| Rosemary is For Remembrance |
Looking back, we should have realized that nothing was that simple. We should have known that something would happen. This was Sunnydale after all. But for years we took the most rational Sunnydale explanation, it was vampires. Buffy's body was taken by vampires, they wanted to dance on the Slayer's body, we figured. Of course we might have been clued in by the fact that Angel disappeared the night that I told him Buffy died. They all went home and the next day Angel had packed and gone and had left nothing to tell them were he had gone.
So, we put it out of our minds and attempted to get on with our lives. Xander and Anya married, Tara and I became permanent partners, and Cordelia stayed with Gunn and tried to make a go at keeping Angel investigations open. Then it happened, Giles died he was old and it was time. It wasn't his death that was weird, but the fact that I swore I saw Buffy that day. And then the rosemaries began to be placed on his grave. Rosemary for remembrance, I thought it was Angel.
And the rosemaries continued to be put on Giles's grave for years, and yet none of us ever saw who it was. Well not really, we'd see glimpses of Buffy or maybe Angel, but nothing concrete, Sunnydale weirdness again. Well it was on the 14th anniversary of Giles's funeral that I finally took some initiative and decided against the better advice of my life partner to stay and watch over Giles grave.
It was getting to be about Midnight and I thought that maybe what `it' was couldn't be seen by the human eye. When I saw a young woman and a man walk up to the grave, now you really don't know in Sunnydale, but the woman at least looked human. She wore a black coat that stopped right at her knees, a leather coat, the same as her male counterpart. The woman knelt down to Giles's grave and placed the rosemaries on it. I almost didn't recognize her, him even, but then she turned her face slightly toward me and I gasped. It was Buffy and not a vampire Buffy, she had a nice tan, and once I recognized her I recognized Angel. I was rooted in place and before I could do anything Angel held out his hand for her. “Come beloved, we only have a few hours before we have to return.” I'd forgotten over the years how beautiful his voice is.
Buffy smiled at him and took his hand pulling him along with her laughing and giggling. They ran faster than I had ever seen any vampire or slayer run, and there was no purpose other than to run. I watched as they quickly disappeared into the distance, and headed toward the Bronze.
I had figured right and there they were dancing on the floor holding each other and dancing. It wasn't the kind of music that they used to play when I was a teen, and I have only now realized why Giles complained about ours. Buffy and Angel seemed oblivious to the difference; they were just enjoying being together. I was about to interrupt them when they both suddenly ran outside. And there I saw it this huge portal and I watched as they linked hands but before they did that I saw Buffy turn and look at Sunnydale. “I miss it here, Angel, I would give anything to be with you, but I wish there had been another way.”
He tugged her hand gently until she looked at him kissed her with a passion I had not seen since she turned 17. “I know, but the PTB couldn't fix my curse here, and they certainly could do what they did for you.”
“Yeah, but I had to die and couldn't explain to my friends what I knew in my heart, I miss them and someday they'll be gone.”
“Yes, but not today.” He slipped out and started to walk with her to the portal. “But not now, and besides our fight is no longer on this world, but on others.” When he said that he reached for her kissed her and like that they slipped into the portal.
I stood there for several long minutes. Trying to piece together what I had just seen, Buffy was clearly happy and able to be with Angel. The thing she had always wanted, and now she had it. The only thing she had to give up was a life with her friends, at least from this world. And she hadn't told us; because she knew back then we would have tried to force her to stay. It's humbling to realize that you've wronged a friend by your own I don't if I'd call it prejudice, but definitely fear. I was afraid of Angel after I had met Angelus, but Buffy never was. And because of her lack of fear I did everything I could to get her away from him.
As I turned to leave something that she'd said finally registered in my brain and I smiled. “It was quite a gift,” said in the general direction of the portal. I don't know if Buffy heard me or understood that I was referring to the ominous vision that `death was her gift,' but there was one thing I was sure of. Wherever she was it was with Angel, and she was happy. I was somehow sure of that as I climbed into bed with Tara. And we made long slow love, that Buffy with Angel were doing the same.
Go Back to Buffy and Angel Fanfiction