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Chapter 3 - Angel's What?

Faith's eyes fluttered open and focused on the clock. She had been asleep for almost two hours. She stretched and tried to work the kinks out of her neck and back. It took her a few seconds to realize she was being watched. She looked toward the bed and her eyes locked with Robin's. "She awakens."

"Look who's talking." Faith stood up from her chair and stretched some more, then sat on the bedside. "How are you feeling?'

"Like I just fought a bunch of uber vamps and survived. What did the doc say? When can I leave?"

"He said that you need to take it slow for a while and get a lot of rest. You should be able to check out tomorrow morning."

"Is everyone else ok?"

"Yeah, Giles and the guys are at a hotel trying to figure out what to do next and where to go. The slayerets need more training so whatever they decide they will have to stay together."

"What about you? Are you going to stay and help them train?"

"I've never been much for staying in one place. I like the freedom to come and go as I please, no one depending on me. They have Buffy to train them why should I stay?"

"Because I'm going to stay and help them. I don't have a family or a home anymore. Where ever they go, I will." Robin reached over a took Faith's hand. "And I'd like you to stay."

"No one's ever actually wanted me to stay anywhere before." Faith was almost in awe at the feeling of being wanted, then she paused as she remembered her life. "I'm still wanted by the police. They will find me eventually. I can't stay."

"We'll handle it. Please stay."

Faith took a deep breath and shook her head. "Okay."

**

"Good evening Los Angeles, this is Marlaina Davis with KLX News at 10:00. There seems to have been a strange sink hole that has engulfed all of what used to be Sunnydale seemingly over night. Sources say that most families were already gone due to strange occurrences. The town will never be rebuilt instead a bridge is being built over the crater. In other news ...." Her voice faded as Giles turned down the volume on the TV in his room and turned back to the others.

"Ok Faith, we'll see you in the morning. Bye." Willow hung up the phone and told the group about how Robin was doing.

"Has anyone heard from Buffy?" Giles asked

"No," Will answered, "I checked her room a few minutes ago but she wasn't there. She must still be over at Angel's."

Giles set his empty tea cup on the counter and turned to address the group. "Well there's not much else any of us can do tonight. Let's get some sleep and we'll talk more in the morning."

**

Angel and Buffy stepped out of Wolfram and Heart, into the bright moonlight. Angel inhaled deeply as he looked up at the sky. He remembered last time he was human he went hunger crazy. Right now his only hunger was for Buffy. He exhaled and brought his gaze back to her.

Buffy smiled and just watched Angel. She had dreamt of this moment since she found out that he was a vampire. Angel smiled back at her, "You want some ice cream?"

"Cookie-dough-fudge-mint-chip?"

"Is there any other kind?" he smiled as he wrapped his arms around her waist. Pulling her against him he kissed her nose.

"No." Buffy slipped out of his arms and interlaced her fingers with his as they walked to the nearest store. Since it was a beautiful night, and they had a lot of energy, they had left his car at home and walked to Wolfram and Heart. They knew the ice cream would be almost completely melted, but they weren't going to eat it right away.

Surprisingly they didn't say much on the way to the store or back to his apartment. It was an easy silence as they walked hand in hand, Angel carrying the ice cream. By the time they reached his apartment both were excited yet slightly nervous about what they knew was about to happen. Angel put the ice cream in the freezer, trashed the bag, and washed the stickiness from his hands.

Buffy walked out on to the balcony outside Angel's bed room. She inhaled the night air, trying to calm the frantic beating of her heart. Angel's alive! She still couldn't believe it. Tears suddenly filled her eyes; she leaned against the rail for support and just closed her eyes.

Angel walked up behind her and slipped his arms around her waist. Buffy let go of the railing and leaned into him. He's so warm! She felt his heart beat against her back and started smiling, the tears having stopped as soon as he touched her. She turned in his embrace and threw her arms around his neck. Angel hugged her back and buried his face in her neck. He started placing small kisses on her neck and traveling up to her check.

