waren't even there. "I know nothing about her! I do not know her station, her family, nothing! She can be anyone for all I care, and I will not have her sleeping under my roof!"

Liam rose above the table in impatience. "I will NOT allow this tone, mother! You will not speak of her that way!"

"I shall speak of her the way I wish! She is probably nothing but a rude greedy maid who is after your money, and you are as always - too fool to see! Now I understand why you refused to take Lady Abigail Hindley as your wife, having this whore instead!"

Liam raised his hand at his mother, but at the last minute lowered it back. It was beneath him to hit his own mother and he knew it, but he would NOT, under any circumstances, tolerate her speaking like that in Anne's presence and about her. He turned to her, and found her orbs were fixed on him as well. She'd kept her gaze on him for a short spell, and then, with all the dignity she still possessed, stood up, and murmuring "Excuse me.", left the table. After a minute, they all heard the front door being slowly opened and closed behind her.

Liam glowered at his mother. "We are everything BUT done here, mother!" he bawled at her. "And if I EVER see you speak to her this way again, your worst fear of losing all your money will become your reality, and I would not care, because I do not need any of this!" He stomped off after Buffy.

The Duchess continued her dinner like nothing happened.

It took him almost half an hour to track her down, but he finally located her in the gardens. He found her sitting on a bench underneath a large green tree. The shadow of its widely extended branches made her tiny frame nearly imperceptible in the gloominess of the night.

"May I sit with you?" he asked when he was standing near her.

She gazed at him. He could see clearly the remnants of tears in her deep green eyes. "It's not my private bench," she answered quietly.

He sat down, not averting his gaze from her. "I apologize for my mother's behavior this evening. I should have not let her talk to you the way she did."

"Don't be," she grinned sadly, "your mom's definitely lousy in picking her words, but in the end of the day, she was right."

He didn't believe her. "Right? How could she be?"

"I don't belong here. I never have. It's the way I talk, the way I dress, the way I eat.God, it's even the way I breathe that makes me some sort of an alien. I'm a stranger to this time. I shouldn't be here. I don't even know why I stayed." *But I do know. I stayed because returning to a life without you was never an option I could live with.*

"All of these things are exactly the things I love you for." Only after uttering the words, he grasped their meaning. "I did not mean to sound so blunt after knowing you for only a few days. Please, accept my apologies, Anne."

She chuckled. "You see? That's exactly what I'm saying. I can't live here. My God, wanna know something? I loved telling you that I loved you, and I loved so much hearing you say the same to me, and even though you used to do that so frequently, every time made me feel like I was in heaven all over again. I can't even describe how it felt! And now.now I'm suddenly not allowed to anymore, and neither are you. And now I suddenly discover you're supposed to be married to some princess, whose type, by the way, you said you hated."

Liam smiled at the change in her voice when she said those last words. But something bothered him in what she said. Before she could go on, he began to speak. "You never told me you loved me. I never told you it myself before now. I do not understand what you mean."

"I did tell you," she smiled, "and you told me. More times than I can remember. Then you walked away." her voice died.

"Walked away?"

She sat straight; resolve to tell everything is evident on her features. "I'm not from here."

"Yes, I know. Your accent is different."

"No, I don't mean it geographically. I mean.different time. I'm not from around here."

He looked even more perplexed. "I do not understand."

"Let's just say that after you'll die like.five times, after fully living your life, I won't even be born yet."

He still gaped at her in muddle.

"What year is this?"

"Seventeen-fifty-three," he replied.

"Great, so I was born in nineteen-eighty-one. Do the math."

"I cannot believe this," he said honestly.

"Why not? I mean, come on. Look at the way I talk, at my vocabulary, the way you say I do stuff you were fed they weren't right. I'd say it sums it up," she sighed. "You know what my real name is?"

"Of course, Anne."

"No. Not Anne. My name is Buffy. My middle name is Anne."

"Buffy?" he looked slightly hurt. "Why did you not tell me?"

She laughed. "Why? Maybe cuz if I did tell you my real name, your sister and maybe even you, would think I'm some weirdo creature from outa space. Wanna show me another girl with a name like that?"

He smiled. "There is nothing out of space."

"Trust me, there is. We were there."

Astonishment lightened his eyes. "You were?"

"This isn't the point."

"I love 'Buffy'," he admitted after a brief thinking, "I think it is a beautiful name."

She looked surprised. "You do?"

"Why would I tell you, if I did not?"

She shrugged. "To make me feel better? You're an expert in that."

He beamed. "Would you mind if I called you Buffy from now on?"

Her reply was a bright smile. "Can I call you Angel, then?"

He had misapprehension all over his face.

She smiled lamely. "I get it it's not your name, it's just that when I look at you, I can't see myself calling you anything else."

"Actually, in a way, it is my name."

Buffy stared at him. "What?"

"Well, Angelus is my second name. It was given to me after my grandfather. It means."

"The one with the angelic face."

He gaped at her. "How did you know?"

She giggled. "I'll find out in a point. Say.in another two hundred years or so. But at least now I know where you got the idea from."

"You can call me Angel if you want. I would not mind. After all, you do seem to know me as a different person."

She put her hand on his cheek gently. "You're not a different person. You're the same as the one from my time. It's because you aren't different that I want to call you Angel."

He put his hand on hers. "Thank you." After a short pause, Liam continued with their previous subject. "But if you.if you were born then, how are you here now? How did you come here?"

*Am I actually going to tell him I came here to kill him?* "By mistake. Someone cast a stupid spell and I winded up in the dark ages. But I'm going back, so you don't have to worry about me anymore."

"Back?"

"Yep. Back where I DO belong," she looked at him tenderly, *and I thought I could just leave you behind, right?* "I wish I could take you with me," her mouth let her thought out into the open without her being able to obstruct it.

His eyes widened. "With you?"

It was never too late to take it back though. "But I never would. You don't belong there. It's hard for someone from there to adjust in here, imagine how it'd be for someone from here, trying to live there."

"Has it changed a lot?"

She giggled and gazed longingly at the starred heaven. "You have no idea." Her Halloween event suddenly sprung to mind.

