DISCLAIMER: I have nothing to do with Buffy the Vampire Slayer. This show is the delicious creation of Joss Whedon and belongs to him, the WB and Mutant Enemy. You can sue me if ya like and I'll give ya what I got..a shiny nickel.
*The title of this little ditty owes itself to Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Cam't say where "Free-Fallin" first appeared but it's on the Greatest Hits album.*
*Author's Note..I take a liberty describing why Angel can bleed. Now while it may not necessarily be correct, in my little world, it works for me.*
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Part One
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"And as I watched him on the stage
My hands were clenched in fists of rage
No Angel born in Hell
Could break that Satan's spell."
-Don McLean, "American Pie"
* * *
When he'd finally agreed to go out on a real date with her, this was not what she'd had in mind. She'd been thinking dinner, dancing and hey..why not a little bit of kissing. She was sixteen and well, he was one hell of a kisser. But somehow or another, on the way from her house to the park, something had gotten lost in the translation and now they were both fighting for their lives. Well at least they were doing it together she told herself glumly as she blocked a right hook to her mid-section.
"How ya doing, Angel?" Buffy Summer panted as she ducked another blow and kicked out towards her attacker.
"Oh, just peachy," her vampiric date replied tensely. She glanced at him quickly and was somewhat stunned to see a stream of blood flowing down his face. It was still just a tad disconcerting that he bled like normal humans. Giles said it had something to do with the fact that he didn't feed the way most vampires did. Buffy hadn't understood most of what her Watcher had said but the skinny was that because Angel refused to feed on humans, he could bleed like one. Weird. No, scratch that..way weird.
"You okay?" The Slayer asked as she pulled back and hit one of her vampiric attackers across the jaw. These guys were really starting to piss her off. All she'd wanted was a normal night..a regular date. True..her date was slightly of the undead type but if she ignored that, she could pretend that everything else was standard operating procedure.
"I'm fine," came the muffled reply as two more vampires appeared out of nowhere and tackled him football style. Buffy threw one more glance at him and then turned back to her own battle. She wasn't exactly loving her own situation.
She was just a fraction of a second too slow and her attacker was ready. He lifted his arm and delivered a devasting blow to her stomache. Gagging, she doubled over, arms around her stomache protectively. "That was so not fair," she managed to gasp out. Dammit, she resolved, if I'm gonna get my ass kicked, I'm at least gonna best this guys in the "feeble banter" portion of the evening as the Master had called it.
The vampire moved in for the bite and this time she was ready for him. She kicked back with her legs and sent him flying in the opposite direction. Still struggling for air, she fought for balance and finally managed to pull herself to her feet. "Angel!" she screamed as she looked over at him.
His was not a good situation. He was down on the ground, flat on his back with blood gushing down his face. Worse however were the three ugly undead guys above him. Ugly in the extreme. And of course, what was a good party without a staking which coincidentally looked like what the Ugly Boys were planning on doing to Angel.
Well now that simply wouldn't do. Lunging into the air despite the fact that her lungs were still screaming for air, she jumped onto one of the vampires' back. He was so stunned that he offered no resistance when she reached into his hand, took the stake and shoved it into his chest. Buffy giggled, "I kinda liked that..who wants to go next.."
One of the vampires growled at her, "Now you die, Slayer."
"God, if I had a dime for everytime one of you decomposing morons have said.."
"Buffy, get down!" Angel screamed at her. She knew better to hesitate. She dropped to her still ailing stomache and watched stunned as a vampire flew over her head. She looked at Angel who was still lying on the ground and shook her head.
"We gotta get you out of here..they want you as bad as me," she said sharply, jumping back to her feet and moving to his side. She gave him an a hand and pulled him up. She was stunned to discover just how much he was leaning on her. That meant that he was far more messed up than he looked. Oh boy. Arm wrapped around his waist, she began to run. Granted it was difficult; he was bigger than her and even with Slayer strength and speed, it signifigantly slowed her.
And it sure didn't help that the two remaining Ugly Boys were fast on her heels and gaining. Aware that she'd never make it to her house before they overwhelmed her, she began to scan around the area frantically for something that was serve as temporary cover.
"Ask and you shall receive," Buffy murmured as her eyes fell across the long shadow of the open door of an old bomb shelter. Better yet, the door was made of steel. Viva la paranoia. "Just a few more feet," she grunted to Angel. He murmured in reply so she quickened her pace. As much as she could anyways.
Upon reaching the underground shelter, she pushed him in first and reached up to grab the door to pull it shut behind her. That was when the hand grabbed her throat. The fact that they kept grabbing it was really starting to get on her nerves. Couldn't they find somewhere more original and perhaps a little less painful. Geez..concept here, boys.
