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Disclaimer: I don't own anything, please don't sue me, I have no money. Some of the dialog is from Angel episode I Will Remember You written by David Greenwalt and Jeannine Renshaw.
Chapter 6: Something to remember
Angel was sitting in his office, trying to read the book he was holding and counting the hours till Buffy would be back from Sunnydale. But when he felt the familiar feeling going through his whole body, he turned to look at the door, to his surprise finding Buffy standing there.
“I thought you were going to be in Sunnydale till Sunday”, he stated and got up from the chair.
“Thought I'd surprise you. Surprised?” she answered walking, or more like sauntering to him.
“Pleasantly”, he answered and grabbed her shoulders, pulling her into a hungry kiss.
“Missed me?” she asked after he gave her a brief moment to breathe.
“Always”, he whispered back and claimed her lips again. Slowly he backed her against the desk, his hands wandering all over her body till he grabbed her, lifting her to the table and sweeping all the items to the floor. He abandoned her lips, slowly trailing down her neck, paying extra attention to the mark and giving it a small nip with his human teeth. She moaned at the sensation but managed to gather her mind enough to speak.
“What about Cordy and Doyle, where are they?” she asked breathlessly, threading her fingers in his hair.
“Out. On a errand. At least for an hour”, he answered and pulled her into another passionate kiss, ravaging her lips. Buffy wrapped her legs around his, pulling him closer to her body and started unbuttoning his shirt. At the same time his hands were slowly trailing down her body and disappeared under her shirt. But the heated moment was interrupted when there was a loud crash and the room was showered with shards of glass as a demon charged into the room.
Buffy and Angel pulled apart. “This is not the time!” Buffy yelled at the demon, still breathless from the intense kiss. Angel attacked the green demon but it kicked him so hard, he stumbled against the desk. The demon swung his sword, just barely missing Angel's head as he rolled over the desk into brief safety. Buffy kicked the demon hard enough to send it smashing against the wall. Angel grabbed a small ax and threw it at the demon, just missing it and embedding the ax deep into the wall. The demon attacked, swinging its sword at Buffy, trying to wound her but she ducked all its offenses. Angel grabbed the demon from behind, but it elbowed him hard into the stomach, loosening his hold. Buffy managed to knock the sword from its hands, but it grabbed her by her throat and lifted her off the ground. She tried to remove its hands from her but couldn't, it was too strong. Angel slid under them, grabbing the sword and stabbing it into the demons stomach. It growled and threw Buffy away, causing her to land on top of Angel while it fled through the window it had entered.
Slowly they got up from the floor, both looking for injuries from each other's bodies. “You okay?” she asked still searching for anything alarming.
“Yeah. And you?” He cupped her face and smoothed her hair back. She nodded and turned to look at the window.
“That was rude. We should go kill it”, she stated matter-of-factly.
“Yeah, I agree”, he answered.
“Somehow this is not how I wanted to spend my afternoon with you”, she said with a pout. A lopsided smirk rose to his lips and he looked at her from the corner of his eye.
“Yeah, I had some other activities in mind.”
“I bet you did. So we better finish this thing so we can pick up where we left off. And how do you even know it's headed this way?”
“It's wounded, I can smell its blood”, he answered and looked away, he didn't like to remind her that he wasn't human.
“Yeah... the whole vamp smelling thing. It's a useful skill to have.” She couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed, often she forgot he was a vampire and she knew he didn't like reminding her of that.
Angel stopped as he saw the green blood on the wall, he swept some of it to his fingers and sniffed it. “This way”, he stated and started walking again. He didn't get far when a strange sensation ran through him and he had to blink his eyes to keep focus.
“Angel, are you okay?” Buffy asked seeing his faraway expression. She did her best to hide the worry from her voice.
“I feel weird.”
“Weird how? Weird bad?” she questioned walking closer to him.
“The blood. It's strong, very powerful”, he answered rubbing his fingers together. He shook it off and they continued walking till they reached a ladder to a manhole.
“It could've gone up”, Buffy stated looking up into the sunlight.
“I can't follow there, it's daylight”, he said frowning. She turned her gaze to him.
“But I can.”
“Buffy”, he sighed. “I don't want you going after it alone.”
“I'm a big girl, Angel. I can handle it”, she said and touched his cheek softly. For a moment they had a silent discussion with their eyes, she could tell he didn't like the idea, but he also knew she could take care of herself.
”Check the Lone Bar, it might have gone there to get patched up. And be careful”, Angel gave up, it was a loosing battle anyway.
“You too”, Buffy answered and gave him a long kiss before climbing up the ladder.