A warm sensation shot through Buffy and a small moan came from the back of her throat. Her fingers found their way into his hair. He pulled her closer as his lips finally claimed hers. His hand came up to hold the back of her neck, while the other slid down over her butt. Buffy started unbuttoning his black shirt, as he pulled her jacket from her shoulders. She got his shirt off first then her jacket hit the floor next to it.

Angel pulled back a little and gazed into her eyes. "Buffy," he tried to get his thoughts into a coherent sentence when Buffy interrupted him.

"Angel if you are going to ask me if I want to wait or if I'm sure I want to do this then you can save your breath. I've dreamed about this a zillion times. No I don't want to wait and yes I'm sure I want to do this. I just want to be with you. Here, now, always."

"I just saw you a few days ago and you..." he exhaled, "you seemed to be with Spike."

"Spike's dead. Well he was already dead, he's dusted. The amulet you gave me dusted him and all the other vampires."

"Do you blame...uh... Am I a sub...? You know what? Forget it."

Buffy's eyes softened as she sighed. "No, I don't blame you for his death and no you're not a substitute for Spike. I'm sad that he died, but I didn't love him. He," she sighed, "he was a substitute for you. Angel when you left, I shut down. I never," she paused. "I never felt complete with anyone but you. Besides I haven't let Spike touch me in about a year." As soon as it was out of her mouth she wished she hadn't said anything. Angel noticed a look on her face and wanted to question her but could tell she didn't want to talk about it. Considering the situation they were in, neither did he.

"So you think you're finally done baking?" he asked with a smile as he pulled her close again, trying to lighten the mood. He leaned in to whisper in her ear, "Am I going to get to eat warm," he placed a kiss on her neck, "cookie, Buffy?" The sound of his low voice whispering in her ear made he knees go weak.

"Now you just make it sound dirty," she whispered back. He laughed and kissed her again. Every thought went out of his head except Buffy. She sucked his lip into his mouth as her hands grabbed his butt. He put a hand up the back of her shirt and ran his fingers nails down her back. She groaned with pleasure.

They stumbled backwards into the apartment, clothes flying everywhere, till they reached the edge of the bed wearing nothing at all. Angel slowly lowered Buffy down to the bed and lay directly beside her propped up on his elbow. His lips found the spot on her neck below her ear that sent shivers over her entire body.

***

"Don't forget the ice cream," Buffy called to Angel, who was in the kitchen getting snacks.

"Of course not," he said from the door way, arms loaded with food. Buffy sat up in bed with the sheet wrapped around her for warmth. Angel set down the ice cream, peanut butter, and chocolate bars, then joined her under the covers.

After a few minutes of eating and slightly giggling from just being happy, Buffy stared at Angel till he noticed and looked back. "What to go again?"

"Do you have to ask?" He sat the ice cream carton on the floor and ripped the sheet from her grasp.

***

Angel stood at the stove cooking breakfast. The smell of eggs, bacon, sausage, and pancakes filled the air. Buffy emerged from his bedroom wearing only the black pajama shirt to the pants Angel was wearing. She slid her arms around Angel's waist and inhaled the smell of the delicious food. Angel touched her arms and smiled. Last night was the best night of his life.

When they had left his apartment for the office to get the blood of the Mohra demon they ran into Fred. She told them that she had done multiple experiments on the blood, and that she had been able to tweak it so that when Angel took it he would be mostly-human, a highbred of sorts. He would be alive, breath, heartbeat, suntan, and mortality, but also still have access to certain vampiric abilities, such as the strengths, the speed, power and surprisingly the fangs, though he no longer needed to consume blood at all. In essence she had discovered the cure for vampirism and the next stage in human evolution all in one go.

Angel had felt so relieved when he heard that. He wanted to be with Buffy more than anything, but realized he might become a target for new enemies without being able to fight, and a handicap for Buffy to have to protect. These were the very reasons he had not stayed human in the first place.

