Story [BTVS/Angel] Being - Angel AU

Title: Being
Author: Pallas-Athena
Genre: AU, Angst, Fluff, Vignette
Timeframe: Post-series (far future)
Characters: Angel, Buffy mentioned
Ship: Angel/Buffy
Summary: Angel retained his morality in the Angel episode "I Will Remember You"
Author's Note: Written for a fic meme on live journal some years ago. Vader_incarnate requested a fic about "Buffy/Angel, Family."

Is this permanent? Am I ? am I normal Joe now? Can I have a normal life?

I remember asking that question like it was yesterday, just like I remember my first taste of chocolate, even though I?ve probably eaten a hundred quarts of ice cream since then.

From this day, you will live and die as any mortal man ? Privy to all the attendant pains ? and pleasures ? That which we serve is no longer that which you serve. You are released from your fealty.

The Powers That Be confirmed it, I was free. I was human. I was with her.

I should have gone to the Powers after Buffy had killed the Mohra. I should have demanded, no, begged ? on my knees, even ? for them to take my newfound morality back. To make me a vampire with a soul once more. To allow me to protect Buffy from the End of Days as their chosen warrior.

But I didn?t.

I was selfish. I wanted her and could think of nothing else ? not the future, not the past, not what was destined happened if I failed her.

And I did fail her. Mortals are prone to weakness as well as mistakes, apparently.

I stare at the ceiling, watching the drywall?s texture change shadows in the morning light. If I stare long enough and hard enough, I can make out shapes in the bubbled ridges ? one looks rather like a cloud, but another is almost a face, a fully vamped face, complete with violent fangs. The face mocks me, as if it were supposed to be me. Or maybe it?s Angelus, the demon that lived inside me for so long, coming back to haunt me and remind me of what I am ? a weak human.

I blink and turn over, ignoring the drywall. The face will go away when the sun rises fully. Light will fill my room and warm my skin. I will force myself then to take peace in that warmth, not because I really do, but because that?s what she would have wanted.

I hear a noise and open my eyes to the sight of my daughter. Her golden hair shines in the sunlight, bright rays radiating around her head like a halo. She is an angel, halo or no.

?Daddy,? she says simply. The look she gives me is intense, quizzical. Her nose and chin may be mine, but those eyes are all Buffy?s.

I smile and she smiles back.

?The cartoons are all repeats,? she tells me as if I have control over the Saturday morning television line up.

Before she died, Joyce had told me something, more in passing than anything, about the way a child?s mind works.

?You are the center of their world, their hero,? she had said. ?I only wish it would have lasted forever.? The look she gave me was a sad but knowing one. She had accepted Buffy?s role as the Slayer, even if she didn?t like it. I think our courtship pleased her on some level. Yes, I was still very much the older man, but I was also human and any hurt I could inflict on her daughter couldn?t be of the supernatural variety.

She didn?t live to see our wedding, though, or the birth of her granddaughter or ? thank the Powers ? Buffy?s death.

?I?m sorry,? I mumble, not really knowing what else to say. While it was extraordinary when it first came out ? I mean the ability to watch moving pictures in your own home during the day, when there was nothing better to do ? I am not all that fascinated by modern day television. Especially now that I can just spend my time outside.

?S?okay,? she says, hopping into bed next to me like she owns the place ? another trait of Buffy?s that proves to be more agreeable than I would have her believe. ?You can tell me a story instead.?

?Well,? I say, turning onto my back so that she can curl up against my side. ?What you want to hear??

I am a doting father. It would shock m

 

My daughter would never be a slayer like her mother ? I even had the Powers confirm that at the expense of Giles? antique pocket watch

That made me laugh

This is so sweet, but at the same time heartbreaking. You showed Angel's emotions so beautifully. I love his feelings for his daughter

 

Wow, such a bittersweet story. Yet one with a hopeful ending.