Warriors:
A Dozen Roses
by Cynamin

/If this house could speak, I wonder what tales it would tell? It's stood silent witness to horrors and wonders. I don't know anything about his place before Spike, Dru and I moved in, but afterwards…blood and death, portals to and from hell, love and pain./

/Love and pain seems to describe a lot between us, doesn't it? So many of our best and worst times happened in this place. It's hard to talk about…but I guess that's pretty obvious. It's hard not to look at this room and not remember the soulless times here, not remember where Acathla stood…surely the worst of the worst times./

/I have never really thanked you for all the times you saved my life, all the times you cared for me even when I didn't understand why. They may not have been good times, but they showed a depth of love and caring that I am still awed you chose to bestow upon me./

/When we talked about talking (does that make any sense?) you mentioned that I never speak about Hell. The truth is, I don't clearly remember any of it. It's like there's a gap where I know there was time, but all I can recall is the vaguest of emotions…fear, pain, despair. Sometimes I wake up from a nightmare I don't recall and I know that it comes from those missing years. I don't know what that means - you're taking psychology, you figure it out. It doesn't matter, though. What matters is when I came back. That I came back, I guess. One of many second chances we've received./

/How hard the following months were for both of us. I'm amazed that even after everything that happened you managed to care for me. I wish you'd never had to do that, but I'm glad you did. It was you who really brought me back I don't think anyone else could have done it. I never would have had the strength on my own./

/The months that followed were both wonderful and terrible for me. Every moment we were together was precious. But to have been so close and not be able to be that way again…it's no wonder we tried to leave each other so many times last year. Somehow we always seem to get back together, though, don't we? Not even death has kept us apart./

/Deciding to leave you was the hardest thing I ever did. When Faith poisoned me, and I was certain I was going to die…if I could have stayed I would have. I was so close to changing my mind, even though I told myself I couldn't stay. For a moment I even thought it would be better if I died - then I'd never have to know again what it was like without you in my life./

/But you saved me, gave me your blood. You put your life in my hands. You knew exactly what you were doing, knew that I might kill you, knew that I was leaving, but you saved my life again./

/If this house could speak, right? Pain and sacrifice love and caring. But never goodbye./

Buffy sat on the bed, smiling slightly. She remembered so many times here. She remembered waking up from an after-patrol nap in Angel's arms to find the night had passed. She'd thought that they were back in a together-forever type of relationship. Then Angel announced that he was leaving. Together-forever was still a ways off.

Of course, if Angel hadn't left none of this would have happened. He never would have encountered the Mohra demon that unintentionally gave him back his life. They never would have had the chance they had now. They could never have dreamed of growing old together. Angel still would have been a vampire, forever hiding from the sunlight, his soul at risk every moment they spent together.

So he'd left her. Buffy clearly recalled how much of a blow that had been. She'd spent the beginning of the summer feeling like he'd torn out her heart and taken it with him. Finally school started again and she had decided to get on with her life. To get over him.

But she could never get over him, and what happened over Thanksgiving proved that. All it took was to be in the same room and all of the emotions came rushing back. They couldn't be together, though, and there was so much pain there that they went their separate ways again. Or tried to.

Then a miracle had intervened for them once again and Angel was human. Then yet another miracle, and time was not reversed, Angel got his strength back, and they were finally together. Finally, without boundaries, without doubts, they were really together.

Buffy looked at the letter again, holding another gift. It was another rose, of course. An actual rose, this time, perfect in every detail except that it was made of bronze. It was beautiful. She now had a collection of ten roses and searched the letter for a hint at the location of the next one.

/But never goodbye./

Buffy smiled and led Willow out of the mansion and back onto the streets of Sunnydale.

"Get going!" Willow said. "Have a good time."

Buffy was gaping at the latest surprise from Angel. She had arrived in the parking lot of the demolished high school to find a white limo waiting for her. The driver had handed her another letter - Buffy read Angel's thoughts on leaving her with tears in her eyes - and another gift - a gold locket with a rose on the front. Inside were drawings of Angel and herself, by Angel presumably, looking across at each other with obvious love in their eyes.

"We're not going all the way to L.A., are we?" Buffy managed. "Because I have classes tomorrow."

"No, miss," the driver said with a slight chuckle, "just to where your date is waiting for you."

"Go on!" Willow said again. She took the various presents and letters from Buffy and added them to the bag. "You don't want to leave Angel waiting."

Buffy smiled then, and with a wave to Willow let the driver help her into the limo.

The driver stopped in front of the fanciest restaurant in Sunnydale to let her out. He helped her out of the car, and Buffy grinned wildly, feeling like a celebrity. She also felt like a schoolgirl on her first date. It was a strange combination.

She walked through the restaurant's large doors and spotted Angel almost immediately. He sat at a table near the back and stood when he saw her walk in. He was smiling and holding a single red rose. Buffy said nothing when she reached him, but gave Angel a passionate kiss that surprised him and left him gaping. Buffy smiled at him as she took her seat, still holding his hand.

"The twelfth rose?" she asked, indication the beautiful red rose that lay on the table forgotten.

Angel smiled and nodded softly. "Happy Valentine's Day," he said.

"And you," Buffy replied. "This…it's such a wonderful, thoughtful surprise. How did you…?"

"Your mother and Willow helped," he explained.

Buffy chuckled slightly. "I should have guessed," she said. "I meant…I thought you were busy with a case?"

"You don't think I'd let our first Valentine's Day together go by and not be together?" he asked.

Buffy could not help but smile. "Thank you," she said softly.

"You're always welcome. You liked the presents?"

"I liked the whole thing," Buffy explained. "It was all so thoughtful. The letters…you're right. We're always together."

Angel's kiss was all the answer that was needed. Together. Nothing else mattered.

The End

That's it! Do you want any more of this series? Please tell me and I'll think about it...if not, 11 stories is plenty.

Go here for more of Cynamin's stories.

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