What happens now?: The Surprise
by angelzladee
A small smile spread across Buffy's face as she stared down to the crater that used to be Sunnydale. What were they going to do now? They had no house, no belongings, no food or other supplies and no money; they needed a small miracle. "What about going abroad?" Faith offered helpfully. Willow looked at Buffy and understood her feelings perfectly. "I don't think an exotic beach is what she has in mind Faith" she said without looking Faith in the eye. "What could possibly be more important then a well deserved vac..." Faith started before clicking onto what Willow meant. "Oh come on B, not back there again, didn't you two see enough of each other that ten minutes you spent with each other the other week...never mind" she paused "All aboard" Faith turned to Giles, "Full steam ahead captain." "Where to?" Giles asked puzzled. "L.A" Faith answered. Giles thought for a moment, beat he asked, "What's in L.A?" Faith laughed "the only thing that she needs for a normal life, her one true love" Giles nodded and got the rest of the girls on the bus. Buffy thanked Giles for what he was doing and took a seat next to Dawn as the bus sped down the road away from Sunnydale.

Fred sat in the lobby of the Hyperion Hotel. It was about a quarter past five. She poured over some new Volumes Wesley had acquired in an occult bookstore in the city. She almost fell of her chair when the phone rang. She dusted herself down and picked up the receiver, "Hello, Angel Investigations, Fred speaking, how may I help?.......oh Hi Willow........Of course we don't mind....... No it's no trouble at all........No he's out on business....... I’ll have some rooms made up, how many are coming......that many...no, not a problem......ok see you in about an hour...bye." Fred put the phone down, put the books back on the selves and went upstairs to set up some rooms for the small army who were arriving. She wondered what could have been so important that they would have needed to stay with them. She knew she should have asked how long they were staying for, she had a feeling Angel wasn't going to like the fact that he had more then thirty teenage girls living in his home, but none the less she fetched some clean blankets and sheets and got the rooms ready.

Angel and Gunn came in through the hotels main doors a little after six. "Fred?" Gunn called, she told him that she was upstairs, relieved nothing had happened to her him and Angel went about putting away their weapons. That demon had been a particular tough one to kill, but they had managed it in the end. They had just sat down on the comfy circular sofa in the centre of the lobby when the front doors opened again and a sea of girls walked through, then shortly followed by Willow Giles Faith and Xander, then finally bringing up the rear was her. His girl, His Soul mate. She stopped in her tracks when their eyes met and gave him a sheepish smile before turning to the girls and calling at the top of her voice, "OK, All minors head upstairs and find somewhere to crash, Willow, Faith, Giles, Xander, Kennedy, Rhona and Dawn stay down here with me!" There was a great kerfuffle but in about thirty seconds there was just a few of them left standing in the lobby.

"Hey man, you got and food I'm famished?" Faith asked going up to angel and giving him a playful punch on the arm. He nodded and said "you know where the kitchen is" Faith winked at him and headed of through a doorway at the right of the lobby. He turned his attention back to Buffy. "Can I get you anything?" He asked. She smiled "besides a whole new wardrobe, some bandages and a hot bath, yeah a load of other stuff." She said grumpily but went up and hugged him anyway. The embrace lasted a long time, so in the end Rhona gave a discreet as a means of drawing their attention back to the other people in the room. The broke apart and buff y turned to face the other blushing slightly, "Oh right, Angel this is Kennedy and Rhona, I’m pretty sure you know everyone else is" Rhona stepped forward with a seductive smile on her face, but Faith stepped out from behind a pillar and shot her arm out in front of her, gave her a warning glare and said, "Don't even try it, if you can get in between the two of them it will be a miracle!" Willow giggled a little before going up and hugging Angel her-self. "How are ya feelin'?" She asked smiling. "Better then the last time you saw me he said cringing from that memory. "Back to my long list of needs...um...you got a shower I could use?" Buffy asked looking longingly around the lobby. As the others when upstairs to get settled Angel showed Buffy where the bathroom was, how to use the shower and where she would be sleeping, which coincidently was right next door to his room. So she went and got her self cleaned up.

