Title: Wolf Pack
Chapter Title: The Conversations
Author: Baby Blues
E-mail: purely_blissful@hotmail.com
Rated: NC-17
Disclaimer: Not mine, but the story is.
Summary: Buffy and Angelus get to know each other a bit more as they unknowingly ease the suspicions of the villagers.
Dedication: To Lea, who's gonna be here on Nov. 17! My birthday!
Excerpt:
~Angelus: So . . . Tell me something about yourself.
~Buffy: What do you wanna know?
~Angelus: Something I don't . . .
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Carol looked up from the counter and was surprised to encounter the pair the town had been gossiping about since early that morning. The two looked beautiful, handsomely picturesque and stunning. The type of people a person would find in magazines, specifically in perfume or leather jacket adds.
The girl looked like she was around her early twenties. She wore her flowing golden hair long and wavy. Her bright blue eyes were warm and untainted. She was elegantly dressed in an ankle length denim skirt, black boots, and a baby blue turtleneck sweater with a little string tied loosely around the waist. She looked like a model of perfection with her confident and graceful stature.
Her form was small and tiny compared to the man who accompanied her. He was handsome and strong with dark brown hair and gleaming black eyes that screamed power yet gentleness. Dressed casually in black slacks, a red sweater, and a black coat that went down to his knees, he looked almost dangerous. But the girl by his side showed that he was tender. Carol had a pretty good idea that a young woman like her wouldn't be caught dead with a man like him. And from the look in his eyes as he stared at the golden form, it simply proved that his wolf-like eminence hid his gentle inner persona.
"How may I help you, youngens?" she greeted them with a smile.
The girl smiled. "We'd like to have . . . " she looked at her companion.
"Three loaves of white and wheat bread, please. And can we have two French breads along with that?"
"Certainly," Carol answered. "What are you gonna do with all these carbohydrates? Feed a pack of vegetarian wolves?" she joked.
Buffy and Angelus' eyes widened and almost chocked at her words, but caught themselves and gave her a chuckle. "We have a large family," Angelus reasoned coolly.
"We stick together. It's a tradition," Buffy added.
Carol accepted it and bagged their order. "I'm Carol Matthews by the ways. My husband and I own this store as well as another one. He's in the butcher shop down the street. If you need anything at all, any bread or meat produce, just come by," she said with a smile, instantly taking a liking on the striking couple.
"Why thank you, Mrs. Matthews. We definitely will," Angelus said and paid.
"Just Carol," she told them, "And can you at least tell your names?" she added curiously.
"Oh! How rude of us!" Buffy exclaimed embarrassedly. "I'm Elizabeth Summers-Giles, but everyone calls me Buffy. This is . . . "
"Angelus O'Connor, her fiancé . . . almost fiancé, anyways," he said and winked at Buffy who blushed madly at his bluntness.
Carol laughed at the adorable scene and shook their hands. "Well, it's a pleasure meeting the two of you. It's good to know that you two aren't as bad as what people have been saying all morning," Carol said, and instantly regretting the words once it finally came out of her mouth. "I'm sorry . . . "
"It's alright," Angelus smiled reassuringly. "People talk. We understand."
Carol shook her head with a bitter smile. "I'm usually not one who gossip. It's against who I am," she reasoned.
Buffy and Angelus nodded.
"Again, thank you for your kindness," Buffy said sincerely.
"It was my pleasure," Carol smiled and watched the pair leave the shop.
"She was nice," Buffy nodded.
"That she was. I just had no idea the rumors were worse than I thought," Angelus said worriedly.
"We'll fix it," Buffy assured him.
They walked on in comfortable silence as the other pedestrians studied them curiously, whispering their thoughts and opinions to each other as they eyed them wearily.
"So," Angelus said, breaking through the silence and trying hard to ignore the stares, "Tell me something about yourself."
"What do you wanna know?" Buffy asked, amused by the sudden turn of subject.
"Something I don't," he retorted.
