"My daughter is not your wife," Ira Rosenberg stated emphatically.
"Willow would not get married or even engaged without her mother's and
my approval and consent." He turned to the doctor. "This man is
lying."
There was nothing, short of the bogus papers he had ordered Merle to
forge, that Angel could do or say to convince Willow's parents that he
was in fact her husband. Angel didn't care what they thought, he was
more concerned that the doctor looked uncertain. If he decided to
take Willow's parent's word over his....
"He's not lying." Help came from an unexpected source as Xander stood
beside Angel. "I was there. Angel and Willow are married."
While Ira Rosenberg's face started to turn red, Sheila wiped a tear
from her eye. "Why didn't she tell us, Xander? I know we were a
bit...harsh with her when she decided to stay in Sunnydale, but that
was only because she has so much potential...we didn't understand why
she would want to stay here." She turned to Angel. An open plea for
understanding in her eyes. "Was it because of you? Was it because
she loved you that she wanted to stay here and go to school? Why
didn't she just tell us that? I would have understood."
"She didn't stay in Sunnydale because of me, I live in L. A. Willow
had..commitments here." Angel really didn't know what to say to the
woman, he would need a clearer head to keep track of his lies before
he told her anything else. Right now, he had only one thing on his
mind. "The respirator stays on as long as she needs it. Willow will
wake up."
"You still haven't answered my wife's original question. Why would
Willow keep your relationship from us? Alexander?"
Xander looked to Angel. He really didn't have an answer to that one.
He knew why Willow was keeping her relationship with Tara from them,
she knew they wouldn't understand it and she was afraid that they would
cut her out of their lives totally. There was really no reason why
she would have kept a relationship with Angel a secret. Somehow Xander
doubted that Willow's practical parents would believe that the reason
why their daughter hid her marriage was because the groom was a two
hundred and forty-eight year old vampire.
Luckily, Angel had a much more plausible excuse. "I'm Catholic," he
blurted out.
"Oh, man, you should have gone with 'I'm a vampire,'" Xander mumbled
under his breath just loud enough for Angel to hear.
If Ira Rosenberg had been a less controlled man, he would have
exploded. Instead he just clenched his fists and gritted out, "Willow
was married by a priest? She converted."
"No," Angel protested, realizing his mistake. It was bad enough in Ira
Rosenberg's eyes that his daughter had married a man without his
approval, but for Willow to also have disