Angel parked the car with noticeable relief. It had been a long drive back to Sunnydale from LA. His nerves were on a knife-edge because tonight he would see Buffy for the first time in 3 months. For the first time since he had walked out of her life. The constant stream of inane dialogue that had issued forth from Cordelia’s ever-open mouth hadn’t made the journey any easier.

As much as he had come to care for her, there was only so much talk on fashion, weight, and her constant arguments with Doyle that he could take. The problem was that back at work he could just walk away from her. Unfortunately, there had been no such escape in the car. Angelus would surely take torturing lessons from her he mused with self-depreciating humor.

He grimaced ruefully as he stretched tense muscles, knowing that the tension was more to do with seeing Buffy than with the drive. He had hoped that it wouldn’t come to this, but the new demonic presence was such a threat that it needed the combined efforts of Buffy’s and his team to thwart it. Bracing himself, he took a steadying breath and prepared for the confrontation with the only woman he had ever loved.

The sight that greeted him was comfortingly familiar. Too comforting. Willow was attached to the computer, busily searching the web for information. Giles was immersed in some ancient, dusty tome and Xander was pretending to research while stuffing his face, and Buffy, his Buffy, was casually sharpening a stake while waiting for Giles’ kettle to boil.

The gang instantly abandoned their tasks, as they became aware of their presence. Kisses and general greetings and introductions were given, but Angel paid no attention. His sole focus was concentrated on the small blond woman who sat looking at him thoughtfully, her expression bland and unreadable, and the sharp stake idly swinging in her hand. For a brief moment he wondered if she would use it on him, it would certainly end the pain that he felt.

Suddenly she gave him a friendly smile, "Hello Angel, did you have a nice drive down?" She smirked in the direction of Cordelia indicating without words that she knew what the journey had been like. He was stunned. Of all the things he thought she would say to him that was not one of them. The casual way with which she treated him caused feelings of anger and resentment. Feelings he had no right to have. He wanted her to shout, to scream, even to attack. Anything was preferable to the calm way with which she was treating him now.

Thankfully, Cordelia interrupted them by relating the tale of the hours added to their journey because of road construction, allowing him to get away without responding to Buffy’s question. What could he say to her anyway? Ask how the weather had been?

"I think we should get started." Giles stated, interrupting Cordelia. "Why don’t you bring us up to speed on this demon and then we can continue trying to track it down."

*****

FOUR HOURS LATER

Angel was tired and he was getting a headache over his left eye. At least it felt like a headache. Vampires didn’t really get them just like they didn’t really get ill but he doubted any vampire had had to deal with what he had been through the last four hours.

She was just so damn civilized. Buffy had been kind and genuinely interested in his new life in LA. However, she treated him more like a brother or a favorite cousin than an ex lover. He would have preferred her to hate him, but she seemed to have no strong feelings for him one way or another. Several times, he had had to resist the urge to vamp out on her just to see if he could provoke a strong reaction from her.

She genuinely didn’t seem to know or care of the effect that she was having on him. She innocently brushed past him and he was hard for her. She leaned over his shoulder to read the same page as he and the feel of her gentle breath on the back of his neck had made him want to hike her skirt up and take her there and then on the table. He wouldn’t have cared who was in the room. Her breast had brushed his arm when she reached past him to reach for her cup of tea. Every touch was innocent, the same touch Oz, Xander, and Giles could have been subjected to, but for him it was sheer torture. When had he become relegated to friend status? Why was it she seemed as comfortable with him as she did with any of the other men in the room? Why was she so relaxed and calm to see him? The others of the Scooby gang were not. He could feel the tension and vibrations emanating from each one of them, but not from her. There had been many times in the past when he had not understood her but he had never been as confused as he was now.

Sighing he reached over to get a new book when Giles called out, "We’re getting nowhere here. Everyone should try to get some sleep and we can start again tomorrow. Buffy you’d better get to patrol." Angel watched as she tried to stifle a yawn, nodding wearily in acceptance.

"I’ll do it" Angel offered before he even thought about it. "Buffy should get some rest." He expected some resistance, Buffy was fiercely proud of her slaying abilities. In addition, she never shirked her responsibilities so he was again shocked when she replied "Thank you Angel.... that’s very kind.

I do have some studying to do tonight so I’ll leave you to it."

The rest of the gang had left and Buffy was helping Giles clear up when she added, "Do you think you could stop by afterwards....I’ll only worry.... just to let me know how it went?" Her tone made it very clear to him that the reason she was interested was professional, not personal. Angel laughed at the irony. He had wanted her to move on with her life but facing the actual reality was knocking him for six. He remembered the old proverb with a smirk ‘be careful what you wish for’. Never a truer word spoken.

*****

TWO HOURS LATER

Angel made the familiar climb up to Buffy’s bedroom window; a climb he could have made blindfolded and in his sleep. He had finished early; there was not much activity tonight, probably because of the presence of this new demon. Buffy was still awake, her light was on, and he could hear faint rhythmic music. Obviously, Joyce was out of town on business again. As he gazed into her window, he saw a sight that caused an instant surge of heat in his groin.