There was still something he didn't entirely understand. "But how did.well, from your words I received the impression you and I were.involved. And yet.I cannot believe I was alive for over two centuries."

"You weren't."

"Then how."

"You died. Well.died is not exactly the word."

"When did I die?"

"You didn't." she took a deep breath, "let me rephrase. I guess you still remember what happened to you last night."

Liam instinctively brought his palm to his neck. "It is rather hard to forget."

"Yeah. Well, thing is, that Darla.that was the name of the vampire who attacked you and who I dusted, was going to Sire you."

"Sire me?"

"Yeah. She was going to make you a vampire. You were going to play a far larger role in her life than her nightly snack."

"You mean.in your time.I was a vampire?"

"Yeah, I guess that's the short version."

"Then how could we."

"Believe me, it's a too long story to tell. The point is, that we were."

"But I want to know," he insisted.

"I.alright. But I won't tell you about all those centuries before you met me, okay?"

"Why not? Have I not.him.ever told you?"

*Because I don't wanna hurt you.* "Because it's a long story. A really long story. I only vaguely know about it."

"Alright," he gave in.

"Do you know what a Slayer is?"

"No."

"Great," she sighed, "okay, anyway, I was.or am.I'm not sure anymore, the Slayer. It's a destiny thing, go figure. I was called to fight vampires and demons and other bad guys at fifteen."

"But why? I am sure they had men to do the fighting when was necessary. Why would someone want to endanger a lady?"

"Umm.you know, the 'men is better than women' thing that's regularly going on here? Well, it doesn't really exist in my time anymore. There, they're pretty much equals."

"Oh."

"Yeah. One of the small changes. Well, so I got called and I fought and I slayed and yada yada yada.and then I moved to Sunnydale."

"Sunnydale?"

"It's a town in California."

Buffy could see he was lost. "America?"

He still upheld the confusion.

"Don't know much about America, ha?"

He shook his head coyly.

"Never mind. Anyway, I pretty much met you when I moved there, and since then, we kinda got together. At first you helped me out a lot, just all cryptic guy, warning me about this and that, you told me your name was Angel. You have no idea how much it truly suited you. Before I could stop it, I was already in love with you."

"But you said I was a vampire. Why did you not kill me? I am sure you had chances. You fell in love with me instead?"

"To tell you the truth, I'd already loved you before I found out you were a vamp, and the vampire thing didn't change my feelings." She saw in his eyes she hadn't answered his whole question. "You weren't just a vampire. You had a soul, a human soul, and.I think it was your soul that I truly loved. It was the second half of mine. You know how it's like.when you feel you can't live your life, because something inside you is missing?"

Liam returned her a loving gaze, accompanied with a candid smile. Yes, he knew.

"It didn't matter to me you were a demon, your soul made you the most human person I have ever met. You were kind, sweet, gentle, understanding, and loving. You made me feel I was the only thing in the world for you. You were my shield, my lifeline.and I was yours. We proved more than once there was nothing we wouldn't do for each other, that we would sacrifice everything and always."

She smiled, her gaze hadn't been at him for a while now, it'd been absent, in a faraway place Liam could guess to be her memories. *I wish I could step into his shoes.*

"When I graduated high school, you left. You walked away from me, saying you loved me too much to ruin my entire life and future and make me spend them with a vampire, who could never give me all these things a normal girl would want. A husband, children.and the sunlight. You wanted me to have a normal life. I was only eighteen then, and you left, by that denying me the only thing I had," she sighed. "People say this kind of love isn't real. They say it only belongs in dreams and fables. Once I used to listen to them and think they were stupid, because as I was listening to their so called words of wisdom, my heart was with my love, in whose arms I was going to be in only few short moments, once again playing the role of a living proof to that this love did exist. But then I started to understand them. I understood, only after he'd left, that coming up with that this love couldn't exist, was only their way to deal with the pain after it was gone. And I felt I knew better than anyone that this kind of pain was too much to bear."

Buffy stopped talking, her gaze's still away from Liam's, but he could sense she didn't want to tell anymore. She didn't want to stir all that pain, and he, of course, didn't want her to. Liam longed to wrap her in his arms, to make her feel safe, and protected, and loved, like his future self must have done so many times before. But would she want him to? It was a question only one person could answer, and this person was now staring longingly at the sky, plunged with memories of her love, tears threatening to roll down her soft cheeks any minute.

"This vampire," he started faintly, carefully, "the one who bit you. Was it he?"

She nodded, but still didn't turn to look at him. "It was."

Liam vacillated at first, not entirely sure whether she would want him to perform his next move, but he felt he had to. He had no idea what a simple touch could initiate between them, but he felt an inner urge he couldn't explain. An urge to be close to her, and not only mentally, as he had been until now, but close physically. The fact that his mother would faint if she knew of his current thoughts instigated an inner smile. He glanced at her lips. He wanted so much to kiss those lips. He was already able to feel the taste of her kiss, the taste of her.it whirled him.and all he made up his mind to do was to hesitantly place his palm on top of hers on her knee.

Buffy finally turned to look at him. She smiled bitterly at this small gesture. "Could you," she pursed her lips, as if regretting she had ever even wanted to say it. How could she know how he'd react? But she suddenly didn't care anymore. She just wanted."could you hold me?" *It's a kinda stupid thing to ask, wouldn't you say?* she criticized herself.

He gazed at her. He wanted to. He wanted so much to hold her, but he wasn't sure if she wanted him to. And now she had just said.

Naturally, Buffy misinterpreted his diffidence and rose to her feet. "I'd better go," *And I hope I can still remember that stupid spell.* She wrapped her arms around herself and started slowly walking away. Liam stared after her. It seemed his love for her increased with every passing second. Every time he looked at her.he seemed to be wanting her, wanting her whole, wanting her all the time. He wanted her body just as much as he wanted her soul to belong to him. How could he know they already were his? He watched her every gesture as she was pacing between the rows of trees. He discerned how she strengthened her embrace around herself, he also descried the way she brought her hand up to her face a couple of times, and he knew what she was doing. His heart cried out for her, his heart couldn't live without her. For that alone he couldn't let her go away. Before he finished his contemplations, he was at her heel, laying his hand gently on her shoulder. She rotated. Liam felt like he wanted to kill himself for making her cry. They stared at one another for seconds that lasted forever before he pulled her into his arms. Buffy snuggled deeply into his embrace, enclosing her arms around him, finally allowing her tears run freely.

