PAIRING : semi Buffy/Angel

RATING : PG14

SPOILERS : general Buffy & Angel, no Shanshu

DISCLAIMER : I do not own these characters. Nor do I own the poem "Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost.

            She sat down wearily on the stone. Her frail body ached slightly as she sat but she paid no attention to the pain. It was slight and barely registered in her mind; such trivial pains didn’t bother her. She sat quietly as the light breeze blew the wisps of grey hair around her eyes. She sat thinking, looking out over the grass, watching the sun slowly set. One hundred years.

                It hardly felt like it had been all that long ago that she was fighting the Mayor or receiving her Bachelor’s Degree. It hardly seemed like any time at all since she’d earned her Master’s or Ph.D.. She smiled as the sun dipped completely down below the horizon. She liked coming to the park. She liked sitting and watching the men with their children or the river. Even at sunset, the park was full of people, a far cry from Sunnydale. She didn’t miss the demon-filled parks of California.

                He liked to take walks at dusk. It always helped clear his head. It gave him something to do during the long nights of emptiness. He hadn’t had a full night in fifteen years when he last laid with his love. He’d held her hand as she peacefully slipped away. He’d buried her two days later in the evening beside their two fallen friends.

                He enjoyed the park. He loved walking by families finishing up their evening picnic. He enjoyed knowing that no vampires or demons would hurt those people. He enjoyed knowing that there were only two vampires in existence on the planet. And Spike wasn’t able to hurt anyone.

                He looked around him and saw an old woman sitting on a bench under a tree. He liked seeing peop- it took him a minute to realize why the woman’s face looked so familiar. “Oh my god, Buffy?”

                She was jerked from her reverie and looked to her side. A face she hadn’t seen in nearly 80 years. “Angel.”

                “I wasn’t sure if it was you. You’re…”

                “Old?”

                “Beautiful.”

                “Oh.”

                “Can I… um… sit?”

                “Public place. You’re welcome to sit wherever you like.” He sat next to her and she felt like she was fifteen again. A shiver ran up her spine as his body barely touched hers. She studied him a second before saying, “You haven’t changed.”

                “Kind of how it works.”

                “I guess.”

                “I didn’t know you were… I mean, I never felt you di- pass on, but I wasn’t sure if…”

                “I’m still alive.” She confirmed. “Nothing ever got by you.” He smiled at her sarcasm and she practically melted at a smile she never knew she missed. “I didn’t think I’d see you again. I wasn’t sure where you were.”

                “I’ve been around. After… after we lost Gunn and Wes, Cordy and I took off.”

                “I know. She… Cordy… called a couple times and said you were together and you were fine.”

                “We traveled the world, saw different things and places.”

                “Then life’s been good? With… with Cordelia?”

                “Yes. It was.” Buffy turned to look at him. “She died, fifteen years ago.”

                “I’m sorry.” She said. “I know how much you and she… I mean you were…”

                “Together. Yes. After the battle… we… I got my soul and we-”

                “Fell in love.”

                “Essentially.”

                “I’m glad for you, Angel. You deserve a little happiness in your life.”

                “She made me happy.” He smiled.

                She rubbed her frail hands together in an attempt to find warmth in them. The nights were getting cooler and she had less skin to protect her from the cold. Still, she loved the outdoors with no threats of vampires or demon attacks. “What about you, Buffy? I thought you’d be in Sunnydale.”

                “I won’t go back there, ever. I lost too much.” Pictures of Tara and Anya flashed through her head, their broken bodies in the wake of the battle. Four casualties in total. Two from the Scoobies and two from the LA crew.

                “We felt the same way.” Angel said.

                Silence stretched out between them. Silence gave them time to think. She rubbed her hands together again. “You’re cold.” He said and took off his coat.

                “Thanks.” She said as he wrapped it around her.

                “You’re welcome.” He looked down at her hand and touched the diamond ring there. “Pretty.”