Angel kept searching the tunnels, but he didn't have to look for long when suddenly the demon attacked him from behind. He spun around and it managed to wound him, slicing a deep cut into his hand. The fight was short, but fierce and it ended when Angel stabbed the demon with its own dagger. The green blood oozed from the demon's wound into Angel's hand that was still bleeding from the cut, he staggered back as the demon fell dead to the ground and the green blood in his hand started to glow. The gash in his palm closed and he fell down to his knees on the ground, crying out in pain. He was gasping for breath as his heart was beating rapidly, feeling like it was going to burst through his chest. His face twisted in confusion, his heart was beating.
“I'm alive”, he gasped. His first thought was to run and find Buffy, but he managed to suppress the urge, opting to be more rational. He needed to find out what was going on before he did anything drastic or got his and Buffy's hopes up. Slowly he climbed up to his feet and headed back to the office through the sewers.
Cordelia and Doyle returned from their errand, finding the office completely trashed. “Oh my God!” Cordelia yelped looking around herself, then her eyes fixed on the pile of dust on the floor. She hurried to it crying out, “Someone killed Angel!” Then she looked at it again, sweeping some of into her fingers and grimaced. “Oh, it's just dust I forgot to sweep under the carpet”, she stated, waving it off and straightened back up.
Doyle stared at her with wide eyes, still trying to recover from the scare. “Are you trying to give me a heart attack!” he accused, but Cordelia didn't seem to register it.
“He may be too cheap to hire a cleaning lady, but something BAD has happened here!” she declared waving her finger at Doyle. They both spun around as Angel walked into the room. “What happened?! Where have you been?!” Cordelia yelled at him, making him stop dead in his tracks.
“Buffy got back early...” he started but Cordelia lifted her hand in protest, silencing him.
“I don't wanna know”, she told him with a grimace. She knew all too well what the couple was like now that the curse wasn't an issue, and it still made her nervous thinking about Angel getting a happy because she wasn't looking forward to another visit from Angelus. Not to mention that the empty desk with all the things on the floor was a big clue to what they were doing.
“And a demon attacked us”, Angel finished what he had been saying, leaving out that if it hadn't he and Buffy would have been doing exactly what Cordelia had been thinking.
Again Cordelia was ready to ignore it because it didn't have any interest to her, but then she noticed he was standing in a stream of sunlight by the broken window and her eyes widened with alarm. “Hey! You're in the sunlight! Get away before I'm unemployed!” she yelled at him while Doyle just looked at him intently. Angel gave him a nod, a crooked smile rising to his lips.
“Did you turn evil! Did Buffy make you too happy!” Cordelia accused, she was constantly forgetting that there was no more danger of the curse even though she had been present when Angel and Buffy informed about the soul being permanent. But she was too used to being afraid of Angelus' return and otherwise the situation had nothing to do with her so she didn't feel the need to think about it.
“He's alive”, Doyle explained not taking his eyes off of the former vampire.
“Oh, he's alive”, Cordelia sighed in relief and then realized what had been said. She sharply turned to look at the two men with wide eyes. “He's alive!” she screamed.
Angel ignored Cordelia's outburst and kept his eyes on Doyle. “We tracked the demon, we split up and I killed it. But some of its blood mixed with mine”, he explained and Doyle stepped closer, taking a hold of his hand and pressed his finger to Angel's wrist over the pulse point.
“And you ended up with a pulse”, he stated and Angel nodded.
“Yeah. And now I want to find out what kind of a demon that was and what's really happening”, he said determined and then grimaced, bending his back. “Ow, my back hurts. Everything’s so...”
“More real now that you're real?” Doyle said and again Angel nodded.
“Yeah. I'm mortal now. I have a mortal body... And I'm so hungry!” he said staring past Cordelia with hungry eyes. Cordelia jumped to the side, hiding behind Doyle as Angel charged towards her.
“Look out! He's gonna eat...” she started to scream, but it soon turned into a frown as she saw him stuffing food into his mouth. “...everything in sight”, she finished. Could it get any weirder than to see Angel eating something solid. Angel opened the fridge and filled his hands with various items, taking a haste bight out of an apple.
“Oh my God. Food! This is unbelievable. It's so... I forgot how good it all tastes when you're alive”, he mumbled between eating different foods.
“Yeah, and they didn't even have Cookie dough fudge mint chip when you were alive”, Cordelia stated and Angel turned to look at her, still chewing the apple.
“Oh, I want some of that! I'm not sure if Buffy has any. Can you get that for me?”
“It will go straight to your thighs”, she stated.