For the first time in his twenty six years, he felt whole, he felt complete. Most importantly, he felt his soul was finally intact. He soothingly began stroking her silky hair, as she nestled closer to his broad protective chest. Her shield. "I love you," she whispered.

His heart almost melted at these three words. He gently kissed her hair and tightened his hug. "I love you too."

Part Nine

He had been watching her for nearly an hour until she finally opened her eyes. Angel had known all along she had been naked under the bedcovers, and knowing it made being in the same room but staying away even more unbearable.

Buffy didn't say anything when she saw him. She was as surprised as he was to find her in his room yesterday's morning after waking up, which meant not surprised at all. She smiled at him, and sat up, pulling the sheet up against her chest. Still, a part of it dropped and somewhat exposed her breast to Angel. His yearning only intensified to the sight of it.

Buffy motioned for him to come and sit with her, and he swallowed hard, hastily reckoning why he should or should not do it.

Her gaze didn't miss his hesitance, and guessing that one of its causes was probably her nudity, she wrapped herself in her blanket. "Am I safe now?" she joked, seeing him approaching the bed and sitting beside her. "You know, this whole thing is getting kinda old," she remarked teasingly, perceiving he'd been doing everything but meeting her gaze, "I mean, first it's me in the chair and you're in the bed, then it goes vice versa. Can we please agree on one place? And you know, since the chair would be too small for the both of us together." she hinted, surveying the king-sized bed they were sitting on.

Angel looked up at her. He felt he would explode if he kept distance from her for much longer. "I like watching you sleeping," he said sincerely.

"Well.wouldn't you rather to be sleeping WITH me?" She also couldn't stand having him so close to her, and yet so out of reach. She wanted him. She wanted him to make her dreams come true. She had had to cling for so long to these dreams, having nothing else instead. She didn't want to be living in the dreams anymore. She wanted the real thing. And the real thing was so close!

He flushed a little at her blunt invitation. But she wasn't done yet. "If your mother is what you're worried about, don't be. I doubt her reaction to you sleeping with me would be any different from the one she'd have to you being here right now. A heart attack is a heart attack. And what you're doing right now is a big no-no according to your standards."

Angel beamed. He adored her manner of simplifying everything. He mainly adored it because it worked. She desired him, she wanted him, beautiful and sensual woman such as herself, and she had made it clear to him more than once. It's not that he wasn't feeling good about himself. He had never suffered from self-esteem issues, but the numerous feelings that were now racing in his heart, were entirely new to him. Angel had never felt something like that towards a woman. Love wasn't the only new emotion he had had to face ever since he had met her; there was also the desire. The incessant desire he was less and less able to oppose, and now she was so open, so inviting. Angel felt an implosive need to chain himself to the opposite wall, because if he didn't, he wouldn't be able to restrain his emotions for much longer.

Buffy reached out her finger, and tenderly trailed it down his cheek, to his neck, and under his shirt, unbuttoning it in the process. He closed his eyes and briefly trembled to her touch, rapidly losing the strength to tell her to stop. He didn't want her to stop. Never. She bent forward, and placed a gentle kiss on his lips. It was the first time ever she had kissed him. Angel felt another similar kiss caressing his lips before opening his eyes. Her face was inches from his. "I have not done this before," he whispered against her lips, slowly closing the gap between them. As a reply, she kissed him again, but this time, the kiss was reciprocal. Their tongues entwined together, exploring each other's mouth.

After a few seconds, Buffy gradually pulled her tongue out of his mouth, leaking a trail down his neck, then his chest, until she stopped at his navel, in the meanwhile, lowering him against the sheets, and finishing undressing his shirt.

Angel flung the blankets off of her, and encircled her tiny waist in his strong arms, pulling her down against him. He slid his palms up her smooth back, and down again, completely dropping the covers off of her and continuing to slither his hands over her ass, her thighs, and her legs, relishing her flawless skin.

Buffy put her hands on both his shoulders, smoothly and slowly running them down his muscular chest to his waist, where she took hold on his pants. He instantly curved up, allowing her to remove them, and a second later they were history.

Her hands reached back to his waist, her fingers traveling leisurely on his skin to meet in the middle, and from there down between his hips, caressing the area around his erection. He moaned softly, and leaned back, his head slightly falling over the edge of the bed and his arms loosening around her for an instant.

Buffy reached his knees, and interweaved her hands beneath each knee, spreading his legs with a sharp motion. She glided her body up against his, her hands framing his thighs the whole time, maintaining them open wide, as she was relishing the cool feel of his hard leaving a wet tail all the way from her collarbone to her bikini line. He kept his hands on her ass, clasping it and gently pushing her up.

When their lips met again, the kiss was far more fervent than the previous one. While their tongues caressed the insides of each mouth, Angel shifted her legs so that they now bestrode his pelvis, and his hands roamed off of her buttocks to her genitals.

Meanwhile, her hands left his thighs and wandered upwards to his rigid shaft. Their lips parted, and a contented sigh escaped his lips, his eyes still shut, when she grabbed at it firmly at the base, and without loosening her grip, hauled her palms upwards to its edge.

Angel grasped her by the hips and placed her exactly above his erection, the same second her hands guided it straight into her.

He entered her smoothly. Slowly at first, pressing her so close to him that in some point, their bodies seemed to be one.

She left his prick the moment it was in her and meandered to his nipples, her fingers practically puncturing into his flesh, and then she slackened them, pressing her palms onto his chest, fixing him to the bed and springing up in her orgasm the moment he entered all the way in. her modification caused him to withdraw halfway.

His palms were now tightly clutching her breasts, manipulating their swell, his thumbs occasionally caressing the stiff nipples.

