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HEAVENLY PEACE BY REED
Set Christmas Season 4/Season 1. Riley is not an
issue. No recognizable characters are mine, blah blah
blah. Unbeta-ed.
Rating: PG13 for now.
Feedback Please!!!!
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Buffy smoothed her dress down over her hips as she
stared at her reflection. She was wearing a black
tube dress with spaghetti straps that exentuated all
the right parts of her figure and black strappy heels.
Her hair was held in french twist by red and gold
chopsticks with a few curled tendrils hanging down.
Her jewelry, matching silver chains around her wrist
and neck and tiny silver cross earrings, was simple,
but all in all she looked beautiful and elegant.
But she didn't really care. Spending Christmas
vacation with her father meant attending the holiday
party of one of his law firm's wealthy clients. It
meant plastering on a fake smile while her father
introduced her to a bunch of people he wanted to
impress and eating all the cocktail weenies in an
attempt to alleviate her boredom.
"Are you ready, sweetie?" a male voice called from the
other side of her door.
"Yeah, Dad, I'll be right out." She grabbed her bag,
positioned her lacy black throw over her bare arms and
left.
*****
As cynical as she had been about this party, Buffy was
actually impressed by the gala. She stepped out of
the car only to have it whisked away by a valet. She
was standing in front a huge mansion just outside the
Los Angeles city limits, the expansive exterior of
which was covered in lavish Christmas decorations.
Buffy and her father were led into the mansion with a
group of
immaculately dressed party-goers. The interior of the
building was just as magnificently decorated as the
outside. Garlands, pine trees, and twinkling white
lights turned the party rooms into a festive
wonderland. Two enormous dining rooms and a equally
large ballroom were filled with people who were
chattering happily over the holiday music filtering
through what was surely a top of the line sound
system. Making their way into one of the dining
rooms, Hank Summers spotted someone he knew and
dragged Buffy over to meet him.
"Tom, hey," Hank called.
"Hello Hank." The two men shook hands.
"This is my daughter, Buffy." Buffy shook hands with
the man.
"So Buffy, where are you going to school now?" Tom
asked making polite conversation.
"UC Sunnydale," she replied, fake smile firmly in
place. "I just finished my first semester." The
polite conversation covered more superficial topics,
ranging from the party to the unusually cold weather
until Hank saw someone else he knew and took Buffy
over to meet him as well. Buffy wasn't sure how long
this process went on, she tuned most of it out and
just nodded and smiled when it was appropriate.
"Buffy, see that man over there?" her father asked
her, pointing to a homely looking, pudgy guy sitting
by himself. Buffy nodded her recognition. "That's
our host, David Nabbit. He's an extremely important
client of the firm. Let's go say hello."
"Actually, Dad, I think I'm going to get get a drink."
She made her way to the bar which was between the
dining room and ballroom.
Red wine please," she asked the bartender, thankful
that they didn't card her. As she turned from the
bar, drink in hand, she crashed into the person behind
splashing the red liquid onto the front of his tux.
"Oh jeez, I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed, blotting
at the stain.
"It's quite alright, Buffy." The Slayer's head shot
up at the sound of the British voice.
"Wesley?" she asked. (-you all thought it was gonna
be Angel didn't ya?-)
"Hello."
"Oh wow. I mean, hi. I mean, what are you doing
here?"
"I was invited. David Nabbit is a client of ours."
"Ours?" Buffy questioned, taking a sip of her wine.
"Yes, I've been working with Angel and Cordelia."
Buffy made a concerted effort not to spit out her wine
all over Wesley's already stained suit.
"What?" she asked in shock.
"After the Ascension, the Council, um," Wesley cleared
his throat, "let me go. I continued to hunt demons
and ended up working on the same case as Angel and
we've been working together every since."
"Are they," Buffy asked her eyes darting around the
room, "are they here?"
"Yes," Wesley answered slowly, his dense mind finally
realizing the implications of Buffy and Angel in the
same building. "Angel's in the dining room, and
Cordelia is flitting around somewhere trying to land
herself a rich husband." Buffy smiled at his last
comment but her mind was racing. She had been feeling
slightly off all night and now she knew why. Angel
was here. She stared into her wine glass, not sure
what she should say or do next.
"Buffy?" a voice said from behind her. She turned to
find her father and a man she didn't recognize. "This
is my boss, Nicholas Styler. Nick this is my
daughter, Buffy."
"Pleased to meet you."
"Bye Buffy," Wesley said slipping away.
"Who was that?" her father asked as he walked away.
"No one," Buffy told him. "Just someone I used to
know in Sunnydale." Someone she used to know, she
repeated to herself. Of the past. Wesley and more
importantly Angel was of the past. So she tried to
ignore the fact that her heart was beating overtime,
her stomach was all topsy turvy, and all she wanted
was to find the vampire that had haunted her dreams
since he left
her.
