Winter Walk

Word Count: 737
Rating: PG
Author: grizz72
Author's Notes: First-ever ficlet attempt. Thanks to married_n_mich for her awesome beta’ing skills

**

A perfect nighttime stroll: an almost full moon, a pine forest that brought protection from the elements, the moon making the snow twinkle like diamonds as it lit his way, and nature's own air-freshening scents filling his senses.

Granted, he didn't need protection from the elements, as he was always cold. He didn’t need a moon of which to see. He certainly didn't need pine needles lying about to muffle his footsteps, he was more than experienced at being stealthy, but stealth had nothing to do with why he was here. It was more the setting that he needed. It provided a place of which to sojourn. Far away from the trees lights, reindeer, rent-a-Santas, and the rest of the busy Christmas hustle and bustle that he could do without on more occasions than not.

Besides getting away from the Christmas chaos, he also enjoyed his walks for another reason: frequently, he was joined by his one and only love. Their walks most often consisted of conversation, some serious, mostly light-hearted, but the best ones were the ones that didn’t involve talking at all. The best ones were the ones where they just walked and held hands. Letting things go and just ‘being’ for once. Old thoughts would always try to intrude; but, all he had to do to block them out would be to look at Buffy: scarf, earmuffs, gloves, hat, huge artic winter coat which included a big fur lined hood and all he could see of her was a tiny slit where her sparkling hazel eyes peeked out. Sometimes seeing her like that made him laugh out loud. Sometimes seeing her like that melted his heart. Neither having to say much of anything. They just let their love be content within its serenity. He was alone at the moment. Missing her by his side

*Snap*

Awoken from his revelry, Angel could hear footprints... too quickly paced for walking, way too fast. Someone, or something, was in a full throttle sprint.

*Crash*

Angel ducked & rolled trying to get out of the way of the assailant who rushed toward him.

*Snap*

Rounding back up into a crouching position, he scanned the horizon to see what had just attempted to tackle him. All he saw was a blur of black. Still trying to shake the cobwebs away from his stroll down memory lane didn’t help matters either. Still on alert he surveyed the landscape for any movements, sounds, or smells. The figure in black had disappeared as fast as it had come. His instincts told him that whatever was happening wasn’t over yet. He tensed like a tiger - ready to spring. He turned to his right at the sound of branches cracking; but whatever was trailing him had moved behind him and it had started moving toward him again. And then his preternatural sense of smell kicked in. A wicked grin formed on his face as he caught his attacker mid-air as it was about to drop onto him. The entangled bodies rolled onto the ground with a crash, followed by grunts and bouts of laughter.

Buffy ended up on top of him. He was now splayed on the needle laden ground. She planted an extremely firm kiss on his lips. "Hi Lover!” Her hair looked wild with leaves, pine needles, and twigs, as she lost her hat in the tumble. Angel could see the sparkle of soft light from her eyes. A huge grin on her face and she was giggling...

He started laughing out loud, grabbing her and pulling her into a furious bear-hug, followed it with a nice long passionate kiss, and then he helped her to her feet. As he brushed himself off he asked, “What's all this about?"

"Oh, not much. I got bored. Missed my boyfriend. Did I mention the bored part?”

"Maybe once or twice?"

"If you want to know why I’m really here…” she said as she stepped back. She punched him on the arm so hard that it knocked him off balance.

"What the...?" he asked

“Do I have to explain everything to you?” she yelled as she took off running into the woods. “Tag! You're it!"

He took off after her. He might be ‘it’, but she was going to get ‘it’ once he caught up to her. Now all he needed to decide was which ‘it’ it was going to be this time around.

~ End

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