"Buffy!" Joyce Summers tapped on her daughter's doorway loudly. "Honey, get up! You're friends are here!" Buffy moaned and grumbled, before covering her head with a pillow.
"Idonwannagetup." She mumbled under the pillow.
"You're gonna be late for school." Joyce said, stepping into the doorway.
"It's a half day." Buffy said, not bothering to open her eyes. "I don't have to be there until one." Cordelia, dressed in her cheerleading uniform, and Willow, dressed in overalls, followed into the room.
"Buffy, come on." Willow said, smiling at her sleepy friend.
"Yeah, we're meeting the guys for a movie at the mall before we go to school, remember? And there's the cutest skirt I so need to get at this store, and Pierre is only holding it until twelve. So hurry your butt up!" Cordelia said, shaking Buffy, who laid buried under the covers.
"Idonwannago."
Joyce raised her hands up in resignation and looked at the girls before shrugging. "I'll leave you to convince her." She told the two girls, before she left.
"Hey, Buff! Come on, get your Slayer butt up!" Cordelia scolded, sitting on the bed nearest to the window. Willow smiled and headed toward her closet.
"I'll get some clothes for your to wear."
"You're choosing her clothes? Will, no offense but you're fashion sense-"
"Okay, I'm up!" Buffy finally said, opening one eye and tossing the covers aside. "Just shut up for a minute! It's too early to hear that from you two." She mumbled, stretching once quickly. Cordelia was going to retort, but her eyes caught something on the window sill and she got up.
"Uh, Buff? You got a note." She said, picking up the envelope, and handing it to the Slayer sitting crosslegged on the bed. Willow watched curiously from the open closet while Cordelia sat next to Buffy on the bed. They waited silently while Buffy studied it.
"It's from Angel." She said and quickly opened it. As she read it, her eyes widened, and she read it again. Her hand began to tremble, and suddenly she began to whimper. She dropped the note in her lap and raised her hands to her face as she began to cry.
"Buffy?" Cordelia looked worried, and she placed a hand on her shoulder, Buffy leaned toward her and sobbed. Cordelia let her cry in her arms, her eyes alarmed as she looked up at Willow. Willow came quickly from the other side of the room and picked up the note, scanning the contents quickly. What she read made her gasp.
Dear Buffy,
I have to go. I know you don't understand why, but what you said to me last night It really strikes home. You see, I love you so much. And I know that right now, when I'm around you, I'm only causing you pain, and that's all I'll cause you, until we can both forget the past. I'm leaving, going on a trek, finding some bad guys that need to be stopped. I don't know long I'll be gone. But I do know that I love you, I'll always love you, Buffy. Please don't hate me. We need to forget the past to have a future, and right now, the past is just too close. I'll be back. I promise. I don't know how long I'll be gone, but I'll be back, when I can't hurt you anymore. I love you Buffy.
Angel
"He's gone." Willow whispered. Cordelia's eyes widened as she looked at the hacker from above Buffy's head.
"Buffy?" They both looked at the girl, who had finally calmed down. Neither of them knew what to say.
She closed her eyes, as one lone tear dropped from her eyes. She wiped it away quickly as she looked at the cheerleader and the hacker who were each watching their unofficial leader with a concerned look.
"Are you okay?" Willow asked softly.
Buffy took a deep breath. "No I'm not," she began unsteadily. "But Angel's right. We can't be together right now. I knew that in my heart. I just didn't want to accept it."
"What are you doing to do?"
Buffy sniffed as she looked at her friends, and thought of Xander, and Oz, and Giles. Each one of them would willingly die for her. They all loved her, though Cordelia would never admit it. She smiled through her pain. And she loved all of them, though she would never admit it to Cordelia.
"I'll go on. And I'll wait. He'll come back, when we can't hurt each other anymore. And in the meantime " she suddenly grinned, even as a tear fell. "I've got you babe! I've got you babe!" Willow and Cordelia stared at her in horror.
"Is she actually singing?" Cordelia asked Willow. Willow stared at Buffy searchingly for a long time, and finally smiled back.
"Yeah, I think she is." She joined in Buffy's song. Cordelia did everything but gag as she put her hands over her ears and began to chant cheers loudly to drown out the noise.
"Come on, Cordy! Join in!" Buffy said, tossing a pillow at the Ice Queen's head.
"I got you babe!" Willow pushed Cordelia down and sang in her ear.
"I got you babe!"
"Stop it!" Cordelia shrieked, laughing even as the words came out. Buffy pulled her hands from her ears.
"I've got you babe!"
"You guys are losers! I mean it!" Cordelia giggled as she scrambled to get away from them.
"I've got you babe!"
"Sing with us, Cordy!" They grabbed her and pushed her down.
"Fine, if you two promise to shut up after one chorus, I'll sing with you okay?" They smiled and nodded, letting her go.
"I've got you babe!" They all began to laugh furiously as they collapsed on Buffy's bed. "I've got you babe!"
The sound drifted out onto the street, and on the corner, a dark car stood on the curve. The windows were darkly tinted, almost black. One window went down slowly, and peering warily out of it, was Angel, listening to chorus of female voices.
"I've got you to walk with me! I've got you to walk with me!" Giggles interuppted, and Angel unconsciously smiled.
"I've got you babe! Da DA! Da Da! Da Da! Da Da! I've got you babe!"
Angel looked up at the window and the laughing girls. "That's right, Buffy." He whispered. "You'll always have me." And with that, he closed the window. The car moved off in the direction to the fastest way out of town.
"I've got you babe!"
"Okay, I sang the dumb song!"
"The sun will come out, tommorrow! Betcha you're bottom dollar that tommorrow -"
"Buffy, no, not Annie!"
"There'll be sun!"
"Tommorrow! Tommorrow! I love ya! Tommorrow!"
"No, not you too, Willow!"
"You're only a day away!"
"You're all morons!"
"You love us that way, Cordy, shut up and sing."
"Tommorrow! Tommorrow! I love ya, tommorrow! You're only, a day awaaaaaaaayyyyyyyy!"