Buffy fell back on top of him, her breasts landing on his mouth, letting his tongue hungrily stroke allover them. He immediately entered her again all the way, initiating a low moan from her, once he filled her inside, spilling into her.

Angel withdrew again partially and entered right back. It was repeated a number of times, to a somewhat slow and tranquil rhythm of their own. But then he suddenly pushed hard inside her, making both of them groan contently.

Their rhythm began increasing according to his pace, and now he was thrusting to the end and much more intensely, rocking her against him, his hands impelling her ass, while hers were still forcing him down, his nipples rigid underneath her palms, until they started sending tingles throughout her body. Their tempo redoubled growingly, until he entered her with full force one last time, spilling into her again, and then withdrew entirely.

Buffy's hands immediately surrounded his hard, and she moved down to seize its brink within her mouth, slowly sucking at it. His head tilted backward in drunkenness, eyes never opened, his hips straddling her head, as she sipped on and on.

Finally, he finished into her mouth and she removed her lips, reposing her head a little above his still hard penis, and closing her eyes, her arms still around his waist.

Angel opened his eyes only for a moment, just to see the crown of her blonde head peering from between his legs, her hair slightly caressing the edge of his hard, one of his legs thrown across her shoulder.

They were both breathing heavily, both bodies only starting to relax, light sheen of perspiration covering their naked forms.

In the absolute silence of the room, nothing was heard but their breathing and two speeding heartbeats.

Several hours later, Buffy woke up. She was snuggled on Angel's chest, his arms around her, their limbs intertwined together. They both were completely nude.

As he saw her waking up, he gently kissed her brow.

"Hey," she murmured, her leg rubbing leisurely across his bare groin. He moaned with satisfaction.

"So," Angel tenderly stroked the spinal line on her back, "do I improve with age?"

Buffy laughed. "I doubt you could," she climbed up to kiss him, "and I meant it only in the best way," she whispered before their lips met.

Angel kissed back fervently, heaving her body all the way on top of his. Before the kiss stopped, Angel entered her again. Buffy broke apart from his lips, ascending a bit to allow him full access, and then dropped back into his clasp. He pressed her to him as they were shoving against each other to a slow joint cadence. Buffy was eagerly kissing Angel's neck, when an abrupt cry made them both stop.

"Oh my God!"

Part Ten

They instantly parted and sat up.

After a moment of first shock, Angel's mind worked fast. He immediately pressed Buffy against him, and pulled a sheet around them both.

Ilana was still standing in the door, her eyes wide open; her hand was still covering her mouth.

"Aren't you guys supposed to be knocking, anyway?" Buffy asked, her voice muted by Angel's chest, since she was still clinging to him, too embarrassed to even look in Ilana's direction.

Not her lover though. He didn't have much choice in facing his younger sister. Her eyes glared at him, with both shock and anger.

"Ilana," was all he could manage.

After a few more minutes, her countenance pacified a little, but was still red. "I shall.I shall come back when you are dressed." She ran out of the room.

After the door had been closed, Buffy and Angel burst into laughter.

"You may enter now, Ilana," Angel permitted.

His sister did so and closed the door. "I am sorry," she apologized to the both of them, now fully dressed, "I should have knocked, I.I did not think someone would be here."

"It's okay," Buffy assured.

"No, no.I am really really sorry, Anne."

"Call her Buffy," Angel asked his sister.

"Buffy?"

"Buffy is her name, not Anne, so I ask you to call her Buffy."

Buffy smiled approvingly and clasped his hand.

"Alright. Buffy, both of you.I did not mean to invade your privacy." she looked down, Buffy and Angel waiting for her to go on, seeing she hadn't finished what she'd had to say. "When will you marry?" she finally asked.

"Marry?" Buffy queried Angel in confusion.

He was more let down by her reaction than he would show. From the first moment he lay eyes on her, he had been picturing how their wedding would be like. *What a fool I was. What made me think she wanted the same?* he avoided her gaze and turned to Ilana. "We will marry only if the lady wants." But then he remembered the way Buffy took Ilana's question. "There will be no wedding."

Ilana didn't understand. According to the laws she had been brought by, if two people were so.intimate with each other like her brother and this girl, they were already supposed to be married beforehand. And her brother said they never would? Ilana wasn't stupid. She knew exactly what they had been doing when she had walked in on them. What if a child was created today? What would her brother do then?! She couldn't believe his frivolity. It was an extremely serious matter he had gotten himself into here. "Liam, you cannot be serious. This must not be undertaken lightly. Can you even imagine what will everyone say about you? About us, if it leaks out? For Heaven's sake, you were born and raised a Catholic fine man, you cannot turn your back on everything you were taught was right!"

Angel couldn't answer that. He glanced at Buffy, but then quickly turned away again. He knew what was right, but he would never impose his believes on her. He wouldn't make her do things she didn't want, and clearly a wedding was one of those things. She didn't want a wedding. Or at least, she didn't want a wedding with him. He couldn't possibly imagine the kind of relationship she and his vampire-self had had. But by the look on her face once Ilana asked the question, he understood that a wedding had never even been raised between them. He had known her for such a short while, and yet, loved her too much to enforce her into marriage. He had thought she had also loved him, but he had obviously been wrong assuming so. Then again, maybe it's not the custom to necessary marry in wherever she had come from. Maybe people could just be together, without this sort of commitment, and without everyone else disowning them for that. If she was raised according to that, who would he be to change her?

"As I said," he answered Ilana ruefully, standing on his own even when it was against what he believed and wanted, "there will be no wedding."

Ilana opened her mouth to say something, but before she could do it, Angel spoke again. "Was there something you wanted, Ilana?"

She understood it meant he didn't want to talk anymore about whatever relationship he had with Buffy. Well, she would just have to talk to him later when they're alone. Maybe then he'd listen to her and be reasonable. *Since when it even is the woman's decision whether or not there will be a wedding?* "Yes. Father has asked to see you. I have a feeling mother has told him all about An.Buffy. I do not think he would be pleased, Liam, but you can never know. It depends on how what mother has told has influenced him."

