This work of fiction is the property of Heather Gallay. The characters of Angel/Angelus, as well as the inferred character of Buffy, belong to Joss Whedon, Warner Bros., Mutant Enemy, etc. The other characters (Siobhan, Liam) belong to me. I hope you enjoy this small story.
Angel looked at his sleeping beauty - her lids closed over eyes that could always see into him, lips slighty moist with the lingering taste of his kiss. His hand gently touched her cheek, it's satin skin so familiar to his fingertips, and he traced the outline of her soft jaw, so often set in stubborness that made him proud. No one had ever told him that it was possible to feel this deeply, to know that your whole soul belonged to someone else. No one, except his mother....
* * *
"Come on, now Angelus, it's time for bed."
"But mama, I wanna stay up a little while longer and draw! Please, just until the fire burns out?" Angelus looked up at his mother, her beautiful eyes twinkling in the firelight as she smiled down at her handsome son. "I'm making something for you."
Siobhan Lawrence pursed her lips, pretending to be sternly considering. After several seconds however, she let a huge smile form across her delicately beautiful face. "Okay, but only until the fire burns out. After all, you have a big day tomorrow! You don't want to be tired on your first day back to school, do you?"
Angelus shrugged indifferently. "I'd rather stay here and draw. Papa says I'm getting real good! He says that maybe I can even be a famous painter one day!"
"Your papa's right! You're the best artist I've ever seen!" Siobhan said proudly. "Maybe one day, you'll paint the portrait of the woman you love."
The little boy's face turned into a scowl."Not me! I'm never gonna fall in love!"
Siobhan laughed, and sat down on the ornately carved chair behind her. "Oh, Angelus, you will fall in love, whether you want to or not. It's just something that happens, and when it does, it's the most fulfilling thing in the world."
"Are you in love with Papa?"
"Oh yes, very. Your father is the other half of me that I never thought I'd find." Siobhan looked towards the fire, a dreamy expression on her face. "When I met Liam, I knew that I had found the person I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. It was as if he filled me - I didn't even know that I'd been empty until then, but when we fell in love, I realized that a huge hole had been in my heart all along."
"Mama, I can't imagine ever loving a girl like that,"Angelus said, wrinkling his nose.
"You will. You'll love her so much that you'll want to be with her every minute, and when you can't, your body will ache with longing. Her voice will be the sweetest sound your ears were ever privy to, and her face will be the thing your eyes will miss when you're asleep. The sun will look even more beautiful because you have her, and the stars will seem a little more plentiful in the sky." Siobhan looked back at her young boy, so similar in face to his father. "I know this all sounds like faerytale to you now, but my sweet Angelus, one day you will understand."
* * *
Angel did understand now, for he had someone who made him dream when otherwise he would have nightmares. Someone who gave his world light, though he could not see the sun. Someone who took his breath away even though he no longer breathed. He knew that this was what his mother had spoken of, as he drew by firelight that evening so long ago.
A love that would live even in the dead.
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