                “It was an anniversary present.”

                “How long were you married?”

                “Nearly seventy years. Michael and I met in graduate school. He was going for medicine and I was in the psychologist’s program.”

                “When did you get married?”

                “Right before he started his internship in Chicago. Dawnie was just graduating college and we thought it was a good time.” She looked down at her ring and missed him.

                “How long as he been…”

                “He passed away seven years ago.”

                “Did he make you happy?”

                “He did. And even now, I love him.”

                “Your mom would be so proud of you Buffy. She’d be so proud knowing what an accomplished young woman you became.”

                “I’m not young anymore, am I?”

                “No.” He said. “Happy Birthday.” He said and they locked eyes. Between them, words were never needed.

                “I can’t believe you remember.” She whispered.

                “How could I forget?” He said. “You were the one that opened me up to love. Without you, I could have never had Cordelia.”

                He looked towards the river where he knew there were fish. He listened to the slow and steady heartbeat of his once lover. He couldn’t believe that after all this time, after all that had happened, that he was sitting with Buffy after dusk in a park. If he closed his eyes he could almost take himself back to nights of make-out sessions and patrolling. But then he remembered that she was not the one he made love to for nearly sixty years. She was not the one with whom he’d traveled the world with. She was not the one that made his wildest dreams come true.

                “Do you regret any of it?” Her voice broke the serenity of their silence.

                “Never. You?”

                She looked at him and spoke softly. “I lost my virginity to a man I loved more than anything, to a man I will always love. I lost friends, and sent my lover to Hell. I watched him come back and I watched my sister slayer turn evil and turn good again. I watched my two best friends fall in love and raise a family after losing their lovers. I watched my sister slayer mate with one of the two remaining vampires on the planet and I saw her buried as well. I saw my baby sister get married and have children.”

                Buffy looked down and swallowed before continuing, “I fell in love three times in my life. I made love to all three. I found happiness and peace with all three. I got married and graduated college. I had a successful career and four wonderful children.” She looked up and touched his face with her shaking hand. “I had picnics in the sunlight with my children, Angel. I had happiness and a life without fear, without demons or rage. I had a life filled with joy and children and nights full of love and passion. I had everything you wanted for me, Angel.”

                “I’m happy, Buffy. I’m glad you had all those things you deserved.”

                “I don’t regret one minute of my life. And I forgive you the pain you caused me when you left. And I thank you for giving me my children and a life without fear.”

                “I’m glad you see that now.”

                “I do.” She smiled at him. “Perhaps back then, I wouldn’t have said you did me a favor. Back then, I would have sworn we’d be together forever. I would have pledged my undying love for you. I would have been right on the latter; I do love you, Angel. I never stopped. But after the battles, after you left again, I made a choice. I decided to stop wallowing in self-pity and take my life back. I chose to take risks and let myself love again, we both did.”

                “And it paid off.”

                “It did.”

                He took her hand in his and sat next to her in silence for a few hours. He was glad he was able to see her again. In a way he thought he’d always been looking for her, always been searching for her. He felt like he’d always be searching. His soul would always be searching for its mate.

                Things between he and the slayer just weren’t meant to be forever and always. They were just meant to be.

                She held his hand and felt an incredible peace wash over her. One hundred years ago she had been born. One century on a planet she saved more than once. She smiled knowing she had finally made peace with her soul’s mate. She’d finally made peace with her life before the battle. She leaned back against the tree as the smile spread across her face and closed her eyes.

                He felt her slip away. He felt the grip she held on his hand loosen and when he looked over, he saw the peaceful smile of a woman well loved. He would soon bury another member of his family. He carefully wrapped his duster around her body and headed for a hospital. They could notify her family. He’d be able to meet her children and maybe even find Spike. Together, they would watch over the children of their family. Forever. Ages and ages hence.

//I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence

Two roads diverged in a wood

And I- I took the one less traveled by

And that has made all the difference//

~El Fin~