Angel nodded. "Alright. I shall go see him. You can go now, Ilana." His voice still held a slight sadness within. He let go of Buffy's hand and went to open the door for his sister.

"Everyone, stay!" Buffy commanded. They both stopped. "Very good," she said more calmly, "I think there was a misunderstanding here, wouldn't you say?"

Both her lover and his sister gazed at her with questioning eyes.

"The wedding," she clarified.

Angel averted his gaze. "We do not have to dwell in it again. We all said all we had to say about it."

"Excuse me?" she put her hands on her hips. "Is it just me or I really did say nothing?"

"But I thought." Angel started.

"You thought?! You know what? Don't give me the 'I though' speech, because you tend to think too much, and eventually I get nothing to say about how my own life will turn out!" Only after she had said it, she realized she'd just snapped at the wrong Angel. "I'm sorry." she whispered, her eyes filling with tears brought by her most painful memories.

Forgetting his melancholy from before, Angel wrapped his arms around her, kissing her hair and gently rubbing her back, signifying with his hand for Ilana to leave.

"You thought I didn't want to?" she asked him after they had been left alone. "You thought I didn't want to marry you?"

His answer was a silence that she took as a 'yes'.

She embraced him tightly, taking him by surprise. "Do you know how many times I dreamt about it?" she inquired. "How many times I fantasized about being your wife? I can't believe you thought I didn't want to. What made you think that?"

He happily realized he had misjudged her reaction. It was a first moment's surprise, nothing more. "So you.you would? You do?"

She smiled, and standing up, pulled him after her. "Let's go see what your dad has to say about it, okay?"

He jumped off the bed and followed her out of the room. Angel didn't need her to verbalize her answer, and he had never been as happy in his life.

Angel opened the door into a great bedroom, a little fancier than his own, stepped back to let Buffy in, and closed the door behind her. Buffy immediately spotted an old man lying on the large bed. Though his face was very wrinkled, and thin, and pale, she could see the clear resemblance between his features and the ones of her love. She didn't need a second guess to know it was his father.

"Angel, I think he's asleep," she whispered, "maybe we should come back later?"

But Angel only smiled and took her hand, leading her to a chair by the bed. He pulled it out for her and remained standing by it. "I am here, father," he said to the old man.

He slowly opened his eyes and inspected his two visitors.

"So, this is the young lass who has been causing all these trouble," he smiled feebly at Buffy, and she smiled in return. "Your mother is losing her sanity right about now, lad," he playfully rebuked his son, then turned back to Buffy. "Well, young lady, you are the first girl my son brings home, and by the look on his face, I say also the last."

Angel put his hand on Buffy's shoulder and she took it in her own.

"You two make a lovely couple," his father continued, "I have always claimed love was important once two people intent to marry. My wife disagrees, and God only knows I have not done well in that department. But it is important, you must never forget that. People keep tending to forget how indeed important it is. But at least I can rest in peace, knowing my son has done better. You two have only eyes for each other. This is how it should be, children, this is how it should be." his voice faded and his eyes closed, as if he were drowsing off, but then he came back. "They say.a good marriage is based on wealth, and hence on respect. They are all fools. You can assemble a fortune over the years, and you can never respect someone you've grown to hate. And this is what happens, when people are forced to marry - they eventually hate each other." He smiled again, but his eyes remained closed. "But you do not worry about that. No, what you have.is special, I can see it now. It will last, what you two have. You have made a wise choice, my boy. I could not be more proud of my son. Do not let your mother interfere in your life and future, do not allow her to tell you what is right. It is up to you alone to know that, and you have done well. Very well." He laughed hoarsely. "She has already vowed to force you into marrying that Lord Hindley's daughter. Abigail, I believe her name is. I kept telling her, let the boy decide, but no. She is stubborn, your mother. She says, you will not get rid of this young perky girl of his, and I shall marry him myself. But you do not mind her, she will come around, she does not have a choice. You just tell her she has no say on the matter, tell her I approved. She will keep quiet, she will, I tell you." He opened his eyes a little just to peer at the two and closed them again. "Give the lady the ring, son. Her finger cries for it. I give you two children my blessing. May the Lord bless you with many years of joined happiness."

Angel smiled, and kissed Buffy's hand. "Thank you, father."

Buffy rotated to her love, and met his sparkling eyes gazing at her. She beamed. Then they both turned back to the man in the bed. Buffy shuddered. She recognized that look, she had seen it so many times in her years as the Slayer, and she could never learn to take it nonchalantly. *Oh my God.* she thought. She revolved back to Angel. His face was impassive. Or at least, it looked that way, but it was his eyes she was staring at, and they were everything BUT impassive. The Slayer rose from her chair to take his trembling body into her arms.

"No!" he whispered, clinging her to him, as if out of fear to lose her too.

"Shh." she tried to console him, but it was in vain, "I'm here, my love. I'm not leaving. It'll be okay, it'll be okay." She felt moisture on her neck, where his cheek touched, and lovingly brushed his back. "It'll be okay." she kept whispering.

Part Eleven

It'd been two days since his father had died.

Angel had barely said a word to Buffy all that time. She had barely seen him at all. It seemed like he had been intentionally trying to avoid her company, or anyone else's.

Right after he had passed away, she took Angel out of his father's room into her own, and he cried in her arms forever. She hadn't known a way to make it better. For the first time ever, she really felt helpless. He was in pain, and there was nothing she could do, nothing she would ever be able to do. A dreadful feeling crept to her mind when she held him as he was crying. She had no idea Angel had been so attached to his father. He died only two days after Angel had been supposed to be turned. And Angel had told her once that the first thing he had done after becoming a vampire was to kill his entire family. That meant Angelus had killed his father. She wasn't even able to ruminate about the twinge Angel had been going through since his soul had been returned to him, knowing that he had killed his father, seeing the twinge he'd been going through due to his 'natural' death. And he had never told her. She hadn't known he ached so much. Inside, a selfish part of her was mad at him that he hadn't told her. Buffy could hear his sisters weeping outside in the halls, or in their rooms, she wasn't sure. It was as if hearing them made his own pain only increase. All she could do was to sit on the bed with him, and tightly hold him, let him cling to her and cry. It was all she could do. And it made her feel so horrible and so worthless. She felt her own tears starting, even though she hadn't even known the man, but seeing how dear he had been to the man she loved, made her cry too.