”Chocolate! I love chocolate”, he said and stuffed his mouth with pieces of chocolate, moaning at the taste.
“All right, we need to focus here. We need to try and find out...”, Doyle tried to reason, but Angel was too caught up with his tastings. He drank down from a small container and made a disgusted face.
“But not with yogurt”, he stated with a grimace and put down the container.
“Hey! We're in a situation here”, Doyle said more forcibly and Angel nodded, he closed the fridge and turned to the others.
“I know. You're right. Let me think”, he said crossing his arms on his chest. “And now my stomach hurts”, he stated before turning to Cordelia.
“Cordelia, find Buffy. She' in Santa Monica near the Lone Bar. Tell her I killed the demon”, he told her and with a shrug she turned to leave, but stopped when Angel spoke again. “Cordelia, wait! Just don't tell her what happened to me. Not yet, not until we know what's really happening”, he added and Cordelia nodded before leaving.
“I guess we hit the books”, Doyle stated and they went to the bookshelves, picking up a big stack of books and starting to go through them.
In less than an hour, Doyle found the demon. “Got it!” he announced and Angel came to stand behind him, looking at the drawn picture of the demon.
“Yeah, that's it.”
”A Mohra demon. They're pretty powerful assassins, soldiers of darkness kind of thing. They take out warriors for our side, like you and Buffy. 'Needs vast amounts of salt to live'", Doyle informed Angel, running his finger along the line as he quoted from it.
“It was heading towards salt water”, Angel stated thoughtfully.
"'Veins run with the blood of eternity.' There it is. Its blood has regenerative properties”, Doyle continued turning to look at Angel.
“Which explains what happened to me. But it doesn't explain why”, Angel said watching his reflection on the window, it was strange to see himself after 240 plus years. And what was going on with his hair?
“Hey, what difference does it make, man? The demon's dead, you're alive! It's happy fun time”, Doyle interrupted his musings.
”What's going on here, Doyle? I have a feeling you know more than you're telling me”, he said turning sharply to look at Doyle.
“Maybe because there's something I'm not telling you. We're both on a need to know basis here.”
”Well, I need to know. Is this permanent? Am I... am I a normal Joe now? Can I have a normal life with Buffy? I want to speak to the Powers That Be”, he said getting flustered.
“Hey! That's easier said then done, buddy. The Powers That Be don't live in our reality. You have to approach them through channels, some pretty dangerous channels”, Doyle tried to chastise him.
“Yeah, well, you know what? Start approaching”, Angel ordered despite seeing that Doyle didn't seem very enthusiastic about it.
“All right, all right. Maybe we can try the Oracles. But if they turn you into a toad... don't say I didn't warn you”, he stated.
Angel looked around himself at the chamber he and Doyle were in. In the middle of the room, there was a urn of some kind and on the wall, an white arch with writing on it.
“The Gateway for Lost Souls”, he read the foreign writing and turned to Doyle, a little amused. “is under the post office?”
“It makes sense if you think about it. Now listen, the Oracles are finicky and unpredictable. If you do get in, don't dilly-dally. Ask your questions and get out”. Doyle gave the instructions.
“Aren't you coming with?”
“Not allowed. I'm just a lowly messenger, you're a warrior. If your heart is pure, and I do this right...” he said while scattering some herbs into the urn. “We beseech access to the knowing ones”, he said and continued the former conversation. “We may just survive.” He lighted the urn and it burst into high flames. The arc started to glow bright, a doorway appearing to it, and Doyle nodded his head towards it, telling Angel to go.
Angel stepped through the light and found himself in a white marble chamber with two unearthly figures in front of him. “Come before us, lower being”, the male oracle said. The door became solid again and after quick assessment of the situation, Angel took few steps closer to the oracles.
“What have you brought us?” the female oracle asked.
“Was I supposed to...” Angel started to ask, but was interrupted by the male oracle.
“You call us forth and you bring us no offering?”
Angel glanced down, noticing his wristwatch, it wasn't like he would give them the Claddagh ring since it was the only other thing he had on. He took the wristwatch off and lifted his gaze back to the two beings in front of him. “I brought you this”, he stated.
The woman held out her hand and the watch went flying across the room, settling to the palm of her hand. “I like time. There is so little and so much of it”, she stated.
“Well?” the male asked impatiently.
“What's happened to me?” Angel asked, shifting on his feet nervously as the two circled around her like looking down at him.
“It's true then, brother.”
“He is no longer a warrior.”
“It was the demon's blood. It wasn't the Powers That Be that did this?” Angel asked and the male looked at him like he had said something amusing.
