A Momentary Grace: Part Five
by January
Cletus and Nev stood in the wreckage of the guard shack, dust spun in small vortexes around their feet.
"Angelus must have lived, " Cletus said. "He was the only one who knew where we were."
"Angel didn’t turn Kelvasus and the others into dust-bunnies," Nev argued. "This was a sunlander’s work, the Slayer most probably."
"It’s not a coincidence, us getting attacked the day after Angelus finds out where or sanctuary is," Cletus stated.
"I never said it was," Nev replied. "Angel didn’t just attack Kelvasus, he betrayed s to a sunlander."
Cletus smiled nastily, "Treason has always been punishable by death, but then what isn’t."
* * *
Angel leaned heavily on Buffy’s shoulder, "You shouldn’t be out of bed," she objected.
Angel smiled, "The room’s on the wrong side of the building for watching the sun rise. I want to see it, I haven’t watched a sunrise since I was a kid."
Curious, Buffy asked, "Was this something you liked doing before you were a vampire?"
"Not really," Angel replied. "Not after I discovered alcohol, hangovers don’t go well with early mornings. I took everything for granted back then. I don’t want to make that mistake again."
"There’s the elevator," Buffy said. "We should hurry, the nurses are going to notice you’re missing soon."
They rode the elevator up to the top floor, them climbed one more set of stairs to reach the roof.
"Now sit," Buffy ordered. "We're here, so I don't want you hurting yourself."
Angel almost laughed. At the mixture of bossiness and protectiveness in her tone. As he sat down, he pulled her down beside him, wrapping his arms around her and resting his cheek on the top of her head.
This close Buffy could feel both his heartbeat and the warmth radiating off his skin, she sighed contentedly and snuggled deeper into his embrace.
Together they waited for the sunrise. As the first rays of the morning reached them Angel tensed, fighting a vampire's survival instincts.
Buffy twisted in his embrace to face him. "It won't hurt you," she promised, reaching up to caress Angel's face.
"I know," Angel replied swallowing harshly. "But every instinct I have is telling me this is suicide."
"Don't think about it," Buffy said.
Angel pulled her close again, burying his face in her shoulder, shutting out the sight of the sun, waiting for the searing agony that it had brought for so long. Instead he felt a gentle comforting warmth.
Gradually Angel relaxed, raising his head and looking at the colors dawn had painted across the sky. "It's beautiful," he said.
Buffy grinned
"This is real," Angel continued. "I can't believe it, I'm watching a sunrise, with you." He hugged Buffy tightly again. "I never though I'd see you by daylight."
* * *
"Yes, the Shadwen is real," Giles said into the phone. "Buffy recovered it from a Celtic vampire called Kelvasus, he as attempting to use it to alter the moon’s orbit."
"I’m not sure, however it seems to have been responsible for changing Angel back into a mortal."
"Yes, Angelus."
"No, I don’t know how. It was an accident. What I want to know is how to destroy it, we’ve tried the living flame. It didn’t even mar the finish."
"Yes, I had heard the legend about the Shadwen being used to help create the Slayer. I still think it should be destroyed."
"Look do you really ant an artifact that can be used to play marbles with the solar system laying around the headquarters? It would be like a magnet for every power hungry moron in the hemisphere."
"No, I don’t believe you would be able to learn to use it. Kelvasus had centuries to study it and, according to Angel, he only had a marginal understanding of it."
"No, I’m not comparing the watcher’s experts to a vampire."
"Yes, I understand my position, I’m Buffy’s watcher. You may have people more expert in occult artifacts, but I am the one on site."
"Yes, of course."
"No, I’m not."
"Fine, when ill he be here?"
"Certainly, I’ll meet him at the airport. Please let me know when his plane will be arriving."
* * *
Nev looked around the Bronze. Cletus as at the bar trying to find out if Angel had been in tonight.
There weren’t many places were humans congregated after dark in Sunnydale, it was only a matter of time before they found Angel’s hunting ground.
* * *
Monday morning, Buffy, Willow and Xander gathered on the steps of the school.
Willow and Buffy were deep in conversation. Xander was supposedly reading a magazine, but hadn’t turned a page in quite a while.
"He actually watched the sunrise this morning," Buffy was saying. "I think he’s getting used to the whole mortal thing."
"It’s a big change," Willow said.
Buffy nodded, "It’s going to be so great, showing him all the daylight things to do."
"When does he get out of the hospital?" Willow asked.
"Tomorrow," Buffy replied. "Oh and everyone’s invited to a dinner at my place, sort of a welcome to being alive thing for Angel. Mom says I can skip school to come along when Giles picks him up from the hospital, as long as I make my classes today."
Xander glanced up from his magazine, "Since when has the lack of parental permission ever kept you in school?" he asked.
Buffy shrugged, "It’s just nice that she understands. Angel wants to spend Wednesday here, can you believe it?"
"Why?" Xander asked. "He’s too old for them to make him go to school."
At Xander’s words Willow’s face took on a thoughtful frown.
Buffy replied, "He wants to see what it’s like, something about seeing what I do."
"How old is Angel now?" Willow asked.
"Will," Xander replied, "Whatever else changed, Angel was still born sometime back in the Dark Ages."
"No, I think the seventeenth century was the end of the Renaissance, way after the Dark Ages," Willow remarked. "Anyway, I mean Angel isn’t physically 243 years old."
Buffy shrugged, "I guess he just starts at whatever age he was at when Darla turned him into a vampire. I never asked how old he was then, it wasn’t important, since I’d catch up to him eventually."