In some point, Ilana had slowly opened the door to Buffy's room. The girl's eyes were red from crying. She had only come to inform them both, but mainly Angel, that their father's body was now being taken to the family graveyard, to be prepared for tomorrow's burial. Angel didn't once turn around to look at her, nor leave Buffy's embrace. Ilana saw how closely Buffy held her brother, caressing his back, and inside wished for someone to be there for her like that. For the first time, she fully realized how lucky her brother was, having this girl in his life. She on the other hand, was alone in her own grief. She had no one to share it with, and no one to hold her. Her younger sister had locked herself in her room, and she wasn't even thinking about going to her mother for comfort. *But Liam is lucky,* she thought. She smiled slightly at Buffy. "It is good he has you," she said, and left them.

Buffy lovingly kissed Angel's head. She only wished there was something she could do.

As night came on, she didn't want to leave him alone, but he had insisted that she did. As soon as he had closed his door, leaving her outside, she heard the key turning in the keyhole. *I wish he would let me in,* she thought, and she didn't only mean it physically.

She wasn't able to fall asleep that night anyway. The wall between their rooms was too thin.

The next morning was the interment. Everyone was dressed in black and standing crowded around the casket. Their sight reminded Buffy of a horde of ravens crowding their prey. She quivered. There was ashiness and sadness everywhere in the air. The sobbing of some women broke the deathly stillness every now and then. There were many people. Men, women, children. Friends, family. It looked like many people were grieving over Angel's father's death, many people would miss him. He must have been a very loved man. Buffy felt awful for that, but she seemed to mostly care only for one of them.

Angel was keeping his distance from her at the beginning of the memorial service. He wasn't looking at her, though her eyes had never left him. His mother stood by his side. She didn't seem to have shed a single tear through the whole time. Ilana stood by his other side, Laura stood by her mother. Occasionally, the Duchess shot Buffy a hateful frown, which Buffy decided to ignore, taking into account the latest occurrence. She also knew the Duchess wouldn't start anything on her husband's funeral anyway. Even she wasn't capable of that.

When the vicar finished reading something in a strange language over the departed's coffin, he turned to Angel, and asked him to say the last prayer, what was doubtless the task of the eldest son. Angel didn't budge to obey the priest. Everybody halted his or her breaths in expectation for what he might do, but he did nothing. Even those who were lamenting before seemed to have hushed. He would never dare to break the tradition like that in front of everybody. Buffy started to REALLY hate their stupid traditions that were TOO oblivious to people's feelings. Her gaze was also locked on Angel. Finally, his eyes turned to her for help. There was clear woe in them, saying he couldn't do it. She seemed to be the only one to be noticing it.

Ignoring everyone's unapproving gasps and glares, she moved through the crowd of people, and hugged him. He hugged her back, inwardly thanking God she was there. With one arm still around him, she slowly led him away. They were going to have to find a way to go on without him. Buffy knew what she was doing was wrong for these people, but as far as she concerned, it couldn't have been more right. She had been raised knowing that the emotions was what counted and not the tradition, and she wasn't going to behave otherwise, definitely not when someone she loved were involved.

She thought, perhaps now he would finally talk to her, but she was once again let down. He again locked himself in his room.

Buffy hadn't seen him until the next day, when the family's lawyer came to discuss the testament. Everyone in the house was called into the drawing room, including her. Although that after yesterday's episode, she hadn't expected to be, but had later found out it had been a request from the late Duke himself to include her. There were the Duchess, Laura, Ilana, a few members of the closest family she remembered from the funeral, she, the lawyer, and all the servants, who enacted as witnesses. They were all sitting patiently and waiting for the present Duke to finally put in an appearance.

He finally did. Buffy shuddered at the sight of him. His face was weary and pale; his eyes were full of pain. And despite all that, he still made an impressive outer shell. He took a chair and joined the rest, not saying a word to anyone, also not to Buffy.

The lawyer nodded, and began reading the will. Apparently, the late Duke, knowing his wife, had left her a large amount of money, and a paper signed by him that it was not to be touched by anyone but her, only if she agreed to leave his son's life, because it was clearly written in the will that he would NOT have to provide for his mother. The money was enough for her to live the rest of her life in her current wealth, without bothering her son and therefore letting him live his own life. That was when Buffy came into the picture. He had also left money for his two daughters that would naturally go to their husbands as a dowry once they were to marry. He had left Laura and Ilana under Angel's custody, who, of course, had inherited the title, the estates, and everything else.

While everyone else was tuned in to the reading of the will, Angel didn't seem to care at all about what was written there. He was sitting in his chair, ignoring everyone and everything in the room, staring into space.

When the widow heard her son was not to provide for her, she got extremely dismayed, surprising everyone in the room with her selfish and fuming behavior. Only then, Angel hooked back into the real world. He glowered at his mother, a glower more of pain than of an actual anger, and left the room as quietly as he came.

Buffy walked after him, but again found his door locked from the inside. She didn't feel she would be really missed back downstairs, so she decided to stay in her own room.

The widow's resentment was gone when she heard the sum in discussion.

Around 7pm, Ilana knocked on her door.

"Open," Buffy said, and the woman walked in.

"I wanted to inform you of supper, Buffy. If you are hungry, it will be served in half an hour."

She turned to go but then Buffy spoke to her. "He hasn't come out, has he, Ilana?"

Ilana stiffened. "No," she whispered.

"Thank you. I don't think I'm hungry though." Buffy lay back on her bed. She felt she was losing him, and she couldn't bear the thought.

Angel's sister nodded to herself in understanding and left.

That night, Buffy heard her door open quietly around midnight. Since after all, she was the Slayer and wasn't yet used to going to bed that early, it woke her up. But she chose to pretend she was still sleeping, albeit knowing exactly who it was.

