Choices

I know I promised to do no more of that a, b, c, stuff...but I had to! I'm getting ready to go away for the weekend to a convention--to meet James!!--and I wanted to give you guys something. I want to thank you all so much who review. You guys are the best and PLEASE forgive me for the mother of all cliffhangers....


Chapter Twenty-six

Angel sat in his office, staring at the wall. How long had he been sitting there? He looked down at himself. How long had it been since he even showered? Stacks of papers cluttered his desk, yet he couldn't seem to make himself sort any of them out. The showing had been a success, and that should have thrilled him. For Joyce's sake, it did. For him...it didn't.

What would have thrilled him was having Buffy to share it all with. To have her right there with him...to have her WITH him in all aspects, not just the bits she was offering. What was it she had said? Oh yes, how could he forget? She was in love with Spike as well. How the hell did THAT happen?

He shook his head, trying to push out the image of her pleading with Spike, telling him she loved him. Oh, she had pleaded with him too, but it was her plead to Spike that he had felt most acutely.

He couldn't look at Spike, couldn't be around him. Not with the knowledge that Spike had been intimate with her, was able to love her while he had been pining and waiting--actually worried---about when and HOW he would be able to tell her. Then, just when he had finally told her and had gotten the response he had at first though he'd dreamt, she snatched it all away from him the next day. Well, not totally. She did say she loved him, she just so happened to love Spike as well.

Angel pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. His eyes popped open a second later and he froze. He could smell Buffy; she was there. That was confirmed by his door burs ope open and Buffy practically flying in.

"Oh. Did kno know you were here." She stood still, her hand still on the doorknob.

He spun the chair around and looked up at her. It wasn't right that she should still be so beautiful after what she'd done. Couldn't her nose have grown like Pinocchio or grown a wart or something? But no, there she was, still glowing in her beauty.

"What are you doing here?" He asked.

She moved her hand off the doorknob and crossed them across her chest. "Well, I know I'm probably the last person you wanted to see, and I didn't know you were here, but I would like to work here. That is, if you'd let me. I think this constitutes as the weird area I warned you about."

Angel nodded slowly. He couldn't keep her from working here. That would just be cruel--despite how cruel he felt she had been with his feelings. This was her mother's gallery after all.

"You can still work here, Buffy."

"Thanks. I'll um, get out of your hair. I'll just ask Richard what needs to be done." She stopped, seeming to ponder something and then decided to go with it. "What are you doing here in the middle of the day?"

He cleared his throat. "I've been sort of living here."

"Sort Liv Living here?"

"In the empty loft above us." He pointed to the ceiling.

Her mouth formed an 'oh' of understanding. She was pondering something again. He fought the urge to smile at how cute she looked with her face scrunched up in thought. Thinking she was cute was NOT the way to be mad at her.

"You shouldn't hold anything against Spike. He was just...following orders." She let out a short laugh, and it faded as quickly as it came. "Lame joke. I just realized I tend to do that when I'm nervous. Oh, and I ramble a lot. Which I'm doing now. So, I'll stop and...just...go." She turned on heel and then stopped. She spun around and pointed at him. "Actually, I have a few things to say."

"I'm not sure I want to listen to anything more you have to say, Buffy." Angel told her and stood up, making pretend he was actually working on the pile of papers in front of him.

"That's too bad. Because I'm going to say them, whether you want to listen to them or not. You can't effectively block me out either, you're a vampire, you have super hearing. So, we can either do this the hard way, where I follow you around like an annoying gnat, or you can just hear me out."

He shouldn't have been surprised at her outspokenness. It was one of the many things he loved about her. However, in lieu of past events, he didn't think she had a leg to stand on in making demands on him. He was intrigued though.

Leaning against the desk, he folded his arms across his chest and looked at her intently. "Okay then. Go ahead."

Please don't hate me!! :) Remember how much I love you guys...