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Email: slayage@hotmail.com

Disclaimer: Not mine

Spoilers: Up to season 5 ŒForever¹

Summary: The last few minutes of Buffy and Angel¹s meeting in ŒForever¹ that we didn¹t get to see

"I miss you Angel," Buffy said, so softly he almost didn¹t hear. He stayed quiet for a while, just held her, not knowing whether or not it would be best for him to reply. Buffy sensed his reluctance, so she quietly cleared her throat and closed her eyes, listening to his heart not beating against her ear.

"Y-you know," she began to stammer, "cuz you¹ve been gone for so long and, it¹s just..." she stopped. "Forget it, forget I said anything." She sounded embarrassed.

Angel reconsidered his approach. "No, Buffy...I miss you," he assured her. He gave her a soft squeeze. "All the time. Every minute. You know I do." Buffy sat up from her place against him and looked at him with deep green eyes. After all this time, they could still get lost just looking at each other.

"It¹s just, I don¹t want to open up old wounds. It¹s too much. For both of us. I want to leave one meeting between us knowing that I didn¹t hurt you in some way."

Buffy nodded slightly, and Angel thought that maybe she didn¹t completely believe him.

"You didn¹t always hurt me Angel," she offered after a moment. "You made me happy." She paused for a moment as he thought about that. "Loving you is the scariest thing in the world, but it¹s also something that saves me time and time again. Whenever I think life is too much, whenever I feel like just giving up, I think of you. And I keep going, not only because I¹m proud of what you¹re doing in LA, but because I want you to be proud of me too." Angel felt his eyes watering at that, and he blinked several times and finally closed them.

"I¹m always proud of you Buffy Summers," he said softly. Buffy could hear in his voice that he was getting a little choked up, so she was silent for a few moments.

She whispered what she said next. "I feel really lame saying this but...I feel... safe, when you¹re here. When you¹re around." Angel smiled at her statement, and brought his hand up to caress her cheek softly.

"I¹m glad. You make me feel safe too Buffy." She smiled softly back at him then, and he was glad about that too. Buffy turned her head towards her mother¹s grave, and her eyes glazed over with tears.

"I¹m really gonna miss her," she whispered. Angel¹s small smile disappeared then, and he took Buffy¹s hand in his, laced their fingers.

"I know sweetheart, I know. But I promise, in time, that pain is gonna get better. And when you think of her, you¹re only going to remember the good times, and forget the bad."

Buffy looked at Angel and understood what he was saying. She knew he wasn¹t just talking about her and her mom. She dropped her gaze down to their joined hands. Ever so slowly, Buffy brought them up to her lips and kissed the back of his hand softly. Angel smiled at that, and then slowly got up, bringing Buffy up with him.

Once they were up, he held her face in both of his hands and looked at her with those dark, penetrating eyes of his. Buffy reached up and grasped each of his hands with her own. Then, Angel leaned down and kissed her lips softly and briefly, and she closed her eyes to savor the taste.

"I¹ll never be far. Never. I promise you that," he assured her.

"I know," she said, her eyes still closed. "I wish you could stay for more than a few minutes though," she admitted quietly. He pulled her to him then, and she rested her forehead against his chest as he slid his fingers through her silky blonde hair. Buffy missed him so much, and every time she saw him, memories of him just came flooding back. As she had once said, Œhello to the pain¹.

Hello, indeed.

"If things were different..." he began. But they both knew he didn¹t have to finish that sentence. Things weren¹t different. They never would be. He broke the embrace, finding himself a little overwhelmed once again by her presence.

"I really better get going. It would be a little hard keeping my promise to you when I¹m a pile of dust, right?" He lifted her chin up, trying to read her emotions.

He was always good at that.

"Yeah," she whispered back, smiling slightly. "Thank you, for coming. It means more to me then you¹ll ever know."

"I'm really going to miss your mom too," he told her.

He wiped a tear that she didn¹t even know she was crying, and kissed her forehead gently with his soft, pink lips. Then he backed away into the night, and vanished.

And to the now-empty darkness she whispered...

"Goodbye."