“The Powers That Be? Did you save humanity, or avert the Apocalypse?” he asked.
“You faced a Mohra demon. Life goes on”, the female stated.
“My life as a human? I'm not poisoned or under some spell? There is no loophole?” Angel asked, voicing his fears.
The female looked up as if listening to someone and after a long torturous moment, gave the answer. “The Auguries say no. If it has happened it was meant to be.”
“From this day, you will live and die as any mortal man”, the male said.
“Privy to all the attendant pains, and pleasures.”
“That which we serve is no longer that which you serve. You are released from your fealty.” With that the oracles turned away, starting to walk towards the hallway.
“That's it? I'm free? There's no loophole, I'm just human?” Angel asked after them, but received no answer. The male just lifted his hand and Angel went flying through the arc, landing against Doyle and slamming them both against the wall.
“It didn't work?” Doyle asked.
“It worked”, Angel answered rising to his feet.
“You just went in a second ago”, Doyle insisted. When Angel gave him a puzzled look he continued, “Just look at your watch.”
“I can't do that, Doyle. It would have been nice to give a heads up about bringing an offering.”
“I knew I forgot something. So, what happened? What did they say?”
“They're a little confusing. Now I know how Buffy felt during my cryptic period. But, the gist of it is, it's real. I'm free”, Angel answered, still slightly at awe.
“I can't believe this.”
“Me either. I mean, what do I do now? I have this whole new life spread before me. I don't know where to begin”, Angel said frowning.
“Right. It's overwhelming. You can pretty much do what ever you want now. The question is, what do you want?” Doyle said staring at him intently.
Slowly a smirk rose to Angel's lips. “You and Cordelia can have the day off”, he stated and practically ran out of the room. He jumped into his car and drove to the beach where he knew Buffy would be. He had to restrain himself from running to her as soon as he felt she was near, but he still had a flare for dramatics and he kept in the shadows for a while, watching as she turned around searching for him with her eyes. He smiled and walked out of the shadows, into the bright daylight, not stopping before he reached her. Neither of them said anything, he just pulled her into a kiss, to which he poured all love and passion he felt for her, telling her everything through it. People stopped to stare at the couple that was oblivious to the world surrounding them, not noticing any of the stares, sighs of women who thought it was beautiful or the angry glares from people who thought it was inappropriate.
Finally they had to end the kiss since they both needed to breathe now, but they didn't pull away far, their lips almost touching as they gasped for breath. Buffy stared at him with wonder, she couldn't understand it, her hand had drifted to rest on his chest and she could distinctively feel his heart beating rapidly.
“How?” she whispered the question.
“I'll explain later. Just trust me, okay.”
“With my life”, she answered and he pulled her into another earth shattering kiss.
They made a hasty run back to the office, barely managing to get down the stairs. As soon as they were in the apartment, Angel pulled her into a hungry kiss which she was more than happy to return. The kiss grew more heated by the second. Angel backed her into the kitchen, trying to make it to the bedroom but it was a doomed plan.
He lifted her off her feet and bumped against the fridge, pressing her against it. Buffy jumped into his arms, wrapping her legs around his hips and all thought of purpose was gone from his mind. The kiss turned more intense by the second and finally he pulled away from the fridge door, taking few determined steps and sweeping all the items off the kitchen table before he laid her down to it, never breaking the kiss. If it was possible, they deepened the kiss, ravaging each others lips with great desperation, their hands roaming all over each others bodies, trying to touch as much warm flesh as possible, as though it could go away at any second.
After the kitchen table broke, they continued making love on the floor and then moved to the bedroom. Now they were curled up into each other, just content holding each other in the after glow, both breathless from the latest climax. Her hand trailed up to his chest, stopping over his rapidly beating heart. A smile rose to her lips and she turned to look at him.
“It's weird, you having a pulse and all warm to touch”, she mused and raked her fingernails across his nipple, making him jump. “But it's good kind of weird”, she added with a lopsided smile.
“Vixen”, he accused and pulled her into a passionate kiss that left them both breathless once again. He gave her a self-satisfied smirk and after rolling her eyes, she grabbed the back of his neck and pulled him into yet another kiss. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her flush against his chest and slowly she climbed into his lap.
But the heated embrace was interrupted by the growling coming from his stomach. She pulled back and smiled. “You're hungry”, she stated climbing off of him and grabbing his discarded dress shirt before pulling it on. When he seemed reluctant to move, she climbed back on top of him and gave him a short kiss.
