Angel yawned. Business was slow. There hadn't been a client of any kind in three days now and he was getting a bit bored. Of course there was also the fact that he had slept alone for the last two days. With the Hyperion safe again thanks to Willow and with the "helping the helpless" thing in neutral, she had gone to spend some time with Jill and Amanda. He had encouraged her to do that but was ready for her to come back home now. She had called this morning to say that she had one more thing to do today and hopefully she would be back after that. Good. He missed her.
He missed her. Angel rolled that thought around in his mind. Was there more to that idea than just the fact that Nina and he slept in the same bed and were partners in fighting evil? Of course, he admitted to himself, those two items added up to more than just a casual relationship.
Nina had come into his life as someone to be saved. He hadn't known her name or anything about her when their paths first crossed. He had heard screams and sensed the terror and had gone to the rescue. Once he realized that she had been bitten by the werewolf that had attacked her he had used the resources available at Wolfram and Hart to track her down. It had just been to help her, to help someone innocent who had been caught by forces she never should have had to encounter. Then had come the kidnapping and he had no choice but to go to her aid.
It had taken some time for the idea to sink into his thick skull that she was interested in him. Thank goodness for Lorne for pointing out what was right in front of him. The funny part was that he had been drawn to Nina from their first real meeting, the morning after she had awoken in the safety cell in the basement. He remembered Gunn talking.
"What about werewolf girl? Think you got a shot there?"
"She gave me a look."
Had he really meant that or had that simply been a throw-away line? No, he had meant it. There had been something in her eyes when they met his just before she had said "See you next month" and got out of the car. That look had stirred something in him then and remembering it stirred him now.
Unable to sit any longer he rose to his feet and began to pace. Was he falling in love with Nina? He had been in love before. He shied away from thoughts of Darla. That had been love but love in its most evil form. But under the influence of love even Darla had been capable of self-sacrifice.
He had loved Cordelia. That love had grown slowly as she herself had grown as a person. Indeed, as he had also, he acknowledged. It had been different from Buffy. Buffy he had seen as someone he could help, someone he could link to his own quest for redemption. When he had fallen in love with her it had been blinding, a fire that burst into flames that could have destroyed them all. In fact it nearly had. But now, with his soul fixed...
"Still wearing black and still pacing I see. Somethings never change."
Angel stopped dead in his tracks. He didn't need to turn around to identify the speaker before he spoke. Of course she would show up now.
"Hello Buffy."
Nina pulled up to the hotel and parked her Civic. She turned off the key and sat there. What was Angel going to say? How was he going to take the news? It had been a shock for her. He had been through it before but it wasn't like it turned out very well. It had all been a set-up. She swallowed hard. That's what she feared the most, that all this was some sort of a trick by who knows what power.
Well, it wasn't going to get any easier just sitting here. She climbed out of the car and headed for the front door. She passed a big black limousine and groaned a bit to herself. Not that they couldn't use a client who had that kind of money. She kept the books. She knew their purpose was to help those who needed it, but couldn't someone rich get into trouble occasionally? They weren't hurting. Angel had amazingly laid aside some money from his time at Wolfram and Hart. She knew why. It had been for her, even though he never claimed that. She knew he had not thought he would survive his assault on the Black Thorn.
Anyway, they got by but limos were out of their price range. She sometimes wished his Firebird with the neat windows that blocked the sun from hurting him had survived but it hadn't. It would be something to go out in daylight with him. Oh well, when you fall in love with someone you take the bad with the good. That went for werewolves who fell in love with vampires too she supposed.
With her arms full of packages she pushed open the front door with her rear end and backed into the lobby. She opened her mouth to call out as she turned. She never completed that turn, stopping abruptly when Angel came into her view. He wasn't alone. There was a blonde woman with him. A blonde woman that was standing on her tiptoes so she could kiss Angel. A kiss that Angel seemed to be returning just as fervently as she was giving it.
Nina froze. What she had feared the most had come to pass. She didn't need an introduction to know who the petite blonde was. Buffy was here. What was she going to do? It seemed like a million different thoughts cascaded through her mind, a thousand different plans of action were considered and discarded.
Nina summoned her courage and started forward. She was going to be cool, calm and collected. She was going to do her damndest to demonstrate that she was Angel's woman now. Just as she took the first step the pair in front of her embraced tightly, locking together. Angel's hands ran down Buffy's back, cupping her rear end and lifting the other woman into the air. The Slayer's arms twined around his neck and muffled moans came from them both.
She had lost the battle before she could even join it, Nina realized sickly. Angel felt kindly towards her but she had just been a substitute. She should have known it, known that she was living in a dream world.
She turned to flee. Encumbered as she was with the packages she bumped into the door and spilled most of them. Great. She couldn't even make a discreet exit. Dropping the rest of her burden she wrenched open the door and ran towards the street. Half blinded by tears she bumped into the limo and nearly fell before regaining her balance. She dug through the purse slung over her shoulder, finding her car keys by feel. She jerked open the driver's side door, jammed the keys in the ignition and peeled down the street the instant the starter caught.
Although he didn't know it at the time, Angel's attempt to be calm and collected with Buffy had lasted no longer than Nina's attempt for the same attitude. Once he had turned and met her eyes he was lost. In an eerie recreation of the day that never happened, Buffy walked through shadows and pools of sunlight cast by the windows. Without another word she walked up to Angel and the vampire took the Slayer in his arms. They kissed. His arms tightened around her.
She was back! She was BACK! He lifted her in his arms and hugged her close.
But something was wrong. His heart, unbeating though it was, didn't soar like it had that day, or on many another day when he saw her, touched her, kissed her. His soul was safe now, no matter what happened he wouldn't lose it. And yet, somehow, he knew that the perfect happiness he had experienced once before was no longer staring him in the face.
Just as he started to lower Buffy back to the floor his attention was drawn by a muffled sob and the clatter of things falling to the marble floor. He snapped his head to the left only to see scattered parcels and a closing door. Tearing himself from Buffy he sprang to the door, automatically avoiding the patches of sunlight. Looking through the nearly shut door he saw a familiar figure sprinting down the walkway. He cried out her name through the door opening but she didn't hear it as she climbed into her car and roared away.
He stood there, feeling as lost as he could recall for a long time. A soft touch on his arm brought him back to reality.
"I guess that was Nina."
"Yes, it was."
"I'm sorry ." Buffy hesitated. "When Willow finally got hold of me. I didn't believe what she told me. I was so sure that you had somehow changed again, reverted back to evil that everything she told me seemed like a fairy tale." She shook her head. "Do you know what changed my mind?" When Angel shook his head back and forth she went on.
"It was her," the Slayer indicated the no longer occupied doorway. "She made me jealous. Here I was, keeping away from you when you came to Rome with Spike, turning my back on you with the Immortal and I had the gall to get jealous because it appeared you had found someone else. I kept thinking 'How could you?' even while I was doing just that. So I came here to reclaim you."
