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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 Buffy episode The Freshman written by Joss Whedon.
Chapter 5: Back to School
Buffy had made up with her mother during the summer, they weren't as close as they used to be, but they were getting along. Joyce still had a hard time accepting that Angel wasn't going to leave her daughter alone, but in the fear of driving her away, she didn't share her opinions with her daughter. She found out it was difficult to meet Angel alone since Buffy was always with him, but that was going to change once Buffy started college, then she could try again to talk some sense into the vampire.
Buffy was moving into a dorm house and it was great luck that she managed to get Willow as her roommate, with someone else it would have been difficult to explain all the crosses, crossbows, wooden stakes and holy water she kept around. Xander had been on a road trip for a while which was a fact Angel was glad of, not that he would tell that to Buffy.
Buffy and Angel were laying on the bed. His arms were wrapped around her and she was resting her head on his bare chest. “Soon there will be no more late night slaying. I'm starting college, you know”, she said while trying to steady her breathing.
“Well, we'll just have to slay in the morning”, he smirked, but she shook her head with a smile on her face.
“I wouldn't be able to concentrate on any of the classes. I'm so lucky I got Willow as a roommate. It would have been a bitch to try to explain my variation of wooden stakes and weapons”, she said while trailing mindless patterns on his chest.
“I'm sure you could have talked yourself out of it. Have you decided on you courses already?”
“Mhmm... I'm taking psych with Willow. She heard the teacher is brilliant. I'm just not sure if I get through it.”
“I'm sure you will. You are smarter than you give yourself credit for”, he assured her and pressed a kiss to the top of her head.
“You're not just saying that, are you?” she smirked and turned her head to look up at him.
“I love your mind”, he assured, but then he felt the bang of guilt cause so did Angelus, he loved playing with it. Buffy frowned after seeing the change in him.
“You are having Angelus face again.”
“I'm not”, he tried, but didn't get away with it.
“Angel, you can't lie, you are terrible at it, if it isn't a life and death matter. I'm gonna say this once again, he is not you. You two share a body and he is a part of you, but he still isn't you. What he did, you had nothing to do with. So stop brooding about what he did cause it wasn't your fault. I know you like to brood about the things he did but still, you need to let go, even just a little. I know you care what happened to those people and I would be scared if you didn't feel the guilt and all that, but still, you need to accept that you couldn't do anything about it. It was Angelus, not you.”
Angel looked at her straight into her eyes that showed all the love and trust in them and he felt his unbeating heart swell with it. He smoothed her hair back and brushed a soft kiss to her lips. “We'll work on that. But now you need to get some sleep, you've got a big day ahead of you.”
Buffy let out a small mhm and placed her head back to his chest. She closed her eyes, trying to sleep, but at the time her mind was too busy. First of all she didn't know how she was going to be able to sleep while living in the dorms, during the summer she had used sleeping next to Angel, using him as a pillow.
“I think I can't sleep without my pillow. Maybe I should smuggle you to the dorm room with me”, she mumbled against his chest fighting sleep.
Buffy's first day of college wasn't all that great. She felt lost and confused while Willow was jumping out of her skin from the excitement. It was just her luck that the teachers would choose her to pick on. Even the library wasn't what it had been in high school, this one was big hall that didn't have all the intimacy that Giles' used to have.
She met a guy that happened to be the psych TA, but he didn't even remember her name, even though she had dropped a heavy book to his head. He was okay looking, tall and all American boy, but she had Angel so she really didn't pay much attention to him, but it would have been nice of him to remember her name. It was like high school all over again.
She decided to just suck it up, she wasn't going to run to Angel on her first night. Maybe it would get better. To her luck she ran into Eddie, another confused and lonely freshman, so her luck seemed to be turning. They promised to look for each other in the psych class, but he was nowhere to be seen. When she went to his dorm room, it was empty and when she found his so called security blanket, the book he had said he wouldn't go anywhere without, she knew there was something fishy about it.
