Ain't destiny's grand?: Chapter 27
by i_hate_mornings
Disclaimer: I do not own anything associated with Buffy, Angel or the Care Bears. Unless you count videos and books.

Chapter 27

Willow stayed over again that night. Buffy already had a plan for getting into Giles’ office. The two girls sat on Buffy’s bed, working out techniques to get around Giles. ‘We need time to search the office,’ Buffy said thoughtfully. ‘I don’t know where the books are but I know he wouldn’t keep them out in the open. Too vulnerable.’

‘Yeah. We need to get him out of the office,’ Willow’s eyes were alight with excitement.

‘I already have an idea,’ Buffy pulled out a notebook from the desk beside her bead. ‘We go in tonight. I’ll lure him out of the room with a slayage problem. You go in and find the diaries. Signal to me when you’re done and I’ll escape from Giles.’

Willow shook her head in exasperation. ‘Yeah, or we could do it all while he’s asleep.’

‘That works too,’ Buffy smiled unabashedly. So her plans were a little over the top. Did it matter? ‘But he never sleeps. He’s like a robot. We’d have to wait for him to go to bed. Some nights he doesn’t even sleep at all.’

‘If all else fails, we’ll make him sleep,’ she grinned cunningly.

Buffy had to admire the redhead sometimes. Okay, well, most of the time. She had a great mind and it came in useful a lot. Buffy felt a little guilty about thinking about drugging her Watcher. She didn’t want the books that badly. If they failed, she’d just ask for them. The worst Giles could do is say no. Granted, that’s not the answer she wanted but then she’d deal.

‘Wanna go down and check?’ Willow was already moving to the door.

Buffy grinned and leapt up after her. They snuck down the stairs all the while smiling and giggling. If this were serious, like on patrol, they’d be dead by now. They reached the door to the lounge and peered around the doorframe. To their dismay and amusement, Giles sat comfortably in his ugly armchair, wearing his tweed suit, shoeless and sockless, legs propped up on a small stool. He held a cup of tea in one hand and a book rested in his lap.

Buffy watched the scene smiling, until she realised he was settled in for a long night. ‘Damn,’ she said softly.

She wrapped a hand around the arm of a confused Willow and dragged her back up the stairs.

‘He’s gonna be there for a while,’ she sighed as she closed the door to her room.

‘What are we gonna do?’ Willow flopped down on the bed and began giggling. ‘Did you see him? He wasn’t wearing shoes or socks and he was acting like one of us. It was sooo funny.’

Buffy looked at her askance. ‘Whatever. Wanna go on patrol?’

‘Sure. Maybe when we come back he’ll be asleep,’ Willow said glumly.

‘I wouldn’t count on it.’

***********************

‘Buffy!’ Willow shouted in warning as a vamp came at her from behind.

Buffy swung round a decapitated it, a smile lighting her face. The tension form earlier had disappeared and she felt relaxed as she removed some of Sunnydale’s darker side of the population from the earth.

Looking around quickly, Buffy saw no other evil creatures of the night. She relaxed back and flipped her stake over in her hand in the same manner as a cowboy with his gun. She tucked it back in her waistband then went to sit next to Willow on the grass by one of the big mausoleums.

Both girls were silent for a moment, going over the battle. ‘That was cool,’ Willow blurted out with admiration, making Buffy smile.

‘Yeah, it wasn’t too bad I suppose,’ she replied non-committally.

‘Not too bad?’ Willow squeaked in protest. ‘There was a moment I thought you were all “dead Buffy” but you turned and-’

‘I know Wills, I was there,’ she smiled indulgently at her friend. How could anyone not love the redhead? She was so cute and bubbly.

‘B-Buffy, a-about the other night,’ Willow probed uncertainly.

Buffy groaned at the words. She’d hoped Willow had forgotten all about it. Oh, please. If you’d walked in on her and Oz would you have forgotten it quickly? No, but I’d damn well try!

