Disclaimer in part one.

This part rated NC-17.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*


They watched in respectful silence as the lovers played with each other,
laughed together. Something like awe, if awe were possible for the Higher
Beings, overtook them as they saw the ex-demon smile openly at his beloved
and clutch her warmly, without any fear, in his arms.

The two humans teased and giggled and constantly touched each other, without
regard for the past, for the past didn't matter anymore. It was simply
something that had happened, and that was over, and that was inconsequential
now that they had each other.

The Higher Beings smiled in disbelief and pleasure at what came next.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I lowered myself down the silken, golden skin of her body, until I reached
the juncture of her thighs. Quickly lifting out a strawberry from its
container, I dipped it in the melting ice cream, and kissed the bristly patch
of hair between her legs before I proceeded. She was already shaking with
anticipation, her eyes following my movements hotly.

I opened the folds of her and smiled, leaning forward to lash at her gently
with my tongue. Buffy started underneath the feel of it, and I felt her skin
warming up rapidly. I lifted the dripping strawberry up to her, and traced
it down the delicate pink skin hidden there. After a moment, with only a
moment of hesitation, I gently pushed the ripe fruit inside of her, holding
onto the stem. She started again, as though surprised, and looked at me
through lowered lashes as I brought the red, chocolate-y concoction back up
to my mouth, placing it inside and chewing carefully.

The eroticism of the moment made both of us tremble as we gazed at each
other. Finally, I swallowed, and then watched as she closed her eyes,
resting her head back against the pillow, trusting whatever I was about to
do. I leaned in closer, flicking her with a feather-light touch and tasting
a brilliant mixture of the sweetness of the strawberry, the chocolate of the
ice cream, and something so perfectly Buffy that I leaned even closer to take
in more of it. My tongue lashed out again, loving the taste of her more than
the taste of any of the food I'd sampled since I'd regained my humanity.

She began to moan and writhe under my loving lash. Again and again I toyed
with the small button that contained her most sensitive nerves, suckling on
it gently and then nipping it until her fingers were buried in my hair. One
moment, she would pull away, claiming that the feeling was too great, and the
next moment she would thrust herself back against me, begging for more.

I loved it.

I bit at her softly, with dull teeth, and sped up the rhythm of my tongue.
She sighed and shook, her hands grasping weakly at my head, until the tremors
took over her body and her back was arched. She came quickly and violently,
arching off the mattress, and I eagerly lapped up her juices.

Finally she laid back again, limp, against the bed. Her hair was matted
against her skull, and her eyes bright but tired as she watched me lift my
head up and make a show of licking my lips.

A giggle found its way out of her mouth.

I scooted up to her and trailed my hands up her slick stomach, and between
her breasts. With a predatory grin, she rolled over on top of me, straddling
me expertly. She gave one quick thrust down, and then I was inside of her.

It was fast and animal, almost as vampiric as vampiric sex can be. She
thrust down against me with little grunts, squeezing her vaginal muscles, and
I groaned, reaching up to cup her breasts in my palms. The smell radiating
off of us was amazing; it was me and her, wrapped around each other.

She bounced up and down, rubbing her pelvis against mine with an even, quick
rhythm. My hands drifted down her body, never leaving contact with it, and
settled on her hips, urging her on. She nodded, her eyes on me for a moment
before she closed them tightly, concentrating on the feel of me inside of her
and against her.

Buffy then groped at my hands, taking them harshly away from her hips, and
threaded her fingers through mine. She clasped my hands tightly, rocking
back and forth, and then let out a long cry, biting her lip. I arched up
into her, finishing as she did, and then she collapsed on top of me, out of
breath.

Her hair was covering my face, and it was also wrapped around my arm. I
delighted in both feelings.

Slowly, she disengaged herself from me, and it was with no small sense of
loss that I was released from the confines of her as she crawled to my side
to cuddle there warmly. I smiled, turning, and kissed her gently on the
mouth.
* * * * * * *

I don't know how long we slept; I wasn't aware that I was falling asleep at
all, but when I looked at the clock, I saw that it was at least over an hour
past the time I had last looked, when she had been nestled in my arms, awake.
Buffy then woke, barely seconds after I did, and looked at me with those
large and clear, lovely blue eyes, her lips beautifully swollen, her face
flushed with sleep.