When she told Giles about her concern, he advised her to learn to look out for herself, that he wasn't her watcher anymore. She felt like her old world was falling apart and it was just worse when she had to stake Eddie and some bimbo vampire that reminded her of blonde version of Cordelia commented on her outfit. She didn't even get to stake the bitch.
Buffy walked into the mansion, she needed Angel. Maybe she needed to learn to work alone, but she really needed him right now. She was feeling so lost, everything was changing and she didn't want it to happen.
She walked quietly to the living room where he was working on his tai chi without his shirt on. He turned to look at her and gave her a small smile.
“Buffy. What are you doing here?” he asked softly and walked closer to her. He was feeling little uncertain since Buffy hadn't come to see him the night before.
“I just needed to see you”, she answered with a small voice and pressed her head against his bare chest. Angel wrapped his arms around her and rubbed her back soothingly, he could feel the tension leaving her body.
“Are you okay?” he whispered the question to her ear, but got nothing back. Finally she pulled away from him, looking at him with a pout.
“Do you think my outfit is terrible?” she asked with a small voice and surprised Angel. He looked at her a little amused, but then sensed it wasn't a rhetorical question.
“Love, you look beautiful”, he assured her, wiping the smile off his face to sound as sincere as possible, he didn't know where this insecurity was coming from.
“You wouldn't lie to me, would you?” she asked, her face brightening a little.
“I'm not lying”, he answered and grabbed hold of her hand, pulling her against his body. “You are beautiful.”
He leaned in for a kiss and she surrendered to him, molding against his hard body. The kiss was gentle, but full of fire, reassuring her that he was hers.
“Now, why don't you tell me what's wrong?” he encouraged and led her to the couch. He was about to pull her to sit next to him, but she needed the closeness too much so she sat to his lap.
“It's silly really. I just feel so lost and stupid. The teachers have targeted me, again, Willow is ecstatic and I'm happy for her but I feel like I'm out of place. Finally I found someone who was as lost as me, but then he disappeared. First it seemed like he had just left, but he left his security blanket behind.” Angel looked at her funny and she smiled explaining: “His book that he told me he wouldn't go anywhere without. I told Giles about it, but now he has a girlfriend and he told me to be more independent. Do you think I'm too needy?” Buffy turned to him with frightened look in her eyes. He shook his head with a small comforting smile on his lips.
“No, you're not needy, love.” He pressed a small kiss to the corner of her lips and told her to continue with his eyes.
“And tonight I staked him. He had been turned and then this group of vampires attacked me. I was so out of my head that I had to run”, she continued and turned her gaze away from him. He took her chin between his fingers and pressed a gentle kiss to her lips.
“I'm sorry about your friend”, he said sincerely even though he felt slight jealousy over it.
“Thanks. He seemed like a good guy. So how have you been? Sorry I didn't come last night, but I tried to be all mature and managing one night on my own.”
“I understand.”
“You didn't brood all day, did you? You promised you'd cut back.”
Angel chuckled. “I didn't brood”, he answered and with Buffy's pointed look continued: “All day.”
“Okay. So, how about you, me and some quick patrolling. And if the night is successful, we could get back here and spend some quality time together”, she suggested with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. Angel smiled widely.
“I think I like that idea. But won't Willow be worried?”
Buffy shook her head smiling. “Nah. I'm sure she'll be spending the night with Oz.”
The patrol was successful and Buffy was feeling more like herself again. She and Angel tried to contain their passion, but they ended up stumbling through the doors, kissing furiously. Neither of them saw the gang of vampires standing in the bushes.
“Isn't there like some law against that?”, Sunday said snidely clearly disgusted.
“Why didn't we just kill them both?” Dav asked turning to Sunday who just rolled her eyes.
“Cause I want her to be all alone, you moron”, she sniped back at her fellow vampire and turned around to leave.
“But we could so take them both out”, Dav continued and ran after the leader.
