I've been iconing the Buffy ep 'Forever' (I'll be done in a few days, probably), and it inspired a romantic Buffy/Angel vignette. I would love to make it into a series, but if I've discovered anything in the course of my endeavors in the world of fanfic, it's that I don't have the discipline to complete a series. Maybe I'll write a sequel or something if people like it.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer and related characters belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. Dialogue from the episode ‘Forever’ is included in this piece. ‘Forever’ is written by Marti Noxon.
He arrived after my mother’s funeral. I’d been worried, irrationally, that he wouldn’t come. Of course he came. My angel. My Angel.
“I'm sorry. I couldn't come sooner,” he says.
Of course he couldn’t. The sun. I hadn’t even thought. “It’s okay,” I reply. “I’m just glad you’re here.”
We sit in the cemetery, our backs against a gravestone, just like we used to sit when we patrolled together, and he was still here all the time. He doesn’t try to make conversation, for which I’m grateful. He’s never been chatty.
“The funeral was,” I begin, with a sigh, “It was brutal, but it's tomorrow that I'm worried about.”
“What's tomorrow?” he asks.
“That's exactly what I don't know.” I’m so scared. I’ve lost people before. I’ve even lost Angel. I could deal, eventually. But Mom has always been there in the end, picking up the pieces. Who’s supposed to pick up my pieces now?
“Look, it's okay,” he replies. I see that we’ve been talking to each other without my noticing. As my mind went a mile a minute with terrifying thoughts, I had spilled out all my fears to him. “I know you don't feel like it now,” he continues, “but you are strong, Buffy. You're gonna figure this out. And you have people to help you. You don't have to do this alone.”
“It's gonna be light soon,” I say, reluctantly. I want to believe that he’ll be here to help me. My father didn’t even come to the funeral. Giles can only do so much. My friends are kind but misguided, mostly. Tara’s been a comfort, somewhat, but I don’t know her well enough to truly be comfortable. But Angel left me. He went to Los Angeles and made a whole new life without me. He can only mean that I’ll have Giles and my friends.
“I can stay in town as long as you want me,” he says.
How long will I want you, Angel? “How's forever? Does forever work for you?”
“Forever works for me,” he replies, and kisses me.