Her arm slid around my waist, then underneath the blanket with a gentle
mischievousness. She didn't have to grope in darkness for long, because even
the thought of her trying to touch me gave me an erection so quickly that I'm
surprised I didn't kneel over with the pain of it. Her eyes widened and her
hands slid up and down me, grasping me more firmly in her palm as she took
the chance to throw off the blanket with her free hand.

I stayed silent with her inspection, and watched as something like
fascination passed over her face. I realized then that we had never really
gotten this before; to explore each other, to watch each other's reactions so
closely. The first time, it was beautiful and everything I could have
dreamed, but it also seemed like a dream, with a hazy edge around it. This
was wide-awake, very real life, and so I looked at her with warmth as she
watched the effect her hands had on me.

Her nail slid down the underside of my shaft, gently, scraping but without
any pain, and she watched with surprised amusement as I twitched in her hand.
As eager as I was growing to be inside of her again, as deliciously ticklish
I was feeling, I wouldn't deny her this, for the look of wonderment and
pleasure on her face was all I would have ever asked for it I had one wish in
the world.

Finally, wordlessly, she let go of me, and rolled onto her back, pulling me
to her with unbelievable strength. Maybe it was my imagination, or just that
I was filled with so much love for her in that moment, but our kisses seemed
more ardent, more passionate, and more sacred than they ever had before. She
reverently touched my face, my cheeks, and my mouth, and I kissed her with
equal reverence, as she was someone Holy in my sight.

She spread her legs for me, and I noticed with a strange detachment to all
that surrounded us, that we were awash in silence. Only Buffy's whispering
sigh as I entered her could have assured me that this perfect, perfect moment
was in fact real, and not one of those dreams that I've had where I can see
and touch her, but not hear her voice.

We began making love a third time, and I slowly rocked in and out of her,
trying to not break the contact of our mouths the entire time. When it
didn't work, at least not entirely before I would go back to kissing her, I
would open my eyes and look at her as she moved beneath me.

She was all beauty; everything that I had ever seen or imagined as beautiful
in the world was made real to me through her eyes. Her blue eyes met mine
and I felt the shock of our souls connecting, even more than they ever had
been before, making the already unbreakable bond between us complete.

I saw the tears leak out of her eyes and I stopped moving, still inside of
her. "Did I hurt you?" I whispered, the noise almost surprising after such a
hush had been between us.

The crystalline tears wetted the sides of her face, dripping down to her
ears, and finally she shook her head, placing her hand against the small of
my back, telling me to go on.

I watched her for another moment carefully, and then, convinced that it was
true and she wasn't in any physical pain, resumed my slow strokes in and out
of her.

Her mouth opened silently, and I smiled tenderly as the flush came to her
face again.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

There was no way that I could have told him what I was feeling right then
without ruining the mood (if it was possible to ruin *any* mood between us),
that had settled over our lovemaking. This time, it was almost somber, and I
knew that any talking would take that feeling, that cool quiet, away.

So instead, I placed my hand on the small of his back and wrapped my legs
around him tighter, urging him to go on, to continue. He rocked in and out
of me with a soft smile, and I felt that it would be a curse against us to
break the quiet with sounds that weren't needed. I felt like we were in a
blue room, a room where everything is calm and serene and beautiful.

Which it was. Except without the blue.

I placed the heels of my feet flat against his back and felt him move back
and forth, inside of me. It was... The only word I can think of to describe
it was lovely. I closed my eyes, feeling the tears run down the sides of my
face, but I knew that the bond that we had created while looking at each
other earlier hadn't been erased when I broke contact with his gaze.

My hands slid up his arms and gripped him on the shoulders as I felt his pace
increase. In and out, slow and steady, like cool blue waves on a cool blue
night. He leaned down and kissed me on the mouth, and then on the scar he
had given me, and I opened my eyes in time to see him start with recognition
and realization of what was on my neck. He paused for a moment, and then, at
my smile, increased his movements even more, thrusting his hips quickly. My
stomach felt hot and my mind cool, and all of me felt liquified.