Buffy was gyrating sensually with the music with her eyes closed. She was a wonderful dancer he mused. As she danced, she slowly unzipped the back of her very short dress. He realized she was getting ready for bed. He had two options. He could let her know he was there or he could leave her to have some privacy. Neither option appealed to him. While he had been silently arguing with himself, she had slid the dress completely off. Angel swallowed hard, his breath sounded unnaturally loud. Get a grip he said to himself, but his body’s reaction to her was beyond control. He couldn’t stop himself from breathing deeply, trying to inhale her sent any more than he could stop the raging erection that was straining in the confines of his pants.

She wore a white teddy of sheer white lace. It molded over her graceful curves leaving acres of her naked, soft warm skin visible to his gaze. He could see the dusky pink of her nipples beneath the lace covering. Their peaks hardening in the chill of the night air. As he lowered his gaze, he realized he could make out the faintest hint of hair, the color betraying the fact that her beautiful sunshine blond was a result of artificial enhancement. Turning her back to him, she bent over to take first one shoe off and then the other eliciting a groan from him that he quickly smothered. Oh he was a bad, bad vampire who needed to leave right now, but it seemed that at the moment his legs had become temporarily paralyzed, certainly his brain didn’t seem to be working on all four cylinders.

Still gyrating gently she reached for a strap and started to work it down one slender arm. Angel watched entranced. It had been so long since he had seen her naked and though the image was burned into his brain nothing could really compare to the luminescent physical reality of her. Nothing in heaven and hell could have torn him away from the sight at the moment. Finally he was going to..where....what the hell? Angel banged his head against the window edge. So much for his short lived career as a peeping tom. Buffy had moved into her closet away from view to finish getting undressed and put on her nightdress.

"Angel" Buffy called out, "Is that you?" Shit she heard me. "Yeah" he muttered, busted...fuck, fuck, fuck.

"Oh well can you wait a minute...I’ll be right out.... just getting ready for bed. She did not sound angry, in fact, she sounded normal. He guessed she hadn’t discovered the new role he was adding to his repertoire of weird vampiric behavior. Angel tried to get a grip on his raging male hormones and bring his wayward body back under control. Thankfully, the room was now in shadow as she had shut off the main light on the way into her closet. The small spectrum of light that her lamp gave off was thankfully feeble enough to hide a multitude of sins. At least to hide his raging erection until he could get away and do something about it. It was even starting to go down; yep he thought I am in control. Yep I am...hard.

Buffy had emerged from the closet wearing her nightdress. It was sheer black and left absolutely nothing to the imagination. Angel’s mind worked ten to the dozen. When had she started wearing that sort of thing to bed? Usually she wore pajamas or nightshirts. Just whom had she bought it to for? He very quickly clamped down on that thought, that way led to madness and very possibly violence, particularly the self-inflicted kind.

With a small shriek, Buffy suddenly realized what she was wearing and dashed for her dressing gown. "Sorry," she exclaimed sheepishly. It was obvious she had forgotten she was wearing such revealing clothes and it was equally obvious that she had not intended to try to seduce him. No, it seemed he was definitely relegated to the friend zone.

"So how did the hunt go?" She asked when she had regained her composure.

"Fine," it came out croaked, barely intelligible. "Fine" He tried again, trying to gain control over his vocal cords. "Ran into a couple of vamps..... dusted." He had to get out of there now. "Listen can you tell me about it in more detail in a minute? I I really need to take my shower." Buffy casually said. From her tone, it was no big deal; she could have been asking Xander to wait for a chat after shed had a wash.

No, I have to go that is what he had intended to say but funnily it came out as "OK go ahead." He couldn’t help wondering five minutes later how he’d got into this situation. Here he was listening to the sound of running water imaging how the love of his unlife would look with it running over her pert breasts, the suds trickling over her firm stomach, and past her thighs. He would reach out and…….

A loud scream pieced his musings, startling him into action. Every molecule of his being was on alert. His woman, his mate was in danger and it was his duty, his purpose in life to protect her. He charged into the bathroom, yanking at the shower door as she stumbled out and into his arms. A large hairy spider clinging to the shower walls was the obvious cause of her distress.

So it was three months after he had sworn to leave her that he found the woman of his dreams naked, wet and trembling in his arms. He may have been named as an Angel, but hell he was only human. Even men with the strongest will power in the world must accede to the power of true love. Therefore, Angel gave into the inevitable and began to make love to the woman who clung to his strong body as if he was the only safety she could find in the world.

*****

That horrible spider. It was so big. If there was one thing in this world that Buffy really could not stand, besides vampires, it was spiders. That’s why it had taken all her courage to capture the damn thing and then release it again in the shower. Still she thought, watching Angel sleep peacefully in her bed it was more than worth it. Mission Angel seduction - success!

Mission accomplished.

The End