Just Kiss Me
By Breniah

Disclaimer: So don't own them, they belong to people who abuse them like Joss & Co. No infringement intended.

Authors Notes: Another therapy fic for me. Set after Graduation Day 2, 12 years on.

12 years ago he just walked away. And I let him. I didn't run to him to try and stop him. I didn't even cry out. I just let him go. After all we had been through together, I just let him walk away from me. We had just fought the worst battle to date and yet he walks away from me. From us. From everything we had or could ever have.

It can't be ending I kept thinking. After everything we had fought for to simply be together, it can't be ending. I know he's tired of it. Tired of fighting for something that never be. He's so different and after several centuries of being different and trying to fit into the world, I guess I would be tired too. I knew he was right. We couldn't ever have had a future together. It hurt but I knew it was true. So I let him leave.

It's a shame, he probably thought he was doing what was best for everyone, best for me, bowing out and brooding about it constantly, for eternity. He might've thought it was over but he didn't reckon on me. I was still fighting, still striving for something I couldn't have. I wasn't going to let him go forever.

After college I traveled. The wandering slayer. And I found it, or maybe it found me. Not the curse, or the cure, or the spell. I found the answers I was looking for. I met an angel, a real one with wings, halo the whole nine yards. I don't even know her name. But she did it, she took away Angel's demon, proving it could be done. Angel would always be Angel, till the end of time. No Angelus, no blood lust, no killing. Just an immortal Angel to the keep the immortal slayer company. She required a sacrifice, the angel did. I had been prepared to die for him once, nothing she asked could've dissuaded me. She asked for my mortality, I gave it gladly. I guess things might get pretty horrible, fighting evil for all eternity, but Angel will be with me, so it doesn't seem to matter.

As I lie here, next to my beautiful sleeping darling I finally feel at peace. The years we spent apart are worth it for the years ahead we will have together. And there is no more fighting for what I can never have. I finally have it. I can finally make love to my one true love, finally am able to express how I feel about him. I can finally BE with my one true love. I am truly happy.

Buffy replaced Angel's diary on the table next to his bed. She turned and snuggled deeper into his arms, causing him to wake as she did so. His arms tightened around her as she gazed up into his eyes.

"I'm sorry," he murmured softly. "I should've believed."

"Shh–" she forestalled him, saying everything that needed to be said with her eyes.

"Just kiss me."