One and half hours and a lot of scrubbing and soap bubbles later Buffy emerged from the bathroom. Her skin and Hair a lot cleaner, but her clothing was still ripped and blood stained from the fight. "Here. They’re Fred's...I think they are about your size" Angel said producing Buffy with a pair of jeans, a purple tank top and denim jacket. He was right they were just about her size. After she had changed, her and Angel sat on the circular sofa in the centre of the lobby. "I can't go the rest of my life living out of other people’s wardrobes!" She said smiling. "Ah...that's where my next surprise comes in" Angel said mysteriously. And he reached in his pocket and produced his platinum card; he handed it to her and awaited a reaction. "I didn't mean...um...are you sure you...thank you" Buffy was lost for words, she stared down at the rectangle of plastic in her hand. "I wasn't sure what kind of clothes you liked, so instead of buying you new clothes I decided to let you buy your own!" He said beaming. Buffy leaned in and gave him a soft kiss on his cheek before getting up and whistling a long note. "Faiths head appeared over the top of the balcony. "You called?" She said. Angel was astounded. Buffy had Faith answering to a whistle now? "I'm goin'into town, tell Kennedy to train the girls in the back yard, and not to use weapons until she has checked with Angel that's ok." And with that Buffy gave Angel a smile, their smile, the smile that could speak a thousand words and walked out of the front double doors.

After unpacking all of her new clothes into an amazingly large wardrobe, Buffy went downstairs to join everyone else for dinner. "For a guy who doesn't eat he ain't half a great cook!" Faith called when she saw Buffy. At that half the potentials that didn't know about Angel stopped eating and turned to face Buffy with questioning expressions. 'Damn' she thought. 'Faith why did you have to open your big mouth'. Buffy took a deep breath and continued down the stairs and sat next to Faith and Xander at the table furthest away from the front entrance. Faith then continued to inform the whole dining hall about Angel and related topics of discussion that ended in some of the most embarrassing questions Buffy had ever had to answer in her life. But she ploughed her way through it and after diner was all to pleased to just go up to her room and crash on her bed for a few hours.

It had only seemed like five minutes later when she woke up to find Angel standing in her doorway. "Hey what time is it?" She asked groggily. "Half seven...you want some breakfast?" He asked. She decided that she wanted some waffles with syrup but instead of Angel bringing them up to her, like he suggested she got up, got dressed and went downstairs and made them herself. Half way through breakfast the phone rang, Gunn stood up and picked up the receiver, "Hello angel investigations, Gunn speaking how may I help? yes.....of course....we'll send someone over right away....thank you, goodbye. Angel a woman saying she has a poltergeist or something in her house, shall I goes handle it?" Angel thought for a minute and looked around the room. When he caught Buffy's eye she gave him a pleading look, but gave in and putt down her plate, still with half a waffle left and rounded up Willow. Gunn looked puzzled, "Are you sure she can handle it, she's just a girl?" He said looking at Buffy. Buffy looked from gunn, to Angel to Willow and back again before all three of them started to laugh. Angel through Buffy a sword from the other side of the lobby. Not only did she catch it by the handle but also she bent the blade in half, before throwing in back to Gunn. "Never mind!" He said looking slightly scared. "Slayer!" She said simply looking at Angel. Then Angel picked up the address that Gunn had scribbled down on a piece of paper and the three of them walked out of the doors talking all the way.

"Wow" that was the only sound that Willow could form in her through when they arrived at the house. It wasn't the house itself that needed this response it was the fact that the house was surrounded by some kind of flouting, magical misty thing. The first three times Buffy and Angel had tring charging it with swords and axes they had got thrown back ten feet so in the end they agreed to let Willow try to take the barrier down with magic. When the mist just dispersed before their eyes Buffy and Angel gave a 'huh' sound in frustration and Willow just beamed. She liked being able to do something that they couldn't. It made her feel powerfull. Angel led the procession up to the front door and knocked politely. An old woman answered the door. "Thank heavens you have arrived, how did you get the mist to go away?" She asked looking puzzled. Buffy took a sideways glace at Willow who was beaming. "With a little help from our friends." She answered. The old lady was probably in her late fifties, English and, Buffy could see had a vast book shelf in the entrance hall of her home. Angel looked at her she could tell they were both having the same thought. Either this woman was a very distant relation to Giles, or she had used to be a watcher. But then, Buffy thought why would she need our help to dispose of Casper on a power trip. She shrugged these feelings off and entered the house along with angel and Willow.