Buffy woke up next to Angel. Her head was resting on his chest and his hand was wrapped around her protectively. She smiled and slowly pulled herself free. He reached after her without opening his eyes.
“It's not even dawn.”
Buffy turned to him, taking hold of his hand and planting a kiss to the back. “Yeah. But I need to get back to the dorm room. He sat up and looked at her with a lopsided smile on his lips.
“Are you sure I can't convince you to stay a little while longer?” He ran his finger along her spine, making her shiver.
“I'm sure you could, but I still have to go back”, she answered and pulled her shirt on.
“Fine, Willow will be worried anyway. But, I need a kiss before you leave.”
“I think I can give you that.” She crawled into the bed and pressed a kiss to his lips. She was about to pull away when he grabbed her, rolling her under him and kissed her passionately. When he let her out for a breathe, her head was spinning.
“That was very mean of you”, she whispered breathlessly and played with the short hairs on the back of his neck. He just smirked and pressed a small kiss to her lips.
“You should go before Willow gets worried.”
“I would, but someone is laying on top of me.” He smiled and rolled off of her. Slowly she got off the bed and looked at him with a playful glare. “I'm gonna make you pay for that.”
“I'll be looking forward to it.”
“I'm sure you will”, she smirked back at him and picked up her jacket from the ground before leaving.
Buffy was walking on campus, nearly at her dorm when a snide voice stopped her: “The frat boys are just gonna love a loose dumb blond like you.”
Buffy turned around to see Sunday and she glared at the blond vampire. “You're one to talk. At least I don't look the part”, she returned glancing Sunday's outfit.
The vampire was a little taken back by the new confidence in the slayer. “At least I've got the body for it.”
Buffy giggled and replied: “Keep telling yourself that.” She was going to get payback for the things the vampire had made her feel earlier and she was determined to beat it at her own game. She could see the rage on the blond's pale face.
“I'm gonna make you so sorry”, Sunday hissed and attacked her. She dodged the hit and punched the vampire, hard to the face. They traded kicks and the gang joined the fight. But speaking to Angel had made her confidence come back, she was the slayer and some vamp wasn't going to break her, she survived Angelus so this was nothing.
She whipped out a stake and with a quick movement dusted the other sidekick. Suddenly Angel showed up and was about to jump in to help her, but she shook her head stopping him.
“Don't, I need to do this on my own. I wanna teach this bitch a lesson”, Buffy said and kicked the other vampire so hard that she flew against a tree. One of the branches pierced her chest, but missed the heart. Buffy ran to her, cut the sticking branch and sank it to the heart. The vampire burst into dust and there was only Sunday left.
Buffy smirked wickedly and Angel couldn't help the smile rising to his lips, this vampire was so gonna get it.
“No more snide comments?” Buffy asked and attacked before she could reply. The fight didn't last long cause now Buffy was determinate and having strength from Angels presence. She swept Sunday off her feet and jumped on top of her ready to plunge the stake to her heart. “By the way, your roots are showing”, she stated before staking her.
She got up dusting her clothes and turned to Angel. “Not that I don't like seeing you, but what are you doing here?”
“I had a feeling you could use some help. I know you can take care of yourself, but still I like to be there, just in case.”
Buffy smiled and walked slowly to him. She placed her hands to his chest, letting them slide up to his shoulders and she pressed a sweet kiss to his lips. “You are sweet. My very own knight in a shining armor.”
“And I like seeing you fight”, he added and swept her into a more thorough kiss. When they pulled back, her whole body was humming.
“Maybe we should go back to your place, it's gonna be sunrise soon.”
He nodded and they were about to leave when Buffy noticed the piece of paper on the ground. She picked it up and quickly read it. She grumbled it into a ball and threw it into the park's trash bin.
“Come on, I could write a better goodbye note than that. Nobody would be fooled by that”, she said rolling her eyes and they started walking away hand in hand.
