DECEMBER, 1926
"Gillian. Gillian. Gillian!"
Finally Gillian looked up at Jake.
"Huh?" she asked.
"Are you okay?" he said softly.
Only then did Gillian realize that tears were falling down her face. She sniffed. "Yeah. Or, I will be when I see Angelus."
Jake and Gillian walked up to the front door of their house.
When they got inside, Gillian called, "Angelus?" her voice slightly craking.
The two had just come from the doctor. Angelus had told them he would meet them
here.
Angelus came into the living room, where they were now standing. When he saw Gillian's face, he rushed over and pulled her into his arms.
Gillian wrapped her arms around Angelus's chest and cried into his shoulder. Angelus
rubbed her back and shot Jake a questioning glance. Jake ignored it. He hated all vampires and had never approved of their relationship.
Angelus guided Gillian over to the sofa and they sat down.
"What happened?" he asked softly, smoothing her firey hair out fo her face.
"The doctor said that—" Gillian broke off.
"What'd he say?" Angelus asked gently.
"He said I have a—disease. It, like, sorta centers around my stomach."
"What kind of disease? Gillian?"
"T—they don't know. They don't know anything about it."
"What do you mean?" Angelus asked uneasily.
"There's no cure, Angelus. I'm going to die." Gillian said it with such cold clarity that it was hard for Angelus to grasp at first.
But when he did grasp it, Angelus was surprised when a tear rolled down his cheek. Not because he wasn't sad—he was—but because he NEVER cried. The only times he had ever cried (besides when he was a baby) was right after his soul was restored and that night in his apartment on Gillian's sixteenth birthday.
"Oh, God, Gillian," he whispered.
Gillian took a shuddering breath and sighed. "We'll get through this," she whispered back.
* * *
Gillian awoke to the sound of thunder. Her eyes snapped open and she found herself
staring into the eyes of Angelus. She had gone over to his apartment and must have fallen asleep on the sofa with him.
"You okay, Gillian?" Angelus asked gently.
Gillian nodded.
The two sat silently for a while, listening to the rain fall outside. Finally Angelus got up the courage to say what he had been wondering since the Slayer got home. "Did the doctors—I mean, did they say—" Angelus took a deep breath. "How long did
they give you to live?"
"A month. Maybe two. Angelus, I don't want to die. I want to at least make it to
seventeen."
Angelus pulled her head up agianst his chest so she wouldn't see the tears freely streaming down his face.
"Gillian?"
"What?" Her voice was muffled in his shirt.
"Remember that first night we met and you asked me what my name meant?"
"Yeah."
"Do you still wnat to know?"
Gillian pulled away enough to look at Angelus's face. As she wiped away his tears, she
whispered, "Tell me, Angelus."
"It means—‘the one with the angelic face.’ It sounds concieted, but that's what it means." In compliance to an unspoken rule, both were whispereing.
Gillian shook her head. "It's true. You do have an angelic face."
"I wouldn't know. After all these years of being a vampire, I've forgotten what my face
looks like."
Gillian kissed Angelus ever so softly on his lips. "You're like an angel sent down from
heaven to save me—to love me." After a pause, Gillian continued. "Has anyone ever called you Angel?"
Angelus smiled. "No."
"Do you mind if I do? It's in your name. Angelus. And you're like an angel in many
ways."
"Sure. From now on, that's my name. Well, when you're talking to me anyway."
"Thank you for letting me call you that. Angel," Gillian said, snuggling up next to him
* * *
EARLY JUNE, 1998
"For a while, I almost forgot about my disease and my death. Just laying there with
Angelus—or, Angel—brought me peace," Gillian said.
Buffy smiled a little, surprised to see she was almost crying. "So that's how he got the
name Angel." She sighed. "I couldn't take that—knowing I was dying."
Gillian sighed. "I couldn't at first. But Angel helped me through it. But one thing bothered me—I'd promised him I'd never leave him. Then I broke that promise."
"But—I don't understand. You have two months left to live, yet here you are in Sunnydale in the year 1998," Giles said, confused.
Gillian smield. "Be patient, Giles. I'm getting htere. Angel was really sweet and caring to me. On the nights when I wasn't in too much pain, Angel would take me out horseback riding: something I loved very much. I'll pick up my story three weeks later, on one such night . . . "
* * *
DECEMBER 31, 1927
Angel slowed his horse to a walk and Gillian, laughing, pulled up beside him. She brushed a wind-whipped strand of red hair out of her blue eyes.
"That was fun!" Gillian said.
Angel laughed. "Anything's fun for you, Jilly." Angel had taken to calling Gillian "Jilly" whenever he was teasing her. this Angel was completely diferetn from the sad, guilty vampire he had been before he met Gilian.
Gillian and Angel dismounted and walked their horses in to the stables.
"Tommorow it's 1927," Gillian said. "You excited?"
"Don't see why I should be. I'm 170 years old. What's one year gonna mean for me?
Either way, I'm alive forever while everyone I love is dead or dying."
Angel's voice was muffled as he untaked his horse, but Gillian could still hear the pain
hidden beneath his words.
As Gillian shut the door to her horse's stall, she sighed. "I'm sorry," she whispered.
Angel shut his horse's stall and looked at Gillian. "What?"
"I—I'm sorry for—leaving you like this."
Angel walked over to Gillian and wrapped his arms around her. "Gillian, no—that's not
what I meant. Oh, God, Gillian. I'm sorry." As he spoke, Gillian began to cry. "God, I'm
just gonna be so lonely without you, Jilly. Gillian, I . . . I . . ."
At that moment, three vampires tackled the vampire and Slayer who were standing there together.
Gillian cried out as she hit the wall, then effortlessly sprang up to her feet and turned to the vampire in front of her. She launched a fast succession of kicks and punches at the vampire, angry at him for spoiling the mood. He kicked her hard in the stomach, causing her to almost pass out from the pain, but the Slayer staked him anyway.
When she looked up, the other vampires were gone and Angel was on the ground,
holding his side. Gillian crawled over still holding her stomach, and kneeled down next to him.
"God, Angel, are you okay?"
"Yeah. What about you?"
"I'm fine," Gillian said, trying to look at the slash on his ribs.
Angel winced as Gillian touched the cut. "I'm fine. Really"
"No, you're not. Come on, Angel. You can come to my house. Jake's gone for the next week."
Angel nodded reluctantly and stood up. As Gillian stood, he saw her gasp in what looked like pain and double over.
"What is it? Gillian, what's wrong?" Angel asked, taking hold of her arm.
"Nothing. One of the vampires kicked me really hard and I guess I'm still sore." Gillian gave him a reassuring half-smile.
"Well, maybe we should take you to the doctor. I mean, what about that—disease? They said it centered in your stomach."
Gillian put her other hand on his arm. "Don't worry about it, Angel. Please? Look, the pain is gone already."
After a moment’s hesitation, Angel sighed and kissed her forehead softly. "What ever you say, Jilly."
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