'The only time,' Buffy thought, but did not say. The house was silent except for her sobs. Buffy remembered that night. Angel had been so gentle with her, so careful not to hurt her. The night had been like a dream. The nightmare had not started until the morning after.
Joyce Summers stood outside the door to Buffy's room, listening to her daughter weep. It had been like this every night since her birthday. Something had happened, but Buffy refused to talk about it.
Joyce's heart ached for her daughter. She wanted to do nothing but throw open the door and take Buffy in her arms and hold her until all the bad things went away. Yet Joyce stood still. She knew Buffy would refuse to tell her what was wrong. Buffy was stubborn as well as proud. She would suffer in silence before she would reveal her pain to anyone. Without ever saying a word Buffy's mother turned and walked back to her bedroom, where she knew she would listen to her child's cries until morning.
Buffy stood in front of the mirror in her bedroom, staring at her image glass without really seeing it. Instead she looked at the reflection of her window in the mirror. Buffy turned and gazed at the window and thought of all the times Angel had snuck into her bedroom to watch her sleep or kiss her goodnight or to just see her. The window looked so different in the daytime, with the golden rays streaming in. Buffy wondered idly what Angel would have looked like in the sunlight. Buffy shook herself out of her reverie and turned back to mirror. Nothing more than a slight redness of her eyes gave away what she had gone through last night, what she went through every night. She was finished dressing for school except for three things. Buffy fastened the clasp of the cross Angel had given her around her neck. She picked up Angel's leather jacket from the bed and put it on. Buffy inhaled the rich scent of leather and Angel. No matter how often she wore this jacket it still smelled like him. It was as close as Buffy could get to having Angel's arms around her. Buffy opened her jewelry box and removed the gold claddagh ring. With trembling hands Buffy placed the ring on her finger, the heart facing her. In her memory Buffy heard Angel say, "It means you belong to someone."
"I still belong to someone, Angel," Buffy whispered, touching the ring softly and remembering how Angel had shown her the one he wore, "I will always belong to you, my Angel. I love you." Buffy exited her room quickly, before she could break down into tears again. She didn't see the pale specter appear before her window. A sad smile was on Angel's face. Bathed in the sunlight he was more beautiful than he was in the darkness. Angel touched his ring, a gesture identical to Buffy's. "I will always belong to you my beautiful warrior against evil. No matter what he says, know that I will never stop loving you."
The soul of Angel faded away, and, though there was no wind that day, Buffy felt a light breeze blow past her, and she would later remember that the breeze seemed to be calling her name as it softly kissed her cheek.
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