In the Dark No More
by Ducks

Angel looked Doyle squarely in the eye, "I'm not keeping the ring."

The little half-demon reeled as if his friend had struck him. "What? Say again?"

Angel looked sadly out at the fading sun once again. "I can't." He said, a deep frown creeping across his features.

"You've got a real addiction to the brooding part of life... Anyone ever tell you that?"

The vampire chuckled. "Once or twice..."

"Care to explain? That ring is your redemption. It's what you've been waiting for..."

Angel looked back at him, his face serious once again. "No. It just looks like it."

"Angel, man... Think what you're saying..."

"I have. I've thought of it from every angle. What I figure is, I did a lot of damage in my day. More than you can imagine..."

Doyle scowled. How much self-torture was enough for this guy? "So, what, you don't get the ring because your period of self-flagellation isn't over yet? I mean, think of all the daytime people you can help between nine and five!"

Angel shot him a look. "They have help. The whole world is designed for them. So much that they have no idea what goes on around them after dark. They don't see the weak ones, lost in the night... or the things that prey on them... And if I join them, maybe I'd stop seeing, too. I was brought back for a reason, Doyle... And as much as I like to kid myself, I don't think it was for 18 holes at Rancho..."

The demon sighed. "Well. That's... well." He shook his head, thinking how nobility so often looked exactly like stupidity. "So, then. I guess we should get rid of it."

Angel nodded. "But there's one thing I have to do, first."

Buffy sat on the bench nearest her, hard. She felt so overwhelmed, so heavy, these days, as if the way Parker had treated her was just that one last straw... the camel's back was broken. It was the one thing she couldn't fit in her backpack and still carry it.

Men. She hated them. Mortal or otherwise. They all sucked. Sometimes literally...sometimes metaphorically.

Willow approached, taking the seat beside her. "Hey. How are you?"

Buffy shrugged.

Willow sighed. Poor Buffy. "I talked to Oz last night. He said everything went according to plan, more or less...Of course, he wouldn't tell me what 'more or less' meant..."

"Is Angel okay?" Buffy asked, suddenly panicked at the notion that he might be in trouble, and she wouldn't know until it was too late.

It was Willow's turn to shrug. "I guess he had a rough time of it, but he's okay... Oz can probably tell you more, if you grill him really hard."

Buffy considered the idea of pressure tactics for a moment.

"I'm sure he's fine, Buffy. Oz would have told me if something...went wrong..."

"Yeah." Buffy said, her voice flat. What was it she was just thinking about too many heavy burdens?

"He should be back any minute..." Willow said, "As a matter of fact, here he comes!" She waved madly.

Buffy couldn't stand to look. Any happiness right at that moment might have killed her unbroken perfect misery streak... we couldn't have that...

Willow lept up from the bench, and, Buffy assumed, into her werewolf's arms.

"Hi!" She chirped, "I'm so glad to... oh my god..."

Willow's voice was so shocked, Buffy was certain Oz must have come back without a limb... or maybe with an extra one. She had to look up. Oz stodd, looking fully intact and actually wearing an uncharacteristic BROAD GRIN, as he held the gaping Willow in his arms.

Huh. What was she freaking about? Buffy looked over Oz's left shoulder, where Willow was still staring, dumbfounded. Her heart stopped.

Willow was sputtering and gasping, "But...how... what?"

"Cool, huh?" Oz said.

Buffy stood frozen, unable to pull her gaze away from him. Angel...standing there, framed by the late afternoon sun.

Angel didn't know why he was so terrified... he was shaking like a leaf... Of all the things in this world (and beyond) that he had to be frightened of, this beautiful woman was the last...

And to see her, face to face with him in the sunshine, it would have been worth it to take a stake through the heart in the next moment. Although, right now, he was more concerned about dying of the pain of his dead heart breaking at the sight of her.

"Angel?" She said, barely able to find her voice.

He smiled, and forced himself to take a step toward her. Once that monumental task was done, the rest of the space between them was gone in an instant. He stopped directly in front of her, and reached out hesitantly to touch her face.

"You lied." He said.

Buffy shook herself out of the shock of noticing how pale he was... how fair, like porcelain... "What?"

"You said you don't look good in direct light. You were wrong."

"You remember that?" She blushed.

"I remember everything. Everything." He reached out and scooped her tiny body into his arms, revelling in the way he could smell the sunshine in her hair...

Buffy simply held him, certain that giving him the ring had been the best thing she'd ever done.

"I love you." Angel whispered in her ear. If they only had this one afternoon together... he would make sure that she knew everything he had never told her.

He felt a twitch in one of the still unhealed wounds in his side. Being without her was worse torture than anything Marcus could have done to him... He wondered for the millionth time if he could really stay away from her... He pulled away and looked into her eyes, seeing the sun reflected in their sea green for the first time.

Beautiful...

"I love you too." She said, feeling the darkness that had surrounded her since he left finally fade and disappear. She reached down and picked up his hand, staring at the ring. "Nice ring." She said, and grinned up at him.

"Yeah. My girlfriend gave it to me." He grinned back.

The two stood in the afternoon sun, laughing together.

The End

See, Whedon? It's not so hard! Anyone can do it! *wink*

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