Chapter Twenty: The Bad in Each Other

He waited for her. Despite the fact that it was well passed dawn and the sun, shielded from his UV-ray temperamental skin by heavy window blinds, was blazing overhead in the eastern sky, Angel refused to sleep. Then again, though, he wasn't sure if he'd allow himself to close his eyes again for weeks, months, ( Read more... )

Chapter Nineteen: Open Eyes

“So, you're either fascinated by asphalt or playing a solo round of the game Freeze. I can't quite determine which.”

For a man whose livelihood, whose very life depended upon his ability to constantly be aware of his surroundings, Willow had surprised him. Angel had not heard her approach, and he certainly had not realized ( Read more... )

Chapter Eighteen: Heavy Water

“Let me guess, Giles got hit in the head. Again. And the Scoobies called you so they could rest their heads upon your shoulders, because, let's face it, they're wide enough for all three to be nice and comfy at once. No? Alright, then it was Willow, and she suddenly changed her sexual preference again, deciding to go ( Read more... )

Chapter Seventeen: Metal Heart

Angel was a smart... demon, at least relatively so, no thanks to his years living as a human. While simply Liam, he had been disinterested in anything his father deemed necessary and important, so he had only managed to retain the knowledge his tutors had drilled into his mind, those certain facts and skills that at ( Read more... )

Chapter Sixteen: The Kids are Sick Again

He wasn't quite sure how he had gotten from the waiting room into his daughter's - HIS DAUGHTER'S - hospital room. He recalled his anger, his desperation, his always present sense of unworthiness. Without needing to ask questions, he knew how old his little girl was, he knew when she was conceived and how ( Read more... )

Chapter Fifteen: Paint's Peeling

He got to the hospital just as the shifts were switching. It wasn't an ideal time to arrive at such a busy, bustling place, but the distraction of blending in, of melting into the constant stream of living, breathing people who moved in and out of the medical facility helped to distract Angel, and he needed all the ( Read more... )

Chapter Fourteen: Melt Your Heart

She felt like she was getting up for the first time in months after being sick. She was weak and off balance, the result of a fever, nausea, and aches and pains ravaging her body for so long, and she was perpetually stuck in that moment where she wasn't sure if she would succeed in standing or not, if she would be ( Read more... )

Chapter Thirteen: Cannonball

Willow had never gotten a speeding ticket before. Considering the fact that she lived in Sunnydale, where the cops were more concerned about jaywalking than they were the town's unusually high death rate, that was quite an achievement, especially since, as one of the slayer's best friends, she had been forced to flee ( Read more... )

Chapter Twelve: Save Me

If nothing else, as the slayer, Buffy was familiar with death. She had witnessed it countless times, delivered it to others even more often, and she had even once died herself only to be revived moments later. Logically, she knew that death was a figure who haunted everyone. It didn't matter how old you were or what you did ( Read more... )

Chapter Eleven: Fault Line

Three Years Later...

Her little girl was about to turn four.

Shuffling into the kitchen, Buffy yawned but felt content, for those were words she never thought she'd be able to say, let alone dream about, but Ashlinn, despite the odds stacked against her, had proven just how strong she was. Like a true warrior, she fought ( Read more... )