She started to struggle but his grip was firm and he was quickly cutting off the flow of oxygen. Her head started to swim and the line between consiousness and the black of unwilling sleep began to blur.
Which was of course when Angel's first gift to her worked again. The vampire got greedy and impatient so he tried to clench his hand around her throat and his fingers brushed her cross. Her reaction was instant if not painful for Buffy as he not only howled in her ear but also had the audicity to rip the cross from her neck in a searing motion that made a small cut on her throat. As he pulled away, Buffy moved back into action, shoving him away and then racing into the shelter and locking the door shut behind her. The cross would have to wait until she resurfaced for her to put it back around her neck. Right now living was slightly more urgent.
As she dragged Angel down the steps, she could hear the two vamps slamming repeatedly against the metal door. They weren't strong enough however to break through the solid steel. Buffy grinned to herself, "Score a three-pointer for the Slayer..sa-wish!"
She finally managed to get him into the main room which was so full of dust and cobwebs that she guessed that no one had been in the shelter since it had acutually been neccesary. Ah well. All she needed it for was a night.
Scanning about, her eyes fell across a metal bench in the side of the room. In fact, a lot of things in the small shelter were made of metal. Way weird. Half lifting Angel, she dragged him to the bench and laid him on it.
"Angel?" Buffy asked softly. She brushed her hand through his hair and then let it rest on his cool skin. It was bizarre, as sickly as he looked, he was still completely cool to the touch. "That's because vampires don't get fevers, Buffy," the Slayer told herself in her best Giles impersonation.
"Ugh," Angel murmured.
"Not acutually a word," Buffy said in reply. "At least I don't think so..I know you can't use it in Scrabble so we're not going to count that as a word and I'm babbling." Shaking her head in disbelief she leaned closer to him. "Angel, c'mon, talk to me."
"Okay," he gasped, "I'm in pain."
"You're gonna be okay though, right?" Buffy asked, worried.
He made a slight nodding motion, "Sure..eventually..I need to feed though..to regain my strength. You gotta get me back to my apartment."
Buffy made a face, "Not exactly an option..how 'bout door number two?"
"I can wait 'til morning," Angel assured her. "I'll be okay."
"Good. Until morning it is then." She sighed deeply and fell to teh floor next to the bench. "Oh..I am going to get so grounded for this.."
"This?"Angel whispered. It sounded like it was the most he could muster up which only worried Buffy more. She'd done a quick check of her injuries and they worried him. His forehead was cut and he had the most peculiar hole in his chest.
"My mom is going to kill me for not coming home tonight..she's going to get all weird and suspicious..Angel, did you get stabbed?"
"Non-sequitar much," Angel replied. Buffy lifted an eyebrow..apparently he was picking up some of her lingo. Her look however ordered him to answer the question. "Yeah, one of them got me."
"You're gonna be okay though, right?" Buffy asked, her voice softening.
He reached out his hand and took hers, lightly squeezing it between his fingers. "Everything is going to be fine. And besides, if I'm stuck here for a night, I can't think of a better person to be stuck with."
* * *
"Okay..we have a problem and it's not a small one," Xander Harris said without preamble as he and Willow Rosenberg burst dramatically through the library doors. Willow trailed barely a half-step behind her over-excited co-Slayerette.
"Indeed we do, we're out of tea," Rupert Giles grumbled before looking up at the two teens. Xander was prone to getting overly-excited. However once Giles looked up, all the humor dropped away as he saw the look on the two kids' faces. Fear. "What's wrong?"
"Have you heard from Buffy?" Willow asked, an urgency in her tone.
Giles shook his head, "Not as of yet, school hasn't even begun..she usually doesn't show up here until the first break between classes..why, what's wrong?"
"Her mom called me this morning..Buffy didn't come home last night. I..I..covered for her but.."
"But that doesn't change the fact that Buffy is still missing. Alright, calm down..she might just show up here in a few minutes with a logical explanation.."
"And she might not..hello? I'm not calm about this..the words..'warning Will Robinson' are running through my head." Xander exclaimed.
Giles gave him a look, "I hardly see.."
"PCR." Willow said quickly. Giles nodded his understanding of the Slayerettes acrononym for the recurring pop culture references that they had brought into the Watchers' life.
"Right. For now, go to class, "Giles suggested as he gave Xander a small push. The boy looked over his shoulder and then reluctantly departed. Once the children were gone, Giles slumped into his chair. "The dreams, oh good Lord." He took a deep breath and then chuckled dryly and murmured, "Warning Will Robinson."
* * *
Buffy sank down to her knees against the wall and placed her hands tightly together between her legs. The squeezing hurt and yelt it felt better than just letting them throb. Of course she wouldn't have hurt them if the damn door to the shelter had done it's job and opened.
