Guardian Angel III


A Buffy/Dawson Crossover Concluded

"Well," Buffy started after a moment of silence. "Joey, right?" she asked, pushing her way into the house without waiting for an invitation. "I think we need totalk."
"About?" Joey wondered, sounding clueless.
"About a certain person you're spending far to much time around," Buffy answered, glaring at her. "Namely Angel."
Joey's eyes widened in realization. "So you're the one," she whispered, blinking.
"Oh, he's mentioned me, has he?" Buffy asked. "Wow, what a surprise, he actually remembers who I am. Surprising considering you're hanging all over him like a whore."
Joey looked shocked. "You don't understand -- " she started,but was interrupted.
"Oh I understand plenty," Buffy said, turning to look at the girl she considered her enemy. "I understand that you're moving in on my territory. Angel's mine, do you hear me? I'm not giving him up without a fight, and I guarantee you can't win."
"I'm not trying to compete with you," Joey started, but once again Buffy cut her off." You know," Buffy began, "I came here to see Angel, to talk to him, to convince him of certain things. And what do I find? You.""It's not what you think," Joey said firmly. "He still loves you."
Buffy rolled her eyes. "No kidding," she retorted. "You don't have the slighest idea, do you?"
"What do you mean?" Joey wondered.
"You think you're what he needs," Buffy said, glaring at her. "You think you can help him deal with his issues? You, the poor little damsel in distress he had to rescue? You know nothing about him!"
"I know plenty," Joey replied. "And I know how he feels about you."
"Oh, do you?" Buffy asked dangerously. "You know how he feels about me? How long have you known him?"
"Three days, but . . . "
"But nothing!" Buffy shouted. "I've known him two years, try that one. You know absolutely nothing about him! Do you reailze what we've been through together? Do you reailze how long it took me to get him back? Oh, no, you wouldn't know anything about that, seeing as he doesn't trust you as much as he does me." Buffy decided it would be best to leave out the fact that she only found out about his darkest secret accidentally.
"I'm not saying that I do," Joey replied. "I'm not saying anything. We're not even all that involved, I -- "
"Oh, yeah, Angel's just the type to kiss any girl he meets," Buffy said, rolling her eyes. She started towards the door, then turned back. "Angel's mine," she said, unconsciously fingering the ring he'd given her that fateful night he'd turned, "And believe me when I tell you, this is one battle you're not going to win." With that she walked out, slamming the door behind her.
Joey stood there in shock at what had just happened. The only thing she could think to do was to see Angel and tell him Buffy was here.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Angel looked up at the knock upon his door and stood, expecting Joey to be on the other side. To his astonishment, however, when he opened it Joey wasn't the one standing there, Buffy was. She pushed her way into his hotel room and stood for a long moment, just staring at him, before beginning to speak. "You know," she started coldly, "when I came here I was expecting to find you brooding, not finding a replacement for me so quickly."
Angel couldn't think of anything to say for a moment, but at her words he felt his own temper rise. "No one asked you to come," he said dryly.
"Well, no one asked you to leave, either," Buffy retorted."And may I say it was nice of you to say goodbye to me, too."
"What did you expect?" Angel replied. "You know why I left, and you know why I didn't say goodbye."
Buffy's eyes narrowed. "I do, huh? Well, it was nice of you to tell me how I know all these things. No, I don't know why you left, Angel. And I don't know why you didn't even bother to say goodbye."
"I didn't think you'd want to see me."
Buffy rolled her eyes heavenward. "I wouldn't want to see you?" she echoed. "I haven't even spoken to you in months, well, not counting when you were trying to kill me!"
"Well, if you had done what you should have we wouldn't even be having this conversation," Angel answered, looking just as angry as she was now.
"And pray tell what should I have done?" Buffy asked.
"I think that's pretty obvious," Angel replied.
"Well, excuse me for loving you a little to much to kill you, I'm so very sorry," Buffy said sarcastically.
Angel opened his mouth to say something, then thought better of it and turned away. "You made your decisions, Buffy, and I made mine. Now I think it would be best for everyone if we went our seperate ways."
"Why, so you can screw around with Joey instead of me?" Buffy asked.
Angel whirled on her angrily. "Is that what you think this is about? That I don't love you anymore? You're insane! You should have killed me when you had the chance!"
Buffy started to reply, her eyes flashing angrily when there was a knock at the door. Angel yelled, "Come in!"
Joey walked in cautiously. Buffy and Angel stood there, locked on one another for a few moments. Buffy looked towards Joey. "Go ahead Angel. Show her who you really are!"
Joey looked confused. "Angel?"
"Joey, you better leave. Now is not a good time."
But Buffy blocked the door. "Go ahead Angel. What are you afraid of? Afraid she'll know the truth? Stick around Joey, Angel has something to tell you. Show you actually. What are you waiting for Angel, do it!"
Angel looked away. He felt the anger and rage transpire inside of him. "Buffy, let her go!"
"Why would I do that? This is the best part! She has a right to know Angel. She should know what she's involved in."
Joey was now totally confused. "Go ahead Angel. Whatever she's talking about I can handle it."
Angel turned around. But what Joey saw was not the Angel she knew. Instead he was more like a monster. Joey looked away, she couldn't see him that way anymore. "What's wrong Joey? Truth hurt? That's Angel! The true Angel!"
Angel looked away again. "That's enough Buffy."
"I don't think it's enough. It's not nearly enough."
Joey spoke. "It's enough for me. I'll leave you guys alone."
Angel, who was now himself again, turned around. "Joey, wait."
"I can see you guys have some things to work out. I'll see you later." Joey walked out of the room. She tried to comprehend what she had just seen. Was he a vampire? I think I need more sleep and less horror movies.