Willow set up her magic supplies in a rather overly spacious lounge while Buffy and Angel stood guard at he door in case the poltergeist decided to put in an appearance. Willow was half way through her spell when a shrill wind started up in the lounge. A black object flew in between Buffy and Angel as they spun to slice at it with their weapons they lost their balance and landed on top of each other in an unruly pile on the floor. As Willow finished her spell a high pitched scream was heard throughout the house before all went quiet. When Willow looked up from her pentagram and saw Buffy and Angel sprawled across each other on the floor she couldn't help but break into fits of hysterical laughter. "Yeah ha ha very funny Will now how about a hand up?" Buffy asked after Willow hadn't stopped laughing for ten minutes. A little red in the face Willow gave her two friends a hand up. The old lady came in and Angel informed her of the bill, they retrieved their money and left the house. And all Willow would talk about all the way home was how funny it was to see them like that. By the time they got back to the hotel they were all laughing about it.

Back at the hotel the story about what had happened at the old ladies house travelled fast. After Faith heard the story she kept giving Buffy seductive looks all night just to tease her, but buffy learned how to put up with it, by hiding and hoping it went away. When Willow finally found Buffy she was in one of the rooms right at the top of the hotel. "What you doin' Buff?" She asked concerned. Buffy thought carefully about her answer before saying, "Thinking." "About what?" Willow asked knowing she was pushing her luck and that Buffy probably wouldn't tell her anyway, never the less she awaited her answer. "Angel, how I feel about him, you know the usual" she answered. Willow looked puzzled, "What do you mean the usual? Do you usually think about Angel?" as soon as she asked that question she realised the answer was written all over her best friends face. "I'm always thinking about him Will. I can't get him out of my head, or my heart. He has always been a part of me. Even with Riley and Spike. I didn't truly love either of them because I still loved him. I think deep down no matter what he had done to me I always did. I just need to work out how to tell him" When She looked at Willow she saw tears in her eyes. "What?" She asked. Willow swallowed hard then said, "You may be the slayer Buff, and you may be able to sense vampires but you can still be incredibly blonde sometimes!" Willowed said making a small nod behind Buffy. Buffy didn't even need to turn around to find out what Willow had meant, she now realised that he was standing behind her, she blushed slightly. "I'm gonna go, give the two of you some time to...talk things through...or whatever" Willow said standing up and backing slowly out of the room and closing the door. Buffy turned around to face Angel eye to eye.

"You know..." she said, "Lurking in the shadows is a big turn off for girls." Angel laughed a rare laugh. Buffy loved it when he laughed, his whole face would light up. It made her feel so happy just to know that he was happy. "Buffy..." he started, "Shut up!" And with that he stepped towards her and before she knew what was happening, his mouth was on hers. The kiss lingered for, what seemed like forever before Buffy pulled back to look into his eyes. But as she did, Angel doubled over in pain, clutching abdomen. "Angel? Angel What's wrong? Are you ok?" Buffy asked worried. When he stood up again he inhaled deeply. A breath he actually needed to take, A breath that didn't go unnoticed. "Angel? What just happened ? Ate you ok?" Buffy asked again, not daring to hope. "Come here" he said placing her head on his chest. That's when she heard it, the sound most humans take for granted, the sound of a heartbeat. "Angel...", "I'm alive" He said.

"How?" she asked confused. "There was a prophecy that when I reached atonement and all was forgiven, I would become human. You just forgave me everything I ever done to you, that must have been the trigger." Buffy stood and stared in disbelief for about another ten seconds before Willow knocked on the door. "Is it safe to come in?" She asked mischievously. "Don't worry, we're coming down for lunch anyway" Buffy answered beaming. When they walked out the door Willow could tell some thing was different. The way they walked down the stairs arm in arm both staring at each other grinning endlessly. Willow held her questions until after lunch, when she took Buffy aside. "Well?" she asked impatiently. "Well what?" Buffy asked obviously not understanding what was going on. "What happened with Angel? The two of you are acting like your Romeo and Juliet!" Buffy exhaled a breath and then spoke again, "He's human Will, as in human, as in one hundred percent alive!" Willow could hardly believe her ears, it had to be a joke. She even checked his pulse and heartbeat to be sure before going into the most unnatural state of high, Buffy or Angel had ever seen. "This is brilliant...Isn't it?...There isn't some kind of loophole is there?" Willow asked cautiously. Buffy and Angel assured Willow that it was one hundred percent safe, which made her even more high. After all three of them had had a long discussion they had come to the conclusion that Buffy and Angel should remain friends until they were certain. Angel remembered what had happened the last time that had decided that, and it hadn't gone so well that time, and something told him that with Buffy living under the same roof as him it wouldn't be to long until the agreement unravelled again. But he didn't mention that.

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