*****
It had been a little over an hour since Buffy had run
into Wesley. She had continued her polite
conversations with her father's colleagues but her
heart and mind just weren't in it as they were
occupied by thoughts of a certain vampire who was only
a few
rooms away. Finally, she excused herself to get
another drink. Originally aiming for the bar, she
shifted directions so that she was headed across the
ballroom to the second dining room where she assumed
Angel was. Making her way across the ballroom, her
mind was in turmoil over the decision she had just
made. She wanted to see Angel; she'd been feeling
pulled to him all night. However, last time she had
seen him she had told him she hadn't wanted to see
him. And if she went to him now it wouldn't only
dredge up feelings she couldn't deal with while
attending a Christmas party with her father. Halfway
across the
ballroom, she changed her mind and turned around. She
was headed for the bar and the relief a stiff drink
would bring when a cool hand on her arm stopped her.
"Angel," she whispered, the sight of him before her,
stunning in his tux, taking her breath away.
"Buffy," he said almost shyly. "Um, Wesley told me
you were here." She nodded absently, still drinking
in the view of him. He continued. "I, well, would
you like to dance?" Buffy would have found his
awkwardness endearing if she hadn't felt so unsure
herself. Despite everything, she found herself
agreeing to his request. Stepping into his arms
amidst the other couples already dancing to the slow
Christmas carol, Buffy reveled in, at the same time
trying to ignore, the familiar feeling of rightness
and safety she felt in his embrace.
//Deep in the night
I think on a time
All was bright
Here in this dark place
I see in your face
All is not right//
As the song continued, Angel found himself
unconsciously pulling his love closer. She didn't
resist, instead resting her head on his shoulder. It
was Christmas. They could allow themselves this one
moment, this one song.
//Make it, make your way home
Better than the last
Break it, break the alone
Take a second chance//
The song seemed to extend forever. Time was limitless
when they were together. But finally the last strains
of the song faded away and the star-crossed couples
extracted themselves from each other's arms. Glancing
up at the ceiling in order to gather the strength to
walk away from her once again, Angel noticed something
that made him smile. During the dance, they had
drifted to a more secluded area of the dance floor.
"Buffy, look up," he told her softly. She did as he
commanded and gasped quietly when she realized they
were under a sprig of mistletoe.
"Ang..." Her words were cut off by his lips on hers.
They kissed tenderly but not without passion. Their
mouths met with quiet desperation, wanting more but
being denied the full expression of their love.
Angel's large hands spanned Buffy's petite waist,
holding her close as her delicate fingers roamed his
broad shoulders and neck and tangled in his short dark
hair. Finally with her human need to breath, Buffy
pulled back in order to pull air into her lungs.
"Buffy," Angel whispered, longing making his voice
deep and husky.
"Angel!" a female voice, not Buffy's, called breaking
the private world they had fallen into. Buffy
recognized the voice as Cordelia's and couldn't stick
around to face her or the inevitable rejection from
Angel. She slipped from his embrace and ran off as
the brunette made her way across the dance floor to
inadvertently thwarting any attempts Angel could have
made to stop his fleeing lover.
Now dressed in blue flannel pajamas decorated with
penguins and hair flowing loosely around her
shoulders, Buffy sat on the bed in the guest room of
her father's apartment wondering how her life had
gotten so out of control. She wasn't even 19 yet and
already she had her heart battered, bruised, and
broken more times than she cared to think about.
Tonight just added a
chapter to the Big Book of Buffy's Unsuccessful Love
Stories.
'Well,' she sighed, 'I guess it's just my way of
cramming a lifetime of pain into a Slayer's lifespan.'
With the thought of being the Slayer filling her
head, she quickly changed into jeans, a sweater, and a
coat and slipped out the window onto the fire escape.
'I
can't sleep anyway, might as well get some slaying
done. Just because I can't be happy on Christmas,
doesn't mean I can't prevent other people from feeling
pain.'
*****
//Open a window
Let in the snow
Cold is all I know
Go to the fire
Stir it around
There's a warmer place for you to go//
She wandered the streets of Los Angeles aimlessly,
finding very few vampires out and about. She staked
two who were lurking by a 24-hour shopping center
hoping to prey on last minute shoppers, but a half
hour after that kill she decided to give up.
Walking back across the city to her father's
apartment, Buffy began to shiver as the wind picked up
and swirled coldly around her. She wrapped her scarf
more securely around her neck and pulled her gloves
out of her pocket. As she slide her chilly hands into
the blue wool, she was surprised to find white flakes
beginning to fall around her.
