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“Are you sure you have everything? Didn’t you forget the kitchen sink or something?” Angel teased as Buffy looked over her luggage one last time. She stuck out her tongue and tried to tickle him but he fended her off, laughing. She couldn’t remember the last time she heard him laugh. But then, she felt like laughing too. All the time now.
“I am definitely ready,” Buffy announced a moment later. She glanced at her watch. “And Willow should be here any minute to take us to the airport.” It was dark out, of course. They’d been very careful about only taking flights when there would be no daylight, and for the trip across the Atlantic Ocean they were planning after stopping to see Cordelia and catching one of Oz’s concerts, they were going to take a cruise line, where Angel could stay below deck all day. It wasn’t as if they had any time limit or anything. In fact, they had almost all the time in the world. *Almost* because they had someone they had to talk to as soon as possible, someone in England.
Willow arrived a minute later in her beat-up minivan. She had bought it because it was nice to have with her kids and all their activities, but she had BROUGHT it because she knew how Buffy liked to pack. That was—heavily.
Angel obligingly loaded the bags. Buffy’s rib was healed by now, but she was still not quite up to lifting heavy things. His leg had been badly bruised, it turned out, but nothing serious, and the cut on his face had left a scar that the doctor said he would carry forever, but it was not a serious consequence. After all, he had his life, and he had Buffy, and what was a little scar anyway?
Buffy glanced back at the apartment building as she climbed into the van. She had left most of her things in storage for whenever they returned. If they ever did. Angel had seen the world; now Buffy wanted to. And she was determined that he would show it to her. So what if it was at night only? She had always liked staying up late and sleeping in. Besides, with Angel there everything would be all right.
They’d told Lyrik and Jon the truth about Angel, and neither had seemed surpised. Lyrik had disappeared soon after to go look at Ms. Calendar’s spell. It seemed to her, she told them when she returned, that the spell could probably be changed without too much trouble. She couldn’t do it herself, but she thought that someone who knew more about spell-making could alter the spell so it was happiness that bound Angel and not the other way around. Giles had talked to some friends in England who said they’d be happy to take a look. Angel and Buffy were headed there first, hoping that something could be done. After all, it was getting a little annoying that all they could do at night was sleep . . .
Willow and Buffy had a long talk about Xander before they left. Buffy had finally confessed her guilt, which wasn’t yet gone, but beginning to heal at least. There had been a lot of tears, but there had been laughter too, and fond memories, and when they were done Willow called her husband, whom she loved, and Buffy went dancing with Angel.
Alethea had been acting as Slayer since Buffy broke her rib, though there hadn’t been much activity. The local vampires had been pretty dismayed about Annwyl’s defeat, and weren’t quite sure what to think of two Slayers at a time. Once Buffy had healed enough to move around, if not fight, she had begun giving Alethea basic lessons and little tips from her experience of vampire slaying. There had even been a zombie for Alethea to practice on.
Giles had already left for England a week before. He didn’t like ships, so he had declined traveling with them, though Buffy suspected there were . . . other reasons as well. Willow had bought his house from him and her husband was going to be moving down with the kids pretty soon. Buffy wished they could stay long enough to see them, but another part of her (and Angel) was impatient to get going.
She had spent the last weeks saying good-bye to everyone and everything. Even though Jon and Lyrik had basically taken over her classes since the fight, she had waited until the term was over. They had gone to the Bronze the night before, and danced for hours. Buffy was sad to leave everything she had known for a long time behind, but it was not forever, after all. Only for a little while. And Buffy needed this time. They both needed this time. Because while they loved each other very much, everything was not perfect. There was still the past, and sorrow and guilt, and those things would never go away. But there was also love, and the whole wide world, and only one vampire, one she would never have to Slay.