Scribes Of Angel

L.A. Blues

Fandom: BtVS/AtS
Characters/Pairings: Buffy/Angel
Author: S. J. Smith
Words: 576
Rating: Teen (language)
Summary: Angel’s in the sunlight, but it’s not for happy reasons.
Warnings: Post Not Fade Away. Doesn’t take into account the comics.
Disclaimer: Joss never writes, he never calls. I’m taking him off my Yule list. But I’m still playing with his toys.
Prompt: BtVS/AtS. Buffy/Angel. drowning, for Leni.

X X X

Buffy sucked in a deep breath. It didn’t help. She still felt like she was drowning. “How?” she asked, waving a hand at him, at Angel, standing in the sunlight.

The corner of his mouth quirked and he shrugged. “A veiled prophecy that might or might not have something to do with me or with Spike. Turned out to be both of us.” He glanced around, and added, “I’m kinda surprised he hasn’t stopped by to see you, yet.”

“So, he’s with the standing-in-sunlight-and-not-burning crowd now, too?” At Angel’s nod, Buffy twined her fingers together. “Um. Congratulations?”

“Thanks, I think.”

“Hey, don’t get all grumpy,” Buffy said. “It’s been almost fifteen years since I’ve seen you. Or Spike.” She folded her arms. “Last I’d heard, you guys had gone rogue and you’re the reason L.A. went down the shit hole.”

Angel didn’t even give her the benefit of a protest, though his eyes narrowed a bit. “You hear a lot, when you hang around in the shadows.”

“But now you get to hang out in the sunlight.”

“Is there something wrong with that?” Angel asked. His shoulders tensed, and, if he was anyone else, anything else, Buffy would’ve readied herself for an attack.

“I don’t know. Is there?”

“It was supposed to be a reward.”

Buffy couldn’t help but scoff. “For what? Destroying an entire city? Killing off I don’t even have any idea how many people? Don’t.” She held up her hand, trying to check him as he opened his mouth.

It didn’t work. “Oh, that’s right, Buffy, you go ahead and judge when you don’t know the whole story. About how I called and begged Giles for help. Did he tell you? He said you were ‘busy’ and Willow was in another dimension, that it was our problem to deal with. And we did the best we could – and have kept on doing it for this past decade and a half, protecting the citizens of Los Angeles from the things that gateway let through. Without any help from a Slayer, or the Slayer’s Council, or – hell, anyone from outside of Los Angeles except the crazy people who were hoping to find out anything about their families.” Angel wasn’t pacing, and he wasn’t looming, and Buffy hated that it impressed her. “We did everything we could to protect those people. So, before you tell me that I’ve gone evil, or Spike’s gone evil, or that neither of us is worthy to tell you anything, you’d better realize we’ve fought, and lost friends, and family to that gateway.”

“So, you came here to tell me all that?”

“No.” Angel took something out of the inner pocket of his long coat. “I heard that Boston’s next. And I thought you might like a little information to pass on. It’s my journal of everything we went through, from the night before the gateway opened, and why it did, up until we got kicked out of Los Angeles by our successors.” He took Buffy’s unresisting hand and slapped the book into it. “Try not to drown yourself in sorrows. There are people who’ll need you, and your Slayers.” He spun on his heel, stalking off, his coat billowing out behind him.

Buffy looked down at the book, then at the man walking away from her, and sighed. For a second, she allowed herself a chance to mourn. Then, she straightened her shoulders. There was work she had to do.

X X X

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