~*~*~*~*~*~

"Satisfied?" Angel asked dryly.
Buffy groaned. "Do I look satisfied to you?" she retorted. "You're the one who can so quickly forget about me."
Angel looked shocked. "You think I forgot about you?"he echoed. "You're insane,” he said again.
"Maybe. But I know what I saw. I saw you two making out in the lobby the other day, okay, I'm not blind. Obviously you feel something for her, obviously you could care less about me if I mean so little to you that you would leave without saying goodbye . . . "
"I didn't leave to hurt you, Buffy," Angel interrupted. "I left because I couldn't stay there. Not after all that happened. And I can't believe you would want me there! What's wrong with you that you don't hate me?"
"Maybe because I have a clue," Buffy retorted. "I'm not stupid, Angel, okay? Insane, maybe, but not stupid. I know it wasn't really you. I know that. So does everyone else, for that matter. No one blames you, so why are you so damned intent upon blaming yourself?"
"Because it is my fault. I knew better than to get involved in the first place but I did anyway . . . "
"Yeah, I had nothing to do with it," Buffy said. "How many times did you warn me, Angel? I'm the one that should have known better . . . no, I'm the one that knew better. I didn't listen, and neither did you. But it doesn't matter anymore. The spell can't be broken, not this time. So there's no reason for you to run away."
"I . . . " Angel sighed heavily and sat down on the edge of the bed. "I don't think I can go back there," he said quietly.
"If you don't, then I won't either," Buffy answered. "Angel, I can't do this without you. I can't be the Slayer without you. I just can't. I need you. Come on, once I'm dead, which shouldn't be to far down the line considering the life expectancy of a slayer, than you can brood till Judgement Day if it makes you happy. But I'm not going to live that long, I don't have enough time to wait around for you to change your mind. So you have to now. Or screw slaying, I'll just follow you around like a lost puppy until you pay attention to me. Those are your options. Either deal with having the Slayer as a shadow, or come back to Sunnydale with me. What's it gonna be?"
Angel looked up at her. "Doesn't sound like I have much of a choice," he replied.
"So we're going home?" she asked.
Angel nodded. "Yeah," he replied.
"Look," Buffy began, "I'm sorry about . . . " she looked towards the door Joey had left from then back towards Angel."You know, what I just did."
Angel smirked. "Don't worry about it," he answered. "Let's get going," he added.
Buffy blinked. "Don't you want to say goodbye to your little friend?" she asked with a grin.
"I doubt she wants to see me after what just happened," Angel replied.
Buffy groaned. "Let's get off the 'I'm an evil vampire everyone hates me wah, wah, wah' kick, okay? And stop leaving without saying goodbye. It's not nice."
"You're telling me you want me to see her before I go?" Angel asked, sounding puzzled.
Buffy nodded. "Best to have closure and all," she replied."Besides, I feel guilty, I was kinda rotten to her."
Angel smiled slightly. "All right," he agreed. "I'll go say goodbye, and then we'll leave."
Buffy smiled back at him in answer. "I'm holding you to that," she told him as he left.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Joey went back to the park where her and Angel had met for the second time. She thought about everything that had happened between them. In the few days they knew each other, Joey had fallen for him. It was the first time she didn't think about Dawson. Even when she saw Dawson, her thoughts were of Angel. Can I finally be getting over Dawson? And what about Angel? He'll go back to wherever he came from and I'll never see him again. Joey sighed quietly.
Angel approached her. Joey looked at him briefly, then looked away. "I understand if you don't want to talk to me."
"Then why are you here?"
Angel sat down next to her. "To say goodbye."
Joey looked at him. "I'm sorry if I made things worse between you and Buffy."
"Actually, you helped a lot. We discussed a lot of things. We're going back to Sunnydale together."
"That's good. I'm really happy for you."
"You don't look happy. I'm sorry if I scared you."
"Hey, like I said. I can handle anything. I'm unhappy because I don't want you to leave. I mean, I knew it would happen eventually, just didn't think it would be this soon."
"Would it have been easier if I stayed out of your life?"
Joey smiled. "No. I'm glad I know you. I'll always remember the short time we had together."
"Who knows? Maybe I'll come back and see you."
"Don't lie. Maybe it's better if you don't. Buffy would kill you, then me."
"I think I can handle Buffy. I will miss you Joey."
"I'll miss you too." Joey looked away. "You should go now."
"What is it?" Angel stood up and knelt by Joey. He wiped the tears off her face. "Don't. Please. How can I make it easier? Besides staying that is..."
Joey smiled nervously. "You could kiss me? One last time?"
Angel held her face in his hand. They kissed deeply and passionately for what seemed like forever. He pulled away. Joey spoke. "Now go."
Angel kissed her once more and left.

The End

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