‘You and Angel were… how far have you… have you and Angel had S.E.X yet?’ she blushed an amazing shade of red that it hurt Buffy’s eyes to look at it.

‘And we’re spelling it, why?’ Buffy grinned at the redheads uncomfortableness. She started this, not me. ‘No, we haven’t but Willow, it was so close. I don’t even know if I’m ready to take that step with him, with anybody. I want him so much but there is still that little voice inside me that screams “stop, he’s a vampire, what are you doing?“ It’s pretty loud, especially when he’s near.’

‘Do you want to, uh, you know, with him?’ Willow asked her gently.

‘If I say yes, will it make me a bad person?’ Buffy almost whispered. She wrapped her arms around her waist, trying to ward off the negative feelings. After all she’d been through, just taking up with a vampire was an awfully hard thing for her to do.

She knew Willow and Xander wanted to know more about her past. They never asked, they seemed to sense it was a sore subject for her but she knew inside they were dying of curiosity. It was just so hard to talk about herself, to relive those dark times in her life. Being with Angel cowed all those feelings, memories. Not just because he was a vampire.

‘You could never be a bad person, Buffy,’ Willow’s arm snaked around the Slayer’s shoulders.

‘I just want him so bad. I can’t stop thinking about him, my dreams are filled with him and let me tell you, those dreams are surround sound and techni-colour. I know exactly what I’m missing,’ Buffy sighed and lent into Willow’s embrace. ‘Will, what am I gonna do?’

‘What do you wanna do?’ she asked quietly.

‘I don't know. I... I mean, 'want' isn't always the right thing to do. To act on want can be wrong.’

‘True,’ Willow nodded.

‘But... to not act on want... What if I never feel this way again?’ Buffy bit her lip. Why did it have to be so confusing?

'Carpe Diem,‘ Willow said simply.

Buffy frowned and glanced up at her from under her lashes. ‘Fish of the day?’

Willow smiled softly. Not carp, carpe. It means ‘seize the day.'

Buffy was quiet for a few moments. ‘Right. I... I think we're going to. Seize it. Once you get to a certain point, then seizing is sort of inevitable,’ she smiled at the thought. Her and Angel together. The little voice in her head be damned.

‘Wow…’ Willow breathed in awe.

‘Yeah,’ Buffy smiled widely, happier now.

‘Wow…’ Willow said again and Buffy glanced at her sideways, amused.

‘Yeah,’ she glanced around the silent graveyard.

Open View cemetery was across town from Shady Hill and Restfeld. It was one of her least patrolled places because it was often difficult to get here. Which is why she made it a point to come here tonight. The vamps would be caught off guard.

‘Speaking of 'wow' potential, You and Oz. What are we thinking, any sparkage?’ Buffy nudged her friend playfully. Now to get some answers of her own.

Willow blushed again. ‘He's nice. I like his hands.’

Buffy squealed in delight. ‘A fixation on insignificant details is a definite crush sign.’

‘Oh, I don't know, though. I mean, he is a bit older than me,’ Willow seemed unsure.

Buffy rolled her eyes. ‘Puh- lease. You think he's too old 'cause he's, what, two years older? Please. My boyfriend had a bicentennial.’

Willow brightened marginally. ‘That's true. Uh... I guess... I just…’

It was Buffy’s turn to comfort. She slipped and arm around the redhead and squeezed gently. ‘You can't spend the rest of your life waiting for Xander to wake up and smell the hottie. Make a move. Do the talking thing. He definitely likes you.’

‘What if the talking thing becomes the awkward-silence thing?’ Willow was starting to panic now and Buffy thought it was adorable.

‘You won't know until you try,’ she hinted gently.

Willow sighed and began to nod slowly. ‘Maybe you’re right.’

‘Maybe?’ Buffy acted shocked. ‘Honey, I’m always right,’ she glanced down at her watch. ‘Ooh, it almost three-thirty. Wanna go back and see if he’s snoozing?’