“I'm hungry too, and it's your duty to feed me. Come on, I'll show you what foods are the perfect yum ala Buffy”, she said and got off the bed. Angel followed her into the kitchen, not even bothering to cover himself, and he found her already rummaging through the cabinets. He sneaked behind her and wrapped his arms around her, placing wet kisses to her shoulder. She moaned and tried to concentrate on finding something from the cabinets, but was failing miserably. She spun around in his arms and deepened the kiss while pushing him against the fridge.
After a while, she managed to pull away, both of them were gasping for breath. “Okay, gnaw on that while I search for the treats”, she ordered and placed an apple to his hand. With a smirk, he took a bight out of it and Buffy almost groaned out loud, how could a guy make such a simple task as eating an apple look so... sinful. Quickly she turned away from him, knowing if she watched him even a moment longer she would jump him. She piled cookies, chocolate, candies and crunchy peanut butter to the kitchen tabletop, she'd introduce the real food to him later. She looked into the freezer and found the ice cream. She turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow.
“Cookie dough fudge mint chip? A man after my own heart”, she stated and earned a lopsided smile from him. She handed some of the items into his arms while carrying rest herself, they made their way back to the bedroom, it wasn't like they had a table where to eat.
“Remind me later that we need to buy a new kitchen table”, she said and earned a mumbled conformation from Angel since the apple was settled in his mouth as his arms were full. They dropped the items to the bed before climbing in it themselves.
“You know, I really love food”, Angel stated as he took a bite out of chocolate bar that had been dipped in peanut butter she offered to him.
“Food is good”, she agreed with a smile and pulled him into a thorough kiss. Once they pulled apart, he took a spoonful of ice cream and fed it to her. She held his gaze as she ate the offered treat and licked her lips suggestively before leaning into another kiss.
With a smile he pulled back and wet his lips before turning his eyes back to the container in his lap. “Why didn't you tell me about peanut butter?” he asked while sweeping another spoonful of ice cream.
“Well, you know, I figured if your vamp taste buds couldn't really savor it, I didn't want to taunt you with it”, she answered almost shyly. She shifted closer to him, looking at him from under her long lashes. “But now we're going to become couple of gluttons together”, she said with more lighter tone.
“I'm sure we can figure something to burn all the calories”, he smirked and with a smile, she leaned into a kiss, causing the spoon tip enough to spill some of the ice cream to his chest. He let out a soft gasp as the cold liquid hit his skin.
“Okay, mortal coordination leaving something to be desired”, he said chuckling, but Buffy shook her head with a crooked smile on her lips.
“Wrong. It's just right”, she said huskily and licked the ice cream off his chest, making him laugh. He pulled her into another passionate kiss, pulling her as close to his body as he could.
Buffy and Angel were curled up into each other, his arms around her protectively, his fingers just mindlessly gliding up and down her arm as her hand rested on his chest, feeling his heartbeat.
“It's a good sound”, she whispered and pressed a soft kiss to his chest.
“It feels pretty amazing”, he answered with a happy smile, looking down at the top of her head.
“Oh, I'm so sleepy”, she mumbled, but lifted her head to look at him with a lopsided smile. “But I still want...” she said not finishing.
“What? Again? Not that I don't want to...” Angel questioned with a similar smile on his lips. Buffy chuckled softly and shook her head.
“No, I'm spent. Pleasantly numb even. But I don't want to sleep, I don't want this day to end. It's been so perfect”, she said placing her head back to his chest. Angel smoothed her hair back and placed a soft kiss to the crown of her head.
“Sleep, we'll make another day like this tomorrow”, he whispered and soon she was sleeping soundly. He stayed awake, just watching her sleep peacefully in his arms. But his moment of perfect peace was gone when he heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Carefully not to wake her, he slipped out of the bed and pulled a pair of pants on before walking into the living room. There he found Doyle and he looked too worried for his taste.
“Doyle. What's the matter?”
“We're in trouble. The Mohra regenerated more than you. I had a vision and it regenerated itself.”
“Where?” Angel asked while pulling on a shirt.
“In the tunnel where you fought it. Then it was in some sort of factory. I thought I tasted salt. Though it could've been the margarita”, Doyle answered finishing with a shrug of his shoulders.
“No, it needs a lot of salt to live”, Angel stated while pacing the small living room area.
“Well, it was very much alive in this vision, and angry if I might mention.”
“I'll just have to kill it again”, Angel stated matter-of-factly and headed towards the weapon chest.
“Yeah, but you're human now. They released you”, Doyle protested.