Buffy rolled her eyes. "Obviously. You wanna be more specific than that?"
"Your childhood. Life with the pack."
Buffy smiled. "How 'bout you tell me something about yourself instead. You seem to know a lot about me already," she said, knowing he's been receiving many facts about her from the other clan members. "But you . . . I don't know much about and your own life story."
Angelus shrugged. "There's nothing much to it. My parents were from Ireland and I was conceived and born there. They belonged to a pack called the Mackenzie Clan."
"I've heard of them," Buffy said, surprised and stunned. The Mackenzie Pack was just as old as the Slayer Clan, if not older since they originated in such an ancient country as Ireland.
"I never knew you were from their blood line," Buffy said, knowing that if the others knew, they would praise Angelus more because of the strong blood that ran through his veins as well. He wasn't a mutt that was created in the streets from a pair of horny werewolves in some unknown night of passion and craze.
"Yeah, then you probably heard they were also killed by a mob," Angelus said a little bitterly as his jaws clenched and unclenched from the fact that he couldn't even remember anything. Not only was he still a baby when they were attacked, he was hidden in a barn some twenty miles away from the scene.
"You were the only one left," Buffy breathed.
"A lone wolf by the name of Lorne quickly heard of the attack and went to look for survivors. He found me and raised me," he explained, "We moved to New York soon afterwards. We weren't the best of friends, but he took care of me as best as he could in the city. When I turned eighteen, I left to fend for myself. That's when I met Gunn. He was working as a bar tender at a club in Manhattan. We became friends, met up with Penn, and shared an apartment together. We survived by managing our own club called Werewolves a block away from Time Square. He's taking care of the place, but I still handle some of the business areas since we've expanded. So there's a few more clubs all over Europe and Japan."
"Impressive," was all Buffy could get out after hearing about his family. To continue on living without his clan must have been hard on him. If she were in his shoes . . . well . . . she didn't know what she would've done growing up without a pack to take care of her.
Angelus smiled, wanting to change the subject before he got emotionally unstable and begin bawling in the middle of the street.
God, he was turning into a wimp. He needed to talk to Gunn soon. He always got emotionally solid whenever he talked to his best friend, maybe it was because they were able to relate to each other more than they were ready to admit.
"How about women?" Buffy found herself asking, yet not wanting to know.
"What about them?" Angelus asked, grinning playfully.
"Well," Buffy began and took a deep breath, "I'm gonna take a wild guess and say you were not a one woman type back in New York. I bet you had many lovers to satisfy your sexual appetite."
"A well done conclusion," he said proudly, although deep inside he felt ill at the fact she knew he was a womanizer and hoped to the Moon Goddess that it wasn't the reason why she wouldn't take him.
"It's not a tough conclusion to make," Buffy said, trying to will away the visuals of Angelus with other women from her mind.
"I had many lovers," Angelus finally replied, knowing that if he continued to steer away from the subject that it will cause only more uneasiness. The only bad thing about it was he didn't want to push Buffy even further away from him, especially when he was finally making some progress. But the more he thought about it, the more disgusted he got. He usually wasn't the type who got worked up about his past affairs . . . but when Buffy was the one who was asking, a girl he truly felt things for, then that was a different matter.
"But it was just sex, you know? Nothing more than that . . . Never really found the right gal back in New York," he said, trying to reassure her that it was just that. 'I didn't find her in New York . . . 'Cause I found her here,' he added silently, his eyes darkening a bit from the thought.
Buffy bit the insides of her cheeks from screaming out at the unfairness of it all. She was destined for a man who wasn't so easily satisfied when it came to women. He went through them like socks and underwears. It made her wonder that when they do finally end up together, if he would sniff up the other females of the pack . . . like Cordy or Willow . . . even Faith.
Buffy shut off those thoughts as well as their subject of conversation as they entered the Butcher Shop.
Continue to Chapter 16: The Cafe
Back to Chapter 14: The Walk