Three Wishes: Clahd... Clhad... Cldgha... Irish friendship ring thingy
by Beer Good
Author's note: Let's say everything plays out as in AtS s5 up until about two minutes from the end of "You're Welcome". Yeah, that's the ticket. So that would put us in Angel's office, with His Broodyness and Cordelia sharing a moment. Aaaand, action.

Clahd... Clhad... Cldgha... Irish friendship ring thingy

"I know it's not even close to over, but I do feel like I can do this. Wolfram & Hart, whatever's coming, I feel like we can beat it."
"I know."
"You do?"
"I always did. I... I just needed you to know it, too."
"So all that stuff about the deals with the devil..."
"...was God's honest truth. But you're bigger than that. You'll win this in the end. I, uh... just wish I could be there to see it."
"What do you mean? You're not..."
"I can't stay. This isn't me anymore. You can say good-bye to the gang for me, explain everything once you understand."
"That's gonna be never. I need you here."
"Don't make it hard, Angel. I'm just on a different road... and this is my off-ramp. The Powers That Be owed me one, and I didn't waste it. I got my guy back on track."
"Cordy, there's just –"
"We take what we can get, champ, and we do our best with it. I'll be seeing you. Oh, and I can't believe I almost forgot, there's one more thing..."

*****

The tricky bit hadn't been what to wish for. Or traveling to Rome. Or finding the correct address. No, the tricky bit had been convincing her to trust him just enough to invite him in. Andrew's words from a couple of weeks earlier
(Where do you think my orders came from? News flash—nobody in our camp trusts you anymore. Nobody. You work for Wolfram & Hart. Don't fool yourself: we're not on the same side.)
still stung, and any hope that Andrew had been lying was quickly squashed by the look Buffy gave him. Finally, she stepped aside.

"OK, come in. But don't get any ideas."

He wasn't sure where to start, so he started with the most obvious. Cordelia's death. The news obviously took her by surprise, but she was calm about it. He hadn't expected anything else; the two never been very good friends, and they hadn't seen each other in years... plus Buffy had obviously seen enough friends die lately to not be broken up over yet another. Then he tried to explain everything else; about the shanshu prophecy, about how he'd ended up running the world's most evil law firm, how he had had to invent all new kinds of brooding to be able to stand it... and how Cordelia had come back one last time, just as he was losing faith. He told her about the hard choices ahead, and about how he now believed he really could make a difference, that he was her ally, not her enemy.

As he glanced at Buffy, he thought his heart would jump out of his chest; it was working, she was actually listening, actually believing in him again... and then he broke the big news. The chance Cordelia had passed on to him from the Powers: one wish to change something for himself or someone dear to him. And about how he had never even had to consider what to wish for, he'd just known.

"I know it's not up to me, and if you don't want me in your life I'll just leave again, but... I knew that regardless if I live forever or if I die tomorrow, I would want to spend as much of that time with you, Buffy. But as long as I was a vampire cursed with a soul, that could never happen. So I had them... I asked them to..."

Buffy's eyes widened as an incredulous smile crept onto her face. He'd never seen her look so beautiful before. "You mean... Angel... you're..."

Before he had time to answer, she'd literally swept him up from the couch and was hugging him, tears of joy streaming down her face. "I knew it... Giles had heard about the prophecy, but he never actually believed in it, but I knew, you deserve it, Angel, you're human again, we can... er..." She drifted off as the embrace stiffened and she started grabbing him in a decidedly unerotic manner, as if checking for something. "Um... Angel?"

"Yes?"

"You're cold. And your heart's not beating."

"Yes I am. And no it isn't."

She pushed him away. "I don't believe this! You're STILL a vampire?!"

"I still have a job to do, Buffy, I can't afford to be mortal just yet... and besides, since when are you NOT attracted to vampires?"

"Well... um... that's beside the point! You said you wanted to be with me, but nothing's changed!"

"No, everything's changed." He absent-mindedly ran his hand through his hair, trying to find the right words to explain. "Well, not everything, obviously..." He wiped off the hair gel on his pants. "But... they couldn't let me become human, but they could fiddle with my curse. They lifted the perfect happiness clause, Buffy. I can be as happy as I want without losing my soul. And if you'd let me, I'd like us to be happy together. Have fun together. Laugh together."

"Angel... are you asking me to..."

"I guess I am. Buffy?"

"Y-y-yes?"

"Will you go to the Buster Keaton film festival with me?"


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