* * *
Angel sat quietly in the garden behind the hospital. His and Buffy’s expedition to the roof Sunday morning hadn’t gone unnoticed by the staff. On the other hand, they been pretty nice about it. The doctor just said that any future trips would be taken with Angel in a wheelchair, at least until he’d been released from the hospital.
Which wasn’t that bad. Angel picked at the peeling skin on his nose. After he and Buffy had spent the whole day out in the garden Sunday, the nurses had also given him a lecture on skin cancer and a bottle of sunscreen. Angel had had to fight to keep a straight face during the nurses’ very well meaning speech. It was just so strange to think of reddened skin as a "sunburn".
The sunburn, more than anything else, brought home the reality of what had happened. It was a constant reminder that this was more than some daydream (he hadn’t remember how much sunburns itched in centuries).
He had a life again, a future. He had no clue what to do with it. Besides spending as much of it as humanly possible with Buffy.
Angel knew Buffy and her friends were mostly planning on going to college the following year. He decided to ask Giles what one had to do to get in. He had a feeling that his lack of a high school degree or even a birth certificate might prove problematic. Still it seemed like a good place to start a life.
Angel stretched his hands out, feeling the sun caress his skin and smiled. He felt good for the first time in longer than he could remember. Free from the night, from the demon that had possessed him for so long. Even the guilt and remorse that had shadowed him since regaining his soul seemed less consuming.
As horrible as Angelus’ actions had been, Angel couldn’t feel quite as responsible for them as he had before. In fact even his memories of those atrocities were becoming foggy. It was as if that part of his life, the part where he’d been without a soul had been burned away with the demon.
This was like a fresh start, a chance to reclaim the life he’d thrown away the night he’d met Darla. A chance to do things right this time.
* * *
Buffy felt this party was going much better than the welcome home party her friends had thrown for her after she came back to Sunnydale. For one thing there weren’t any undercurrents of hurt feelings, and for another thing, no zombies had shown up yet.
Just a quiet peaceful dinner with the people she was closest to. It even seemed like Giles and Xander had finally forgiven Angel for the whole Angelus incident last year.
Giles’ news that the plane bearing the Shadwen back to England had disappeared over the Pacific without a trace was only a minor blemish on the evening.
Buffy couldn’t help but feel that they ere just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Things were too perfect and this was Sunnydale after all.
"So the crisis is over?" Xander asked. "We won again, right?"
"I don’t know," Buffy said. "Kelvasus’ bunch still seems pretty active around town."
"Speaking of which, we should go on a patrol tonight," Giles said.
"Awe, we can skip one night," Buffy pouted wrapping her arms around Angel’s. "Tonight’s special, you wouldn’t want me to just abandon Angel on his first night out of the hospital would you?"
"It’s not a problem," Angel said. "I’ll come along."
"No!" Buffy and Giles chorused.
"You just got out of the hospital," Buffy continued. "I don’t want you to get hurt again."
"I’ve been on patrol before," Angel argued.
"You must admit things have changed dramatically since then," Giles said.
"So what, I’m not a vampire anymore, I can still help." Angel stated.
"Your ribs haven’t even healed yet and you’ve still got several sets of stitches," Giles said. "Furthermore, in a fight would you remember that you don’t have a vampire’s strength or recuperative power any longer."
"I’ll adjust, I‘m not helpless." Angel argued.
"Nobody said you were," Willow said. "It just means you’ve got to give yourself time to get used to being more careful."
"Which brings us back to the initial problem," Buffy said. "Patrol tonight, a bad idea."
"We have to end the party soon anyway," Joyce said. "It’s a school night, I’m sure Xander, Willow and Oz’s parents expect them home at a reasonable hour and you need your sleep as well. You and Mr. Giles could take Angel home, then do a quick circuit of the town before you call it a night."
"Mom," Buffy objected. "Angel’s still recovering you can’t just kick him out."
"Buffy, Angel is an adult, he can take care of himself, and he can’t spend the night here," Joyce paused. "Angel, I’m sorry, I just can’t let you stay here."
"I never would have expected you to," Angel replied.
Still sulking Buffy argued, "It’s still early, no one has to go yet."
"Buffy," Angel’s voice was gentle, "It’s all right, we’ll see each other tomorrow. We have the rest of our lives to spend time together, but now it’s time to say goodnight."
Buffy winced slightly, she hated it when she acted immature around Angel. Then she smiled, trying to put a good face on things.
* * *
Angel walked quickly toward the mansion. He had split up with Buffy and Giles at the cemetery gates.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here," a pompous, easily recognizable voice announced.
Angel watched grimly as Cletus and Nev materialized out of the darkness. Angel wasn’t impressed, he’d pulled the same stunt too many times to have it work on him.
"Angelus, what a surprise, seeing you here, in one piece," Cletus continued.
"Sorry to disappoint," Angel replied. "But you’ve really got to learn to be more careful when you kill someone."
"We don’t mind," Nev said. "In fact we’ve been looking forward to doing a better job of killing you."
"Yes," Cletus added, "Last time we forgot all about torture."
"Don’t expect me to make things easy for you," Angel said, taking stock of his surroundings. The picket fence behind him had definite possibilities.
As the two vampires advanced, Angel repositioned himself, preparing to fight. Giles and Buffy’s argument against him going on patrol were echoing clearly in Angel’s mind. He grinned fiercely, Angel knew they were right but several centuries of experience had to count for something.
When they attacked, Angel ducked, tackling Cletus at the knees. As planned, Angel’s momentum knock the vampire off his feet, dumping him neatly on the picket fence.
Angel smiled, regaining his feet as Cletus crumbled to into dust.
"You’ll regret that," Nev said quietly, circling his opponent.
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