CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX: PROPHECY

The Scoobies, Faith, Andrew and what remained of Angel Investigations were getting worried.  Buffy had taken Connor and Dawn and had said that they would be back within six hours.  That had been nearly ten hours ago.  For whatever reason, none of them were answering their cell phones either.  No one would admit it, but they were all beginning to fear the worst.

"Maybe she finally cracked," Anya said tactlessly.

Everyone shot her unhappy looks.  Whilst they all may have been thinking the same thing, they didn't want to hear that possibility about their friend.

"Maybe she just needed to be alone for awhile.  Y'know, with D and C," Faith suggested.

Andrew suddenly giggled.  Most everyone ignored him, but Anya, who had had a strange bonding moment with the nerd at the hospital in Sunnydale was intrigued.

"What's so funny?" she asked.

"Well, it's just…Faith called Angel 'A', and Buffy 'B', and Connor 'C' and Dawn 'D', right.  Well…who's E, F, G and H?" he asked with a grin.

Everyone just rolled their eyes.  Xander looked to Giles, who already held up a warning hand with a 'don't even think about saying it' look that he'd perfected over the years.

"And Connor protected this guy, why?" Faith asked.

The Scoobies all shrugged and continued their worrying. 

Twenty minutes later, Wesley came out of the office, a worried and slightly tremulous look on his face.  Giles was the first to notice it, the two Brits having bonded over the last few days.

"Wesley?"

Wesley looked at Giles and handed over a notebook. 

"It's from the Aberjan Scrolls," Wesley explained.

Giles looked over the notes and felt his eyes widen.

"Good lord," he whispered quietly.

Xander couldn't help himself.  "G?  What's wrong?"

Giles spared a moment to glare at the young man before turning his attention back to the notebook, reading through Wesley's translation of the text once again.

"Well…if Wesley's translation is correct, it would indicate-"

"Angel's alive!!  Hey everybody!" Dawn's voice suddenly yelled out, ringing clear through the hotel.  "Angel's alive!  He's human!"

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Three hours later, Buffy and Angel lay in each other's arms, basking in the afterglow of their reunion.  Buffy was lying with her head on Angel's chest, contentedly listening to Angel's heart beating.

"It's a good sound.  Thump-thump.  Thump-thump."

Angel smiled, remembering Buffy's words from their day spent together so many years ago.  The day that had created Connor.  He smiled happily and pressed a gentle and loving kiss to Buffy's forehead.

"I love you," he whispered shakily.

He'd come so close to losing her.  He was still a little unsure of what had happened.  He knew that it had been Buffy who had fulfilled the final parts of the prophecy of his shanshu.  He still needed to speak to Wesley about it, but he was certain that the key to it all had been the girl that owned his heart.

"Angel?" she whispered quietly, pulling herself up a little to look at him eye-to-eye.  "I missed you."

"I missed you too Beloved."

"Don't leave me."

He shook his head and bent forward to kiss her.  "Never.  Not willingly."

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Many, many, many hours later, Buffy and Angel were seated in the office, the Scoobies, Connor, Lorne, Wesley and Andrew surrounding them.  Wesley was struggling to keep the grin from his face.  He was incredibly happy to have his friend back, and even happier to see Angel looking so incredibly joyful, both with his reunion with Buffy, and that he was human.

"So, what exactly did the prophecy about not-so-deadboy say?" Xander asked tactlessly.

Angel glared at the boy, but couldn't help but grin afterwards.  Nothing could have ruined this day for him at all.  He was back where he belonged with his mate at his side.

"Well, we knew there was a possibility of Angel becoming human," Wesley explained.  "We just never really understood when, where or how."

"Yes but what did it say?" Anya asked impatiently.  She didn't really care one way or another, but the faster it was explained, the quicker she and Xander could go back to their room.

"The vampire with a soul

Once he fulfils his destiny

And the sun bursts forth from within

His atonement is reached and

He will die to live.

When his soul is bound,

The mates will be reunited

Father, Son, Mother, Sister

Bound by blood, love, destiny and souls,

When there is full acceptance

The ensouled one shall live

And walk as a warrior in the sun." Wesley recited.

Silence followed Wesley's recitation.

"I'm still a warrior?" Angel asked.

Wesley looked at his friend, trying to work out whether Angel was upset by this revelation.  He nodded.  "I'm afraid so."

Another wide grin broke out on Angel's face, and he swept Buffy up into a hug.  "Thank god!"

"Wait…why is this a good thing?" Andrew asked.

"It means I can still protect people," Angel explained.  "I can still protect Buffy.  And it means we get the best of both worlds.  Sunlight and picnics and…"

"Many hours of orgasms," Anya finished.

"He was giving me that before he turned human," Buffy replied easily.

Angel flushed bright red, a new experience for him.  Buffy saw and couldn't help but smile.  She stood on her tiptoes and kissed his bright cheek softly.

"You're cute when you blush," she whispered.

"That was an over-share," Xander complained.  He was happy for his best friend, he honestly was.  He knew that Buffy had only ever wanted Angel, and he had to admit that Angel was better for Buffy than Spike was, so he was willing to accept that they were together once more.  It had been too long since he'd seen Buffy smiling properly.

"So, now what?" Dawn asked curiously.

It was a question that everyone had been asking themselves and each other over the last few days.  What would happen now, or in the horribly annoying lyrical version 'where do we go from here'? 

No one had any real ideas, beyond finding the other Slayers and teaching them the ways of the 'good fight'.  Apart from that, everyone was at a great loss.

"Now," Angel began, "now, I ask the one question that's been on my mind for the last seven years."

If someone had dropped a pin it would have been heard.

Angel dropped onto one knee and produced a small box from somewhere in his coat.  Buffy felt her heart begin to race.  Her mouth went dry and she felt herself about to faint from shock.

"Buffy, in two-hundred and fifty years, I've only ever loved one woman.  If it weren't for you, I would never have found my friends, my family or who I really am.  You've given me so many things over the years, and…if you'll have me, I want to spend the rest of my life showing you how much I love you.  Will you marry me?"

True to form, Buffy couldn't resist making some sort of smart-ass comment in even the most serious of situations.

"I thought we already were married," she whispered, emotion clogging her voice.

Angel couldn't help but smile.

"I want to give you a proper wedding, with a real wedding dress, surrounded by our friends and family.  What do you say?"

"As if I could ever say no to you."

Angel grinned widely and swept Buffy into a tight hug, tears streaming down both their faces.  With some tricky manoeuvring, and without letting go of the hug, Angel slid a white-gold claddagh ring onto Buffy's finger.  He'd bought it just after Buffy had left LA and before they'd discovered the truth about the Beastmaster.  He'd been planning on asking her to marry him on their return from Sunnydale, if he made it out alive.

Now that he was alive, whole, human and happy, he wasn't about to waste a single second of his life.  

END

Awwww….mush.  NO SEQUEL!! 

I just want to say a big thank you to everyone who has been following/emailing/reviewing this fic.  It seriously means a lot to me to know that you're enjoying this.  Thanks heaps for sticking with it through to the end!!

Toodles.

Kattie.