Angel stepped in inaudibly, obviously believing she was slumbering, and not wanting to awake her, and carefully lay on her bed.

After a while, when she was confident he was already sound asleep, Buffy rotated to him. He was drowsing silently, looking almost calm. She saw the swollenness and the fresh traces of tears around his eyes even in the dark. Her hand gently reached to his cheek and stroked it, followed by a tender kiss on his lips. He was wearing only slacks and was obviously freezing. Buffy pulled the covers around him also and hugged him to her. He went on sleeping, burrowing in his lover's arms.

Part Twelve 

Angel rolled on his side, and out of sleep, groped with his hand for the woman in whose arms he'd spent the night. All he found was a cold and empty side of the bed. He opened his eyes at once. "Buffy." he whispered, but she was nowhere to be seen. The room was dark and inane; the clock showed it was soon to be daybreak. *Where is she?*

Angel lay his head back on the pillows, staring at the ceiling, though not seeing much in the dark. It was a moonless night, on top of all. He suddenly felt alone, and what amazed him the most about that feeling was that it wasn't caused by his father's death. It was caused by Buffy's absence, and that DIDN'T amaze him, at all. He realized something that moment, he realized what he was so scared of and what had made him to distance himself from her, when she had tried to offer him all she had and more to help. He recognized he was terrified of losing her. After losing his father, she seemed to be the only real thing he had left, and he couldn't do without her. He had been pushing her away all that time, while all he had wanted was she to never leave him. Angel had never regretted about anything before like he did about that. He needed her. He needed her love, understanding, and compassion, now more than ever, and all he had done was to make her feel the exact opposite. He had made her feel unwanted and unneeded, and he hated himself for that. She had only tried to help, and he knew it. He also knew she had succeeded in doing so. He had felt better when she had been around. He had felt better, when she had been there to hold him when he'd cried and to lie that it'd be okay even if deep inside he'd known it wouldn't be. Angel knew it had been wrong for him to expose his feelings as a man. He hadn't been taught to cry or to show emotions. It was wrong. It was improper. He was supposed to set an example, to be the strong one, even when inside he maybe felt like dying. But she had been there for him. She had spread a comforting feel of safety all around her. She had let him see he was welcomed and wanted. That it was okay to cry, to feel sadness, and no one would ever think badly of him. He needed her soothing warmth, her caressing voice and gentle touch, he needed everything he'd pushed away, everything he knew she would always give him regardless. He closed his eyes, returning to sleep alone. *Where is she now?*

Buffy quietly opened the door to her room and closed it behind her. The first thing she did was to take off her dress, and slip under the warm blankets. She had come to a single conclusion after her few days of living in Ireland - it's freezing there. A small part of her even missed the Californian sun. She'd have to stop her nightly patrols very soon and completely leave behind her Slayer's lifestyle. She was an eighteenth century woman now, she wasn't supposed to sneak around slaying vampires in the middle of the nigh.but she did. It was, after all, her life. Or.at least, HAD BEEN her life. Yes, she would definitely have to put an end to that. *And besides, it's not like I can actually contribute until they would invent the sweatpants.* she pondered jokingly, though trying to slay a vampire in one of THOSE dresses was the real joke.

Buffy gazed at the sleeping Angel beside her and smiled. She was so glad he had come to her after all. It meant she had succeeded in reaching him. It meant he'd finally open up to her. She considered it her greatest accomplishment ever. She covered her love, kissing him briefly on the corner of his mouth, and lay her head on his chest, drowsing back into sleep.

When Angel woke up in the morning, he found Buffy sleeping on his chest. He felt a sheer relief finding her like this. He enfolded her tiny body in his arms, and gently removed flowing tresses from her face and tucked them behind her ear, stroking her head lovingly.

Buffy woke to his touch and raised her head to gaze at him. "Morning," she greeted him.

"Good morning, love," he smiled.

Buffy sat up, pulling a sheet around herself, looking him straight in the eye. "Are you okay?" she inquired worriedly, although there was more participation sounding in her tone than there was concern.

"Thank you," he said gratefully.

"Thank me? What'd I do?"

"Thank you for being there when I needed you, and thank you for being so patient with me. I know I have not been an easy task for you these last few days."

She grinned sensitively. "I only wish you would have told me, that you would have talked to me," she paused for a moment. "I.I know it's out of place to bring it up now, but even the.future you or.whatever, he.I had no idea he was so close to his father." *Maybe if I had, I could have somehow helped easing the pain and the guilt for murdering him.*

Angel took her hand and clasped it amorously. "I doubt my future self witnessed his father die. He was already a vampire when it happened. He had probably left as soon as he was turned, having no will or reason to stay amid the family. He probably did not even know how or...when it happened."

"Ye.yeah," Buffy agreed wryly, certainly not going to ever inform him of the truth. Considering his nature, she knew he would abhor himself even though he'd done nothing. "That was probably it," she faced him again, "but what about you? When will you finally let me in? You know, you are wrong big time, thinking that keeping it inside is better. It will be better though, if you talk to someone, and I want this someone to be me."

Angel hastened to change the subject. "You were gone tonight."

For the meantime, she decided to play along. "Slaying. I killed two vamps." There wasn't much of an excitement in her voice. Vamps WASN'T what she wanted to talk about now.

"Slaying." he frowned, as in trying to recall something, "yes. I remember. You told me you used to do it." He peered at her seriously. "Would you not be offended if I told you it was too dangerous?" he carefully examined her reaction. "I do not wish to have you endangering yourself like that nightly. I do not question your abilities to protect yourself, or your strength, after all, I have witnessed you using them both, but..."

Buffy smiled and brushed his cheek tenderly. "You have always been concerned for me, and tried to always protect me, you know that? Even when you knew I didn't need to be protected from anything. I take it as one more proof that time hasn't changed you one bit in over two hundred years. And I hope it never will," she smiled.

He smiled back. "Do it if you want to. You know I will not be in your way, only please promise you will be careful."