Willow nodded wildly. The left the cemetery arm in arm.

****************************

They crept slowly into the dark mansion through the unlocked kitchen door. The place seemed just a quiet as it had been before they left. They snuck to the living area and were dismayed to find Giles still in the chair they’d let him in. Downhearted, they were about to turn around to head back upstairs when a loud, completely un-Giles like snort, sounded from the Watcher.

‘He’s asleep,’ she whispered to the redhead. Willow’s eyes widened and Buffy looked back at the sleeping Watcher. He wasn’t going to be getting up anytime soon, she could tell. They’d have to work around him.

Buffy looked back at Willow. ‘We’ll both sneak through. I’m pretty sure he’s a light sleeper so we’ll have to be careful. I’ll get the books, you keep watch. If he wakes up, make up something and get us out of here.’

Willow stared at her in horror. ‘That’s your plan?’ she squeaked. ‘It’s a bad plan, a really bad plan. I don’t like this plan. Think of a new one.’

‘Too late,’ Buffy whispered as she began to creep into the room.

Willow hesitated but followed the Slayer into the room. Buffy stopped as Giles gave another loud snore. Nice one, Watcher-mine. If I wasn’t sneaking around, I’d so never let you live this down. She glanced at Willow then continued on. They reached the office without incident and Buffy went in while Willow kept watch.

It didn’t take her long to find the diaries. She snatched as many as she could then escaped the office. Giles slept on, unaware of the pillaging happening under his nose. The girls took the diaries back to Buffy’s room and Buffy immediately separated the books into two piles.

She sat down on the bed and began to go through them. Willow took one pile while Buffy took the other. ‘Remember, we’re looking for anything on Angel,’ she unnecessarily reminded Willow as she cracked open her first book.

They discarded diary after diary without finding what they were after. Neither Angel, not Angelus were mentioned anywhere. Buffy sighed and tossed the current diary away. That was about a Slayer just over fifty years ago. Angel had been off the radar then.

She picked up another and began to flick through it. Something on one of the pages caught her eye There was a picture of a little creature. The little creature she‘d tried to rescue from being drowned. ‘Oh my God, Willow, look at this,’ she held the book up for Willow to see.

The redhead glanced at the page. ‘What am I looking at?’

‘That,’ Buffy pointed at the picture of the creature.

‘The hairless Care Bear?’ she asked, confused.

‘Yep, that’s the one. Remember when I told you I tried to save this little creature from drowning in that room? That’s the creature. I haven’t even thought about since then.’

‘What is it?’ Willow squinted at the page. ‘A Donah. It says here it has the ability to read the future but always seems to get into trouble. Anyone… whoa,’ Willow’s eyes went wide as she raised her head to look at Buffy.

‘What?’ she asked, turning the book to read what Willow had. ‘Oh.’

‘Anyone who saves the life of one of these creatures, shall be afforded Immortality or any other wish so desired,’ Willow recited, still stunned.

Buffy dropped the diary as though it had burnt her. ‘No, not immortality. I don’t want it.’

‘Buffy,’ Willow reached out a hand but Buffy scrambled back.

‘I haven’t even seen it since that night, Willow. It has probably forgotten all about it,’ she tried to convince herself.

‘Buffy, if this is real, you don’t have to take immortality,’ she assured her. ‘It says “or any other wish so desired.” You can have anything you want,’ Willow was getting excited.

The redhead happened to glance down at the book in her lap. ‘Oh, I found Angel,’ she said idly, holding up the book. Buffy could tell her mind was far from on the absent vampire.

‘What are you going to do?’ she asked eagerly.

I-I don’t know,’ Buffy was too stunned to move. Why did these things always happen to her?





I bet you thought I’d forgotten about the creature. Hah. I had a plan… sort of. I managed to sneak in a little writing time over the past couple of days so I wrote this. I will be able to regularly update again after Wednesday.

Review and help inspire me. Let me know how good/bad I’m doing.


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