After her mind processed the fact, that it was indeed
snowing and even sticking to the ground, she decided
that she didn't want to go home quite yet.
*****
Angel was sitting in his living room reading when he
heard the knock at his door. Thinking it was Cordelia
or Wesley with an emergency he rushed to answer it but
did not find what he was expecting.
"Buffy."
"Hi." He was surprised to see her at all, but was
even further surprised by the snowflakes sticking in
her hair causing it to curl wetly around her smiling
face. "Come outside," she told him. "It's snowing."
Without waiting for an answer, she turned and walked
back outside. Without being given a choice, he
followed.
//So, make it, make your way home
Better than you have
Break it, break the alone
Leave it in the past//
Angel stepped outside to find the fast falling snow
had already covered the ground thickly. Glancing
around at the winter wonderland, his gaze fell on
Buffy, with her eyes closed and head tilted back,
catching a snowflake on her tongue.
"Usually doesn't snow in California," he stated.
"Did last year," she told him, meeting his gaze with
her penetrating green eyes.
"Must be el Nino," he explained pathetically,
immediately looking away from his intense stare.
"I don't think so."
"Buffy," he started, but she shushed him.
"No talking. Come make a snowman with me," she
commanded. She didn't want him to tell her to stop
her girlish thinking that the magical snowfall was for
them. All she wanted was to make a snowman with the
man she loved and she didn't that was too much to ask
at Christmastime. Angel joined her in the snow and
wordlessly began rolling the base of the snowman.
A few minutes later, they had finished their creation.
Standing back and looking at it with appreciation,
Angel asked "Want some tea?" She nodded and they went
back inside.
*****
Buffy sat at the kitchen table as Angel went about
making the tea. She studied his apartment, finding it
familiar but dismissing the strange feeling. Nothing
about this night had been un-strange. Why start
questioning it now? Angel handed her a mug and she
gratefully sipped the warm liquid from it.
"Buffy," Angel started once again.
"Please don't Angel, just don't."
"Don't what?"
"Don't tell me I shouldn't be here. How we can't work
out. Any of that."
"That wasn't what I was..."
"Please," she interrupted, "just let me have a few
moments of peace with you - call it a Christmas
present if you want." She looked at him imploringly.
"After that I'll leave but for now, can we just sit
here quietly, drinking our tea and pretend things are
like they used to be?"
//Look and you'll find it
Someone wants to love you
Look and you'll find it
Someone wants to love you//
"But things aren't like they used to be," he told her,
taking the seat next to her, removing the hot mug from
her hands and resting it on the table. "Wesley told
me something tonight. He thinks I can't lose my soul
again." Buffy's jaw dropped.
"How? When?"
"He thinks when Willow recursed me she didn't include
the happiness clause."
"All this time, we could have been together..." Buffy
murmured distraught, looking down at the table.
"Hey," he said lifting her chin so she was looking him
in the eye. "We're together now. We can make up for
lost time."
"Hey," he said lifting her chin so she was looking him
in the eye. "We're together now. We can make up for
lost time."
"You mean it?" Buffy asked, her eyes lighting up like
a child's on Christmas morning. He nodded. "You
still love me?"
"With all my heart," he replied, taking her hands in
his.
"And you want me?"
"More than anything," he told her sincerely, a new
huskiness creeping into his tone. She slid from her
seat on to his lap.
"This is all I could of asked for for Christmas."
Emotion colored her voice. "Make love to me Angel."
Her soft plea filled the kitchen setting them adrift
into the magical world of desire and love that had so
long been closed off to them. Lifting her small body
in his strong arms Angel carried her to his bedroom.
Setting her down on the bed, he slowly, reverently
undressed her. Each newly revealed inch of skin was
greeted by Angel's cool mouth until her entire
glorious body was revealed to his hungry eyes.
Flushing slightly under his devouring gaze, Buffy
pulled him up for a kiss before flipping them and
showering him with the same loving attentions he had
given her. When they
were both nude, Angel pulled back his sheets and
settled them both underneath.
Mouths met with greedy kiss as hands roamed long
untouched skin until they could wait no longer.
Positioning himself above her, Angel gazed down into
her trusting green eyes.
"I love you."
"I love you too." He slid slowly inside her catching
her gasp with his kiss. They moved tenderly in a
rhythm as old as time until they reached the pinnacle
together, crying out each other's names. Throughout
the night, they fulfilled desires long denied until
they were both exhausted.
"Merry Christmas, Buffy," Angel whispered into the
dark as they drifted off to sleep.
"Merry Christmas, Angel," she whispered back.
Snuggled against his chest, her body sated and
slightly sore, she felt something she hadn't felt in a
long time. Peace.
//Wake it, wake your dream
One forgotten me
Sleepin' deep inside of you
Heavenly peace//
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