Angel turned to look at his friend and co-worker. “You want that thing to roam free? You saw it in a factory. There is a saline plant in Redondo, we'll start there”, he said, leaving no room for discussion and grabbed a sword from a holder.
“Yeah, but if it can regenerate itself, how can you kill it?” Doyle questioned, he wasn't giving up that easily.
“We'll figure it out. Just grab the book of Kelsor. You’ll read, I'll drive”, he answered and headed to the stairs, but Doyle didn't seem to move. He stopped at the first step and looked at his friend in question. “Doyle?”
“Shouldn't we bring someone a little more... supernatural along?” Doyle asked, looking into the bedroom through the small crack on the door. Angel followed his gaze, his face softening at the vision of Buffy sleeping soundly in their bed.
“No, I don't want to wake her, she deserves a perfect day”, he whispered and continued his journey up the stairs.
Angel and Doyle made their way to the saline factory, Doyle reading the book and obviously not liking what he saw there.
“This is not good. It doesn't just come back, it comes back bigger and stronger. I think we still have time to go and get Buffy”, he said glancing back to the way they came.
“I know what I'm doing”, Angel assured him but Doyle just shook his head.
“This isn't your average demon we're fighting here. It nearly licked you before and now your mortal”, he reminded Angel, but the former vampire just stopped and turned to look at him.
“If things between me and Buffy is going to work now that I'm human, I need to be able do this on my own. I can't keep risking her life every time some minion of hell comes after us. Just tell me how to kill it”, he said in no negotiating voice.
Doyle turned back to the book, reading from it. “Uuh, 'It regenerates until the dark future it envisions is upon us.'” He paused, looking another part from the text. “'...to kill the beast one must bring darkness to 1000 eyes'.”
“Funny, I only saw two”, Angel stated.
“Keep up the glib. It makes me feel like we have a chance”, Doyle shot back, obviously not seeing the funny side of things. Angel suddenly stopped as he saw two corpses laying on the ground, his eyes widened and he couldn't stop the dry heaves from coming.
“Take it easy, mate”, Doyle said while giving him a comforting tap on the back.
“The blood”, Angel gasped, fighting against the reaction to retch. He had seen countless of bodies, he had done much worse himself, but suddenly he couldn't stand the sight or the smell of blood. The very same thing that had kept him alive for the past 244 years was now making his stomach turn.
“It's never an easy sight, it's all part of being human now”, Doyle stated, his voice laced with sympathy.
“I'm going to kill that thing”, Angel ground out with determination and walked away from the bodies.
“Just remember that this thing is brutal, deadly, and... here!” Doyle said as the demon jumped down from a platform. The demon threw them both away like they weighted nothing. Angel scrambled to his feet and tried to take a swing at the demon with his sword but it knocked him back, doing the same for Doyle who didn't manage to get back up again. Angel kept attacking the demon even though it was just throwing him around effortlessly.
Finally after a brutal beating, he got up to his feet and decided it was time to run. But it didn't take long for the demon to catch up with him and again he was kicked to the ground. The Mohra kept kicking him around till he landed on top of a large lid and the demon followed him, hitting the surface with its morgenstern causing them both to fall down to the silo. Angel coughed painfully on the ground as the demon just stood up easily. He tried to crawl away, but the Mohra stepped on his back, keeping him in place as it pulled out a sword.
“The end of days has begun and can’t be stopped. For anyone of us that falls, ten shall rise”, the demon said and lifted its sword to strike. But it had no chance to bring down the blow when Buffy jumped down to the silo, landing on top of the demon, knocking it away from Angel. She spun to her feet, grabbing the demon's sword and ground out with barely held anger,
“You hurt my boyfriend.”
“A great darkness is coming”, the demon boasted.
“You got that right”, Buffy stated and attacked the demon with fierce determination. They traded swings of their weapons till the demon wrapped its morgenstern around her sword and pulled it out of her hand. She kicked the demon against the wall and taunted it,
“Come on, this is the great warrior of darkness?”
The demon swung the chain, but she dodged the weapon easily and kicked it back to the wall. The Mohra attacked her again, swinging the morgenstern, but she managed to step on the chain and kick the demon causing it to let go of the weapon. The demon punched her hard before grabbing her by her throat and throwing her against the wall. It stomped after her, lifting her to her feet and smashing her face first to the wall.
“Together you were powerful. Alone, you are dead. What do you think of the great warrior now?” it said as it lifted Buffy off the ground by her throat.
