Warriors:
DISCLAIMER: Okay, obviously anything you recognize, I don't own. Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, Angel and all related characters, etc. doesn't belong to me.
SPOILERS: This one has nothing to do with the episodes. It does have to do with one of my earlier stories, "Words Unsaid," though. I recommend that you have read that before reading this one, but you don't have to.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: For those of you who haven't read the previous stories, Angel remained human at the end of "I Will Remember You," but the powers gave him his strength back. He and Buffy are now doing a weekend sort of relationship thing. The previous stories can be found at http://www.oocities.org/cynandmeg/fanfic/buffy/cWarriors-series.html
NOTES 2: I said I was going to write a Valentine's Day fic! This story fought me so much when I was trying to write it, but I finally managed to finish it! I'm not that happy with the result but…you tell me what you think. Oh, and there's none of that Willow/Tara stuff in my universe. I like Oz and want him back.
Part One
Buffy was pouting. And driving her roommate nuts. The cause was simple - for the first time since she and Angel had gotten back together, they couldn't get together for the weekend. It also happened to be the weekend before Valentine's Day.
"It's not fair," she said for the millionth time Friday evening. "You *sure* you don't know anyone who might have a car I can borrow for the weekend?"
"I'm sure," Willow replied.
Buffy flopped back on the bed. "Why'd he have to have an important case *now*?" Buffy whined. That was why Angel hadn't come to Sunnydale instead.
"Demons don't keep a schedule," Willow replied matter-of-factly. She'd bee sympathetic early on, but this was getting to be too much. "Speaking of demons, don't you have to patrol?"
Buffy sighed, sitting up again. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Maybe it'll take my mind off…stuff anyway." She gathered things quickly. "You want to come?" she asked.
Willow shook her head. She had the feeling Buffy was imagining every demon in Sunnydale was the one that stood between her and Angel tonight. She definitely didn't want to be there. Actually, she felt sorry for the demons. "You go. I…have things to do."
As soon as Buffy was out of the room, Willow sighed. Buffy was her best friend, but sometimes she was hard to live with. For one thing, there was all the Slayer stuff. Then there were times like now - not that she wasn't entitled to it sometimes - but Buffy whined. Too much, right now. I mean, she really didn't have it all that bad. She was actually together with the person she loved - and he was human, too! So, she wouldn't be together with Angel this Valentine's Day. At least she knew where he was. Now, Oz…
The phone ringing interrupted Willow's rapidly degenerating into moping thoughts. She picked it up after the first ring. "Hello?"
"Hi, Willow. It's Angel."
Willow laughed slightly. "I recognize your voice by now," she teased. "Uh, you just missed Buffy. She's patrolling."
"Actually," Angel replied, "I figured she would be. No, I wanted to talk to you."
"Me?" Willow squeaked in surprise. "Uh, what about?"
"I was hoping I could ask you a favor…"
Monday came around as it always did, and for once there was something to look forward to. Not classes, of course. Valentine's Day. About a third of the students were wearing red or something with hearts. Some carrying flowers. A lot of couples spent the day walking hand in hand.
Buffy sighed as she walked back to her dorm. This was definitely the sort of day for an on campus boyfriend.
She fiddled with her claddagh ring then and laughed slightly at herself. What was she thinking? She wouldn't trade Angel in for all the world, and the image of him as a college student struck her as ludicrous. No, she knew what she was thinking. She wished he was there with her. Or she in L.A. with him and not in classes. It would be their first Valentine's Day really together.
Buffy's spirits lifted though when she reached her dorm and opened hers and Willow's mailbox. She expected there to be something from Angel and he did not disappoint. A rose colored envelope caught Buffy's attention and she pulled it out with a smile. She barely wait until she got to her room to open the card.
As soon as she was through her door Buffy threw her books carelessly on her desk, staring at the envelope in her hand. She lay down on her bed, looking at Angel's handwriting on her address. The stamp was one of those put out around Valentine's Day, a heart with LOVE written on it. The envelope said 'hallmark' on it and Buffy chuckled. She never pictured Angel going into a Hallmark store to buy a card. Interesting image.
"You know, it's kind of hard to read a card without opening it," Willow said from the doorway. "You know, unless x-ray vision is one of those Slayer powers you never mentioned."
Buffy laughed slightly at that and finally opened the envelope. She was greeted by the image of a single rose on thick cream paper. Willow watched her, grinning, as she opened the card to reveal Angel's handwriting. He'd managed to fill the entire blank interior and continue on the back. A single rose petal fell from the envelope. Buffy rubbed it between her fingers, enjoying its scent as she read his words.
/Dearest Buffy,/ it read.
/I know this is not what either of us hoped for on Valentine's Day. I wish I could be there with you every moment, but especially today. I wish you were here with me./
/In a way, you are always here. You're everywhere I go. I see you on the beach, on that pier where I first got to be with you in the sunlight. I see you in every place we've been together since then, and some where we haven't. You're everywhere in the apartment the kitchen, the bedroom… I passed your old high school a couple of days ago, and I found the place where I first saw you and fell in love with a dream. I never imagined that dream would come true./
/Even though we're not together, I am with you this Valentine's Day. As you have walked with me all over L.A., I'll walk with you now through Sunnydale. We have so many memories there together in Sunnydale, don't we? I have so many memories that I want to share with you, and I don't always know how to. I do so much better writing than talking about some things. So please walk with me this afternoon through our relationship for beginning to many endings to a new beginning. There are twelve roses from me in Sunnydale now. You hold the first one. It shouldn't take too long for you to find the second./
/Love always,/
/Angel/
Buffy smiled and let her mind wander. Angel was right - she did see him everywhere. That was part of why the time they'd spent apart had been so hard. When they were apart, the painful memories always seemed to outnumber the good ones. She hoped that now that they were together she'd be able to look at everything with a smile again.
"Well, what did he say?" Willow asked impatiently.
"He's sending me on a scavenger hunt," Buffy replied.
"Oh?"
"Yeah. He wanted to show that he's always with me, so twelve roses are around Sunnydale…in important places to us, I guess."
Willow smiled dreamily. "That's sweet," she said. "Where are we going first?"
"We?" Buffy asked in surprise.
"Uh, only if you want me to come," Willow amended. "I'll even help you carry your presents."
Buffy smiled and headed for the door. "I'd love the company, Will."
"Great! I didn't want to do homework, anyway," she said as they headed out the door. "So, where are we going?"
Pocketing the rose petal, Buffy grinned. "Where else? To the beginning."
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