When Buffy and Angel arrived back at his apartment they let their emotions take over. They needed each other in more ways than one. They both found peace in each other arms. Neither could believe with as late as they were awake that they were out of bed by 8:00 a.m.

Angel took Buffy's hand and placed a kiss on the back of it. "Good Morning."

"Morning." She went up on tip toes to give him a kiss on the cheek. Stepping over to the counter she pulled out two coffee mugs. Setting them on the counter she filled both with the hot liquid. "Can I help?"

"No everything is ready; all you need to do is sit at the table." Angel turned to watch her walk to the table. She had to be the most beautiful woman alive... and she was his, finally. "There was a message on my voice mail from Willow. She seemed worried about you."

"I'll call her when we're done with breakfast." She sat both coffee cups on the table then sat down herself.

"When should we tell them about us?" Angel asked as he walked over to the table, plates in hand.

"I think it will be obvious when they see us, especially since you will be out in the daylight." She replied catching his hand and holding onto it after he set her breakfast in front of her.

"Are you worried about what their reactions will be?" he asked her.

"A little. It just seems when everything is going right in my life something comes to destroy it. If we tell everyone about us then..." She shrugged helplessly.

Angel put his arms around her and rested his cheek on her head. "Don't worry everything is going to be fine. No one is going to destroy us." She smiled up at him and he kissed her nose. "Let's eat before everything gets cold."

She sniggered into her coffee as he walked around the table. "We should show up around noon and just see how long it takes them to figure it out. I have a dollar that says Willow notices before Giles does."

**

Giles, Willow, Xander, and everyone were gathered in Giles's room with pizza and sodas. None of them felt like venturing out of the hotel much, they just wanted to rest and regain their strength. The curtains were pulled back and the sunlight was streaming through the window. Everyone was talking at once. Giles, Dawn, and Willow were discussing what they could do with the new council. Will was working on a spell that would contact the slayers in the world.

The spell would come to them in a dream, where they would see themselves fighting vampires. They would then see Buffy and the address of where she was staying. Will was still trying to work the kinks out of it. Dawn had created a database to store any and all information they would obtain on the new slayers. It contained the basics of name, age, and address, but also who their watcher would be and close friends and family.

During all this Buffy and Angel strolled in to the room. Giles was the first to notice them. He stopped talking and started, as did everyone else.

"Hi." Angel said taking in the shocked faces of everyone that knew him.

"Angel?" Giles was the most shocked. He looked behind him at the open curtains and back at Angel.

"It's a long story," Buffy started.

"I injected the blood of the Mohra demon and..."

"And became human," Giles finished for Angel still shocked.

"Apparently not that long." Buffy said.

Angel looked over at Buffy and held out his hand. She remembered the bet they made about Willow noticing before Giles and realized she owed him a dollar. She looked back at him as said, "Do you have change for a ten?"

"No," with a smile he dropped his hand, looked back at Giles and continued, "Fred tweaked the blood so that I still have some vampiric aspects, but I'm human, sun tan, heart beat, and all."

They were not given much time to process the information. A moment later Faith and Robin walked in the room. He had been released from the hospital with instructions on which pain medication he should take and when. Robin eased himself into a near by chair and noticed everyone still staring at Buffy and Angel.

As soon as Faith spotted Angel she asked "You evil?"

"No, not at the moment" he replied

"Good, so we don't have to kill you." She looked around the room and then to the window where sunlight was pouring in. "You do know it day time, right?"

"He's human." Buffy piped up "It's a new development."

"Um... excuse me" Buffy, Faith, and Angel all turned and looked at one of the slayerets on the bed, as did everyone else in the room. "What are you guys talking about?"

Giles and Buffy exchanged a look then both started laughing; they were soon joined by the rest of the old school Scooby gang. The younger, newer slayers just stared at them in confusion.

Next time on Season 8

Episode 2 - The New Crew

Buffy and the gang find a way to reach the new slayers and begin the process of organizing a new council.