“Little bland”, Angel said from behind it and as it turned to look, he threw a handful of salt into its eyes. The demon was blinded for a moment and it let go of Buffy, dropping her to the ground. Angel tried to help her up but the Mohra grabbed him and threw him across the silo. It grabbed Buffy, lifting her off the ground and smashing her back against its knee before she rolled down to the ground. She got up to her feet and the demon grabbed the sword, swinging it her way. Angel looked at them with alarm but then noticed the flashing jewel on the demon's forehead.
“The light of a thousand eyes”, he repeated to himself. “The jewel! You have to smash the jewel!” he yelled at her.
Buffy ducked the demon's offenses before she rolled down to the ground and grabbed the morgenstern, swinging it over her head before smashing it into the jewel on the demons forehead. The demon seemed to just crack, light shining through the lines and it vanished into a bright light. Buffy ran over to Angel, dropping down to her knees next to him and carefully she lifted his head to her lap.
“Are you...” he started to ask despite the pain he was in, but she shushed him to stay quiet.
“You're alright, that's all that matters. Shh, you're alright”, she whispered and kissed his forehead. “It's over. We're both alive”, she assured him and carefully wrapped her arms around him, placing a soft kiss to his cheek as she soothingly stroked his face and hair.
The next morning, Angel returned to the oracles and as soon as he stepped through the arch, he was facing the two creatures. “You again”, the male stated, sounding almost bored.
“What have you brought to us?” the female questioned and Angel pulled out a small vase.
“Famille Rose vase”, he stated, throwing it to the female who caught it easily. “Ching dynasty. Circa 1811”, he added.
“Lovely”, the female oracle stated, inspecting the object in her hands.
“Why are you here, lower being?” the male asked, obviously not having any patience for him.
“The Mohra demon said the end of days had begun, that others were coming, soldiers of darkness. I need to know if he was telling the truth”, Angel answered.
“As far as such things can be told”, the male said absently.
“What happens to the Slayer when these soldiers come?” Angel asked painfully.
“What happens to all mortal beings. Albeit sooner in her case”, the female stated.
“She'll die? Then I'm here to beg for her life”, Angel said, he was feeling like his heart had stopped and bursting into million pieces in his chest. The thought of living without her was now harder than ever.
The oracles turned to walk away, not caring about the matter. “It is not our place to grant life or death.”
“I ask you to take mine back. Look, I can't protect her or anyone this way, not as a man”, Angel said making the two beings stop and turn to look at him.
“You're asking to be what you were, a demon with a soul, because of the Slayer?” the female questioned with a slight tone of wonderment in her voice, but the male just turned to leave again.
“This is a matter of love. It does not concern us.”
Angel shook his head. “Yes, it does. The Mohra demon came to take a warrior from your cause, and it succeeded. I'm no good to you like this. And if the Slayer dies too soon, that is two warrior it has taken from you. I know you have it in your power to make this right. Please”, Angel pleaded.
“What is done can not be undone”, the male stated.
“What is not yet done can be avoided.”
“Temporal folds are not to indulge at... the whims of lower beings”, the male protested.
“You are wrong. This one is willing to sacrifice every drop of human happiness and love he has ever known for another. He is not a lower being.”
“There is one way. But it is not to be undertaken lightly”, the male relented.
“We swallow this day, as though it had never happened. Twenty-four hours from the moment the demon first attacked you, we take it back.”
“Then none of this happened and Buffy and I..”, his voice broke. He looked down to the ground, then at the Claddagh ring in his finger and cleared his throat to try again, “What.. What will stop us from doing the exact same thing again?” Angel questioned feeling his heart break again. He was loosing a human life with Buffy, the children he could never have as a vampire. He would never make love to her in the sun, see her heavy with his child or raise their children together.
“You. You alone will carry the memory of this day. Can you carry that burden?” the female answered.
Some time later, Angel walked down the steps of their apartment, he needed to tell her and he knew it was going to break her heart just like it did his. Buffy stepped into view and saw the serious look on his face.
“I'm guessing, that expression isn't because they were all out of fresh OJ at the deli. What happened? Where have you been?” she questioned, already knowing it was something that was not good. Angel looked away, wearing a painful expression before turning back to Buffy.
“I went to see the Oracles. I asked them to turn me back”, he answered, there was no time to beat around the bush.
“What? Why?” Buffy choked, feeling her stomach drop and the tears threatening to come.
“Because more than ever I know how much I love you”, Angel said with a painful voice and she took a step away from him, looking at him with wide eyes.
“No, no, no”, she shook her head in denial.
“And if I stayed mortal one of us would wind up dead, maybe both of us. You heard what Mohra said”, he tried to explain, walking after her. She spun around to face him.
“The Mohra is dead. We killed it.”
