[drabbles] btvs, angel, btvs/angel

[a_white_rain]

Spike and Cassie; still echoing through
"I didn't lie."

Spike looked up. It wasn't Buffy. That's all he needed to know.

She slid over to him and hovered her hand over his cheek. It was nearly like being touched. Spike gritted his teeth and didn't close his eyes.

"She is going to tell you," her voice held the same exact kindness that Cassie's did. She leaned forward and said into his ear. "It's just going to be a lie."

Spike felt his lips twitch into a smirk. He stared into Cassie's eyes. "Didn't get to living this long by being stupid, love."

-
Willow/Tara; season four
"What about this?" Willow asked. She turned around, showing off her new dress.

Tara bowed her head to hide her flush. "I - " she licked her lips. "It's very -" she jolted when she felt Willow sit down next to her.

"What's wrong?" Willow asked as she gently reached over brush away the hair out of Tara's eyes.

"You're very pretty," Tara blurted out and then clenched her fists and stared at the bedding.

Willow/Tara; season five
Tara knocked the lipstick out of Willow's hand.

"Tara?"

Tara thought about being hit and shoved away Willow's hand again. She sniffed and shoved her knuckles into her mouth and stared at Willow.

"It's okay," Willow said in a soft voice. "I'm not angry." Her arms where softer and Tara buried her face in her neck. "You look just as pretty without makeup."

Willow/Tara; season six
"Hi," Willow avoided her eyes. "I was just getting things."

"It's a store," Tara agreed. She couldn't stop looking at Willow.

"I'm sorry," Willow blurted and jerked her head up to look at Tara in the eyes.

Tara wanted to look away. Instead she counted to ten. "I know."

"I should be leaving now," Willow said and turned around and ran away.

Tara tried not to cry.
-
Buffy, Willow, and Xander; swimming
"You sure you want to go?" Xander asked.

Buffy stretched her arms and tilted her head towards Willow.

"L.A." Willow said. "And a dad who feels guilty about not being there for her this year. Do I really need to do the math for you?"

"Just make sure to bring us back lots of presents," Xander said and dunked under the water when Buffy moved to splash him.
-
Willow/Tara; late night study sessions
"I remember you saying something about a test," Tara said, closing her eyes as Willow nipped on her chin.

"Don't do that," Willow said, shoving her down on the bed.

Tara wrapped her legs around Willow's calves. "Would you get a little thrill out of missing a question?"

Willow pinned her wrists to the bed. "Why didn't you just say you wanted a bad girl?"
-
Willow and Buffy; the First as Tara
"Will?" Buffy called as she knocked on the door to her room softly.

There was no answer.

"I know you're in there," Buffy said. "And there's a plat full of cookies downstairs with your name on it."

Buffy moved to knock on the door again, but before her knuckles could tap the wall of the door, Willow opened it. Her shoulders were shaking and eyes puffy. "Don't turn on the lights."

"I won't," Buffy promised.
-
Angel and Dawn; first time they met
A young girl - Dawn, Buffy's sister, he assumed - sat down across from him. She folded her arms and said primly, "You like my sister."

Angel leaned back more into the wall he was standing against and said, "I do."

"You're not the first," Dawn said. "There was another. And he was a real jerk."

Angel wasn't sure what to say to that.

"I stole some baby pictures and spread it around his school," Dawn said.

Angel knew a threat when he heard one. "You won't have to."

Dawn nodded sharply before standing up and walking out of the kitchen.
-

Connor/Wesley; freefall
"I can smell you."

"I rather suspected that you could," Wesley said.

Connor turned around. "You're looking for Angel."

"Angel is not my concern," Wesley told him. He took one step towards Connor, and Connor found himself taking a few steps back in spite of himself. "However, Fred and Gunn are."

Connor thought about telling him that Gunn wouldn't care and and that Fred probably would take his side. Instead, he said, "They're not demons."

"See that you remember that," Wesley said.

"I'm stronger than you!" Connor snapped when Wesley began to walk away like everyone else.

-
Fred, Wesley, Angel; exorcising old ghosts
"Have you picked up on anything yet?" Wesley asked.

Fred shook her head. "Not yet. But I am fairly sure that I will once there is something to be picked up on. A lot of people would laugh at this, but I know that atoms don't completely go away when people die. I'm sure that this can pick up on ghosts. It can't be too different from going through portals - "

"Do you have any idea what she's talking about?" Angel muttered to Wesley.

Wesley took off his glasses and began to clean them. "Science wasn't something that I studied extensively, however I did quite well - " He paused at Angel's dry look and said sheepishly as he put his glasses back on, "I have only the faintest clue."

"That's more than most of us," Angel said and was mildly amused at Wesley coloring. Mostly, he feared what Cordy would do when she found out.

"Ha!" Fred turned around, holding up her device and grinning wildly. "I got it."

"Let's just hope they don't possess us," Angel said and Wesley shot him a grateful look as he pushed down his flush with remarkable skill.