"Alright. I'll be more careful, don't worry. I'm thinking about ending it, anyway. Or at least, cutting down in the slaying hours. So, you have nothing to be worried about. But now, back to our original topic, please."

"I am sorry I was so much of a burden lately. I should have been more self-restrained."

"No!" Buffy protested. "No, you shouldn't have. No way, Angel. This is my job. This is how it works in a relationship, pal, you get the bad things along with the good ones, it's a package deal. You can't have it halfway, you gotta take them both, otherwise, don't even bother to pursue a relationship, cuz it won't last, not if you bail out on the first sight of trouble. Do you think if I acted, so called.rationally and wanted the fairytale every sixteen-year-old wanted, we would be having this conversation right now? I would dust you the second I first saw you and went on with my life, finding me some lousy excuse for a teenager as an alternative. But I have accepted you as you were instead, and there is nothing concerning that I'm sorry about. You are the best thing to ever happen to me in my whole life." Buffy reached her hand up to his face, then enfolded her arms around his neck, clinging to him, and pressing a swiftly deepening kiss to his awaiting lips.

He hugged her to him, and kissed her back. "And you are in mine, my love," he whispered to her after the kiss had ended and she reposed her head on his shoulder, remaining in his arms.

"Angel, I want to be there for you. And despite what your mother would unquestionably say, it's alright to show emotions, even if you're a guy. Well.that is, unless you suffer from some hysterical male-ego issues, which are by the way very common in my time too," she smiled at him, "but you're not like that, Angel. I love you, precisely because you're not like that. You're not a burden, never think that. You were being human. When a person loses someone he loves, this is how he normally reacts. And believe me, nothing can make me happier than being able to help you through it. I know I would want you to do the same for me."

"I will, my love," he beamed and kissed her hand, hugging her again, "always."

Buffy pulled off again after a while and seated herself in his embrace, her back against his chest. "Next time, when you will need someone, promise you'll come to me. Promise me we'll never keep anything away from each other." She whirled her head so she could see his face.

"I promise," he kissed her lips, "but now, I have something else for you, my fair lady. My duty is to carry out my father's last wish, after all." He gently pushed her off of him and stood up.

"Where are you going?" she asked him, surprised.

"It is in my chamber. I will be right back."

She only smiled in return, can't rid herself of the feeling this morning would be a major step in her young life. She had no idea how major.

"Well?" she anxiously asked once he returned into the room. "What is it? Why did it take you so long, I was practically dying here." She hushed. "Hey, don't tell me you're back to the cryptic guy mode again."

Buffy stopped at the mien on Angel's face. He was nervous. Actually, nervous was an understatement. She had NEVER seen him like that. He wasn't able to look her in the eyes; he was trying his best to focus on the carpet beneath his feet. Buffy even found it somewhat amusing. Angel, with his broad and muscular frame, looking almost like a lost little baby. She descried he had something clasped in his hand. She couldn't see the full object to deduce what it was, but she guessed something along the lines of a small black velvet pouch. Now she remembered! Yes, she had seen him like that before. Well, maybe not entirely like that, but.he had been almost just as nervous when he had gaven her the Claddagh ring on the docks on the night of her seventeenth birthday. She couldn't understand what would make him act that way again.unless.no, he couldn't have.maybe? *I wish.* Buffy thought, her hopes growing. "Honey?" she tried to draw his attention.

He jolted up his head and looked at her. She was sitting on the bed, presently clad in a silky white negligee, all shining, beautiful.and so so nervous. Well, definitely not more nervous than himself. He couldn't believe he was going to go through with it. He had never thought he'd do it. Before she stormed into his vacant world, he had thought he'd never have to face a moment like this. He'd just seen no reason to. Not now, not in the future. But then she'd come.and everything he'd known turned upside down. She was like a breath of fresh air into the dank and the murky room that he had grown knowing as his life. When she had come, that was when his life had truly begun, that was when it suddenly became worth living. The step he was about to make would assure it would stay this way forever, and this was what he wanted. Forever. With her.

"Angel?" Buffy asked again, seeing he stopped looking at the floor, but was still trapped in his thoughts.

He finally broke away from them. Angel approached her slowly, and went down on one knee.

*Oh, my God! I was right!* she jubilated inwardly. Even though she had seen it coming, she was still surprised.

He finally gathered the courage to gaze upwards into her green eyes. "Buffy," he started diffidently, "I...I.forgive me if it comes out wrong or.I do not know how it must be done right. I wish for it to be perfect."

"Angel," she stopped his babbling with a reassuring palm on his shoulder.

"Right. I.I want to.I wish you.would you marry me?" he examined her smiling face, but received no reply. Angel reached into the pouch and retrieved two silver Claddagh rings out of it. One was a man's ring, and the other one, a little smaller, was obviously a woman's ring. He hesitantly took Buffy's right hand and held it in his own; the smaller ring in his other hand, ready to be put on her engagement ring finger. He looked up at her again, seeking for the 'yes' in her orbs.

Buffy beamed. Waiting for him to do the final deed. When he didn't, she giggled. "You can put the ring on now, Angel. It's a 'yes'."

The joy in his eyes the moment she uttered these words was indescribable, it was priceless. With a shaky hand he slid the ring on her finger and handed her his own. Buffy gladly took his hand and did the same.

"It is a Claddagh ring," he managed to explain, once he got his voice back, "to be exchanged between a man and a woman as a nuptial bond. It is done twice. The first time is when the man asks for the woman's hand in marriage, and the second time is when the couple is properly wedded, they exchange the rings again, but this time put them on their left hands. It is a tradition that signifies bonding. The crown represents loyalty, the hands represent friendship, and the heart represents love."

Buffy listened. She could never get enough of listening to him explaining her what she had already known.

"My father had those two Claddaghs made especially for me and my wife to be once I turned eighteen. Will you be my wife?" he didn't notice he was repeating an already asked question.

"Of course, I will!" Buffy laughed happily. "I love you so much!"

Angel hoisted her up in his arms, joyfully swinging her around the room. "I love you!" he yelled, not caring who would hear him.

On to Part Thirteen