"It won't open," Buffy said numbly as she moved back over to rejoin Angel who if anything looked worse off than he had the night before. While it was true that vampires could heal from just about anything,there were complications. Namely the fact that he was not only weak from his injuries, he was also weak from hunger.
"They baricaded us in," Angel murmured. Buffy stole a glance at him and saw that his eyelids were at half-mast. "We're trapped."
"Trapped.." Buffy let the word roll around in her head for a few moments but it quickly became too much. "No way.."
"They probably built a barricade only the Master could have broken through.."Angel told her softly.
"Well..well I beat him..I should be able to break through it," Buffy replied with a slight whine. In spite of himself Angel smiled at her frusration.
"I think you and I could do it if I was at full strength..we're gonna have to wait until I regain my equilibrium."
Buffy turned towards her, "Are you going to be able to do that? I mean..you're so weak."
He put a finger up to her lip to silence her, "It'll be okay. We'll figure it out. It'll all work out, I promise."
* * *
As the morning hours quietly moved into night hour, it quickly became apparent that everything was not going to work itself out. Angel was getting weaker to the point of being barely consious. And Buffy was getting scared.
She held him in her arms, with his head rested in her lap. Absently she played with his dark hair as she stared off towards the far wall, deep in thought. Her options were all there but the decision was far too difficult.
* * *
"Where did you get this?" Giles demanded, jabbing his finger at the item sitting on her desk. She lifted her eyebrow and stared at him like he was crazy.
"I picked it up on the way here this morning, Rupert." Samantha Calendar replied with irritation apparent in her tone. She didn't much like being grilled.
"This is Buffy's." Giles said sharply, lifting up the cross with the broken chain.
Calendar blinked, "Buffy's..I thought it looked familiar..that's why I picked it up..Rupert..why isn't she wearing it?"
He swallowed hard, "That would seem to be the question of the day. Alright, focus..where did you find this..exactly."
* * *
The hours were growing long and she herself was growing weak. Her own injuries were not severe but they did hurt a lot. Enough that she probably would have stayed home from school. And Angel was still weakening.
"I gotta stop this," Buffy murmured. She lifted her hand up to eye-level and gazed at it evenly. "There's no other way, we're gonna die here."
Reaching into the pocket of her pants, she pulled out a small Swiss Army knife. Shaking slightly she opened it and placed the tip of it against her wrists. "Forgive me, Angel." Closing her eyes, she pulled the blade down across her vein until she felt the searing pain. She could feel the blood seeping down her hand.
She reached down into her lap and lifted his head. He murmured but made no clear sign that he was aware of what she was doing. She ignored the klaxons going off in her head and pressed her bloody wrist to his mouth.
His reaction was instant, if not devasting. His vampire instincts took over and his fangs sank into her wrist. She screamed out in pain and tried to pull away but he held on, his arm wrapping tightly around her to keep her steady.
And while with each passing moment he grew stronger, she grew weaker.
"Angel, stop..please..please.." Buffy begged. This wasn't what she'd had in mind. She'd been thinking that with a little blood he'd be alright; she had counted on his supressed blood-lust rising so violently to the surface. "Angel, you've got to stop."
He was either oblivious to her or he simply didn't care because instead of stopping, he stepped up his attack on her. He pressed his body down on to hers and put a hand on her stomache to keep her flat and restrained. She heard him grunt in frustration as if to suggest that he wasn't getting enough of her blood fast enough. "Angel.." she murmured as the blackness of unconsiousness galloped frantically towards her. She lifted her hand and lightly grazed his face just before the lights went out.
* * *
"Are you trying to tell me that my daughter did this to herself?" Joyce Summers demanded angrily.
Doctor Jack Carter softened his voice," Look, I'm telling you what it appears to be. Your daughter lost a tremendous amount of blood from her wrist. The cut there was precise..it was done with a knife. My official report to the police will site this as an attempted suicide."
Joyce looked down at her daughter, lying quietly and peaceful on the hospital bed. She'd been brought in less than two hours earlier half-dead from blood loss. It just didn't make sense. She glanced out towards the hallway where Buffy's two best friends, Xander and Willow were pacing. It was they who'd found Buffy and brought her in. She could only guess that they'd been as worried about Buffy's sudden disappearence as she had been and they'd gone looking. Thank God for small favors.
"No, no..you don't understand..Buffy wouldn't do that," Joyce murmured.
Carter gave her a compassionate look, "Sometimes it's hard to see when a young teenager is suffering. Sometimes it doesn't make sense what's going on in their heads. Maybe she had a lot on her mind and it just overwhelmed. A lot of kids don't understand that even though it looks bad now..it will get better."
"She's going to get better, right?"
Carter nodded, "She will recover but the emotional scars from this may run far deeper than the physical ones."
TO BE CONTINUED...
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