“It said others would come”, Angel added, but Buffy kept shaking her head, it was like a bad re-write of the time in the sewers when he was going to leave her because of what the Mayor said. She raised her eyes to his, staring at him desperately.
“They always come. And they always will. But that's my problem now, not yours, remember?” she reminded him, trying to grasp any straws she could.
“No! I will not just stand by and let you fight, maybe die, alone. Life as a human means nothing to me if you're not in it!” he said fiercely and took a step closer, grabbing her by her arms.
“Then we will fight together”, she said, tears already in her eyes. He shook his head, trying to keep his own tears from surfacing. Seeing her in pain only made his own heartbreak worse.
“You saw what happened last night. If anything I'm a liability to you. You take chances to protect me, and that's not just bad for you, it's bad for the people we were meant to help.”
“So, what?! You just took a whole 24 hours to weigh the ups and downs of being a regular Joe and decided it was more fun being a superhero?” she asked him trying to get away from his arms, but he wouldn't let her. His grip tightened and he pulled her closer.
“You know that's not it. How can we be together, have a life together if the cost is your life, or the lives of others?” he reasoned and her tears started flowing freely. He wrapped his arms around her tightly, pressing her against his body.
“I couldn't... I... I wasn't sure... if I could do it, if I could wake up with you one more morning as a real man”, Angel tried to get the words out and felt his own tears rising. Buffy looked at him wearing her broken heart in her eyes and nodded her head.
“I understand. So, what happens now?” she asked sniffing. As much as she hated it, she knew he was right and she understood his reasons.
“The Oracles are giving us back the day, turning back time so I can kill Mohra before his blood makes me mortal.”
“When?” she asked, her heart breaking once again. Angel turned to look at the clock, his breath catching in his throat.
“After a minute”, he choked.
“A minute? No. No, it's not enough time! There's so much you need to see, so much I want to show you”, she said shaking her head in denial with hot tears running down her cheeks.
“We have no choice. It's done”, he said feeling like he was dying from just looking at her suffering face.
“How am I supposed to go on, knowing what we could have had, that we might have had children. Miniature Angel's. Wondering what they would have looked like?”, she whispered, her voice hitching as she fought against the heartbroken sobs.
“You won't remember. No one will know but me”, he answered and she looked at him horrified.
“So everything we did? I wouldn't remember what it was like to hear your heartbeat, feel your warm body against mine, seeing you in sunlight? The whole day is like...” she couldn't finish as her voice broke.
“It never happened.”
She shook her head furiously, grabbing a piece of his shirt into her fist. “But it did. It did! I know it did!” She placed her hand on his chest, over his heart and she still could feel it beating furiously under her fingers. “I felt your heart beat”, she whispered and lifted her gaze to his. His eyes were full of unshed tears and he pulled her close to him, bending his head into a kiss. As the kiss ended, Buffy looked at the clock and turned to look at him frantic.
“It's not enough time! Oh God!” She was clinging to him like he was her only hope, her hands clutching his shirt. He wrapped his arms around her more tightly and pressed a kiss to her cheek, his tears wetting her hair.
“I'll never forget. I'll never forget”, she kept swearing to him and the same words rang in his ears as a moment later he found himself kissing her with a hungry passion, his hands sliding under her shirt. He pulled away, still feeling the pain of returning the day even though he could also feel the passion he felt for her at the moment.
“Angel?” she asked concerned, but he didn't answer because that was when the demon burst through the window. He grabbed the clock from the table and smashed it to the jewel on the demon's forehead. The demon disappeared in a burst of light and all Buffy could do was look at him stunned.
“Bad timing”, he stated and threw the clock to the spot where the Mohra had vanished.
“Wow. How did you know how to kill it?” she asked with a small frown mixed with amazement.
“Been catching up on my reading”, Angel explained dismissively.
There was a moments silence till a small smile started to rise to Buffy's lips. “So, you said Doyle and Cordy were out for an hour”, she stated, her voice soft and seductive. She took a step back and leaned against the desk, giving him an inviting look.
“Yeah”, he answered and despite the pain he was feeling in his un-beating heart, he also could feel the passion towards her rising again.
“And what should we do with all this time in our hands”, she asked, her hands playing absently, but very deliberately with the hem of her shirt.
“I have no idea”, he answered and with two long steps he was in front of her, pulling her into a passionate kiss and lifting her up to the desk.
A/N: I know Angel and Buffy could have sex cause the curse is no longer an issue, so turning back time doesn't have the same gutwrenching affect as in Ats but I still think it would be a blow to the gut for Buffy to loose the day.
