FIC: Leather (BtVS/AtS)

[mhalachai]

Leather

Characters: Buffy and Angel, and also some Dawn.
Disclaimer: The BtVS and AtS universes belongs to Joss Whedon et al. I'm only borrowing and will return them at the end of the fic.
Author's Note: sasha_b: Angel and Buffy, leather jacket (BtVS/AtS). (Ficlette Fiasco III master list found here). This story is set generally after the end of both series, and contains spoilers, of a sort, for the last episode of Angel. As such, it's not very happy.
Word count: 558
Summary: Buffy always wanted to ask Angel about that jacket...


~*~

Buffy looked out at the sunlight playing over the river as she leaned on the old wrought-iron balcony. Up here, things looked so very clean, so crisp and new, but closer to the river's edge, things were polluted and decayed.

"Things are never what they appear to be."

Buffy smiled as Angel's arms came around her, his hands gripping the railing on either side of her body. "We had that market cornered, didn't we?" she said, turning her back on the river and looking up at him.

The sun played over his hair, sparks of bronze and gold among the brown. His smile down at her sparkled with only the tiniest hint of sadness. "You have to keep that up for us now."

The smile faded from Buffy's face, and she dropped her eyes to his chest as she ran her fingers over his old familiar leather coat. "I always wanted to ask you where you got this," she said as the sun began to set.

"Doesn't matter," Angel said. "That place is gone now." He bent over and kissed the top of her head. "You're going to be all right."

"Aren't I supposed to be asking that of you?" Buffy asked, trying to cling to him, but the tighter she tried to hold him, the more he slipped through her fingers.

He smiled again, this time for real. "You know where I am, and you know the answer to that question," he said.

Buffy woke up.

~~~~~

Not bothering to turn on the lights, Buffy crept into Dawn's room. Her little sister was deeply asleep, curled up around her pillow. They'd had a long day, shopping their way through the streets of New York to celebrate Dawn graduating high school.

Buffy padded noiselessly over to the desk, and the black leather jacket lying there.

"Buffy, can I get this?" Dawn had asked just before lunch, oddly nervous. Buffy had turned around to see Dawn wearing a black leather jacket so much like the one Angel used to have that Buffy hadn't been able to speak.

"I know it's kind of big, but it's just so nice and it's on sale and you can wear it too, it's something we can share," Dawn started babbling, recognizing that look in her sister's eyes.

Buffy had to put her hand on Dawn's arm. Dawn hadn't existed when Angel had been in Sunnydale, but she had been given memories of the vampire. Buffy faintly remembered that Dawn been fascinated with Angel.

"Of course you can get it," Buffy had said, her heart so close to breaking. "It looks good on you."

Dawn hadn't been fooled.

Now, Buffy ran her fingers over the soft black leather in the darkness. He'd probably been wearing that jacket at the end, on the streets of Los Angeles.

He'd come to Sunnydale, offered to help her in her fight with the First, but she hadn't gone to his side in his last battle. She hadn't been there when he needed her, and now he was dead.

Buffy picked up the jacket and slid it on. Wearing it like this, it wasn't like Angel's jacket at all.

"You know where I am," he had said in her dream. For the first time since she'd heard what happened in L.A., Buffy closed her eyes and let herself grieve for Angel.

end

Comments

[crazy-vasey.livejournal.com]

I don't know if I agree about that not being a happy ending. As far as Angel goes, he's got what he always really wanted: Redemption. I doubt he'd be dropping in on Buffy in dreams - assuming that was really him and not a figment of her imagination - if he was roasting in some hell dimension like he expected to be when it was all over and done with.

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

Well, it's not happy, per say, but it's not all grief-striken. Yes, Angel's dead and in heaven and finshed, but he's still dead and Buffy's wondering if her inaction helped put him there. The grief of losing people never really goes away.

I fully meant that to be Angel, in heaven, dropping in to reassure Buffy. They never did stop loving each other, no matter how impossible it was for them to be together. *is a sooper-sektru B/A (Bangel? Anffy?) fangirl*

[crazy-vasey.livejournal.com]

I suppose that's true. I'm just more attached to the Angel characters in general these days (something that came as a surprise to me because I really, really didn't like Angel when he was in Buffy and I haven't seen a huge amount of the show really, chunks of the last and first seasons mostly) so I looked at it entirely from Angel's POV. He was just so defeatist in the last season at times, like he'd really given up hope of redemption, and then bang he gets it.

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

What was it Angel said near the end? If they had to go out, they'd go out doing the right thing? I believe that if they died in the end, they went out on the side of light.

So yeah, I'm with you :)

[crazy-vasey.livejournal.com]

Definitely. I'm not totally convinced that getting a demon army set loose on LA was the best plan ever, but their hearts were in the right place.

Sorry for rudely interrupting . . .

[(Anonymous)]

Well, kind of sorry. Not sorry enough to not interrupt, though, obviously. And, since I consistently lurk your journal, I'm absolutely positive you want to know MY opinion. (J/K).

Anyway, I also have my sooper sekret Bangel moments, and my personal fanwank for her not coming to help is that she didn't know what was going on. I figure Giles made the executive decision not to tell her, and let's face it. Andrew, though entertaining, is an idiot. Buffy would probably write off any odd comments he made, and would expect Angel or Spike to contact her in an emergency. I figure Andrew's new masculinity mentor made (Hee. Alliteration. It takes so little to entertain me some days.) sure Andrew thought telling Buffy would be a bad idea. Presto. Clueless!Buffy who wasn't ever given the chance to run to the rescue.

By the way--this little ficlet was pretty much exactly the way I see Dawn and Buffy dealing with this issue. Heaven forbid they actually talk about it.

Mari

Re: Sorry for rudely interrupting . . .

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

Anyway, I also have my sooper sekret Bangel moments, and my personal fanwank for her not coming to help is that she didn't know what was going on. I figure Giles made the executive decision not to tell her, and let's face it.

That does make sense. If I was queen of the galaxy, I'd track down Joss Whedon and make him tell me what happened *after* the screed faded to black on the last show of Angel.

That, and I'd make him tell me what the hell was up with Book in Firefly ;)

Poor Buffy.

By the way--this little ficlet was pretty much exactly the way I see Dawn and Buffy dealing with this issue. Heaven forbid they actually talk about it.

Good! I'm glad you liked it. Have fun lurking :)

Re: Sorry for rudely interrupting . . .

[thekams.livejournal.com]

I'd track down Joss Whedon and make him tell me what happened *after* the screed faded to black on the last show of Angel.

Oh me too. I'm reading the book "queen of the slayers" right now, and I'm thinking the author implies that they all died. *ponders* That kinda sucks...yet fits. bah, I'll hunt down Joss with you, since I want to know about Book as well :P