I started shaking like a leaf, pushing my hips up in rhythm with his thrusts,
shutting my eyes again, tightly. ~This is love~ I thought absently as I felt
him fill me up. I tossed my head to the side, the pleasure being too much
for me to take, and saw Angel grip the sheets tightly. Looking back at him,
I locked eyes, lost myself in his eyes, and let myself go.

Angel, feeling me orgasm around him, bore down, and impaled me with one last,
hard push, and I felt him spill inside me.

It was all in silence.

Finally, after a moment of laying locked together like that, he pulled out of
me and laid on his side. He brushed my hair aside, to look closer at my
scar, and then leaned forward, kissing the tears that were still matted on my
eyelashes.

He asked, "Why?" softly, and I knew immediately what he was referring to.

I smiled, touching his lips.

"It was beautiful, wasn't it?" I whispered, taking my hand away and leaning
up to kiss him.

He nodded. "Was that the only reason?"

After hesitating for a second, I shook my head. "I just... I know that
neither of us have really said it, yet. And while we were making love just
now, I knew that it would be impossible for me not to. And that's why I was
crying. I've never... It was beautiful..." I swallowed, gathering my
courage, falling into his eyes. "I love you, Angel."

He leaned his head closer to me, touching his lips tenderly to my scar, and
then bringing his head up to kiss my mouth. He tasted like my tears, or
possibly his, because somewhere in the middle of what I was saying, he began
crying too. The kiss was long and drawn out, sweet, a promise of so many
things.

"I love you too," he said huskily, his hand under my chin. "I love you so
much that I can barely breathe... And now it's something that's necessary for
me to do."

I laughed. "Do you like it?"

"What, breathing?"

"Needing to breathe," I corrected. "Being alive. I mean, I know it must be
a lot different, but..."

"I like it," he interrupted, quietly. "It *is* different. But it's worth a
lot to me that I *can* do it, so the difference matters less to me than it
probably should."

"I like it too," I said, as he adjusted his position until he was laying on
his back. I set my head against his chest. "That's a good sound. Thump,
thump. Thump, thump, thump..."

He chuckled softly. "It feels pretty amazing."

"I'm *so* glad we didn't logic ourselves out of this," I admitted. I looked
up at him. "We'll make it work, right?"

He squeezed my arm. "We will."

I yawned. "I'm so sleepy. But I still want..."

"What?" Angel asked, jokingly deadpanned. "You couldn't possibly. Not that
I wouldn't..." he began to offer with a grin.

"Noo," I assured him, laughing. "I'm spent. Pleasantly numb, even. You?"

He paused, thoughtfully. "For now."

"No, I want to stay awake," I clarified softly. "So this day can keep
happening."

"Sleep," he whispered roughly, kissing the top of my head. I shivered at how
warm his lips were. "We'll make another one like it tomorrow."

"Angel? This is the first time I've ever felt this way."

"What way?" he asked curiously, stroking my arm.

"Like I've always wanted," I explained. "Like a normal girl... Falling
asleep in the arms of her normal boyfriend. It's perfect."

I closed my eyes, breathing in the scent of him and me entangled like that,
and smiled as he kissed my forehead again, tenderly... There was so much
tenderness between us.

And now, there always would be.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

My heart exploded in my chest as she said that, as she claimed that I made
her feel like she's never felt before. Everything was finally in place,
everything had finally come full circle. She took my heart at first sight,
and now she was giving it back to me, entirely, filled with new and wonderful
feelings that I never thought I'd get to experience. Especially not with her.

But things have changed. In an instant. Being with her, making love to her,
even having her fall asleep in my arms, comfortable against me, has changed
me forever. It's not simply the humanity. Becoming a human would mean
nothing to me if not for her. She's every source of light to me, every drop
of hope.

Hope that I have, finally, for the future. Hope that I never had before.

My life seemed all sort of empty before these moments. This time, where I
can laugh and play with her, where I can see her in the sunlight next to a
beach where children are playing. Where I can, potentially, *give* her
children one day. Happily ever after wasn't something I believed in.

It is now.

CONTINUE