-
Angel and Spike; Remember that time in Vegas
"No," Angel said firmly.

Spike leaned back in the chair, set his feet on the table in front of him and grinned. "You don't have a choice."

Angel moved swiftly to close the distance between him. He grabbed Spike's shoulders and glared at him. "Not. A. Chance."

Spike laughed. Didn't even bother to push Angel away. "Is this helping you?"

"No," Angel shoved him away and walked across the room.

In spite of himself, Spike started to feel sorry for the old man. "It can't be any worse than that time in Va - "

"Spike."

"If you're going to take all the fun out of this," Spike said, "then I have better things to do."

"The door isn't locked," Angel said as he picked up the phone.
-
Angel/Wesley; moonlight
Wesley turned around. "I know you're there."

As Angel stepped out of the shadows, Wesley folded his arms.

"What do you want?"

"Nothing," Angel said. "I'm just watching over one of my people."

Even though it meant he could see the flicker in his eyes better, Angel still misses his glasses.

"Connor's on the other side of side of the city," Wesley informed him. He glanced up at the moon then back at Angel. "I rather expect you only have a few more hours before the sun rises."

"Wes - "

Wesley continued as if Angel hadn't spoken, "And I have work to do. Perhaps you can stalk me at a better time for us both at a later date."

Angel watched him walk away.
-
Wesley/Lilah; Lilah as Fred
When she came, Lilah bit his shoulder. Hard.

"Do you think your sweet little Fred would do this?" Lilah sounded amused. Wesley didn't pride himself enough to think he could do anything to make Lilah Morgan jealous.

"I wouldn't want her to," Wesley said and shoved her off his lap and onto the ground, straddling her smoothly. He ran his fingers through one of her braids gently and then yanked her head sharply to the side.

"I wonder what that says about you?" Lilah asked.

"Do shut up," Wesley said and then bit her cheek so he could feel her glasses against his face.
-
Cordy and Wesley; gossiping about Angel
"I dare say, this isn't a proper topic for discussion."

Cordelia rolled her eyes. "If you're going to act like a girl, act like a girl and gossip about our boss."

Wesley bristled. "I do not act like a girl."

Cordelia gave a pointed look at his sweater. "You knitted that. In fact, I bet you plan to knit one for Angel."

Wesley flushed slightly. "It's not unmanly to -"

Cordy cut him off by setting her foot on the end table. "It's been way too long since I've had a pedicure." She wiggled her toes and gave Wesley a grin that he was sure even Angel would be frightened of.
-
Fred/Gunn; quite moment
"Kid is finally in bed," Charles said, walking in their room and closing the door behind him.

Fred, working out a nasty tangle in her hair said, "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you're warming up to him."

"He just needs a firm hand," Charles said, walking over and standing behind her. "I know I could have used one."

"It's why I love you," Fred said and closed her eyes, humming softly as he kissed her shoulder.
-

Buffy/Connor; riptide
"He's come back before," Connor said. "From hell. He told me."

"I know," Buffy said. She didn't turn around. Connor had his father's eyes and she couldn't face that. "I remember."

She felt him sit down behind her. His hands were hovering close. A few years ago she would have had the strength to touch him. Or at least smile at him.

"He said that he couldn't be destroyed if I wasn't," Connor told her. He sounded like a child who believed in his father.

Buffy summoned up the voice she developed in her fights with Giles. "Then I'm going to have to make sure nothing touches you."
-
Illyria and Buffy; First time meetings
"You are angry at Angel," Illyria said.

Buffy didn't stop glaring at Angel, who was being tended to by Willow. "I haven't even started."

"I smell fear on him," Illyria said.

"Good," Buffy said.

"I wish to help you," Illyria told her. "Wesley is dead because of his plan. My grief has not gone away."

Buffy turned to her. Her face softened. "I'm not going to hurt him. Just yell at him a lot."

"Does it help?"

"A little," Buffy confirmed.
-
Buffy/Angel; forgiveness
There were words on the tip of her tongue about how stupid Angel was and how if he ever did something half as stupid again without even bothering to tell her, Buffy would kill him herself, but her voice caught in her throat when she saw the haunted look in his eyes.

"If you're expecting me to apologize," Angel started, but Buffy shoved him down on the ground and studied the wounds on his shoulder.

"You didn't even ask me to be your backup," Buffy said, feeling less petty than she sounded.

"It's not something you should be part of," Angel told her and avoided looking in her eyes.

"I'm stronger than you," Buffy said as she ripped off part of her shirt to use as a bandage.

"I didn't think I'd live," Angel continued not to look at Buffy.

"Even if you think the world doesn't need you," Buffy said, her fingers smoothing out the white cloth of her shirt that was quickly turning red as it covered his wound, "I still do."

This time he looked at her, lips curved into a half smile and Buffy was sharply reminded why she loved him so much, "Done baking yet?"

Buffy crawled into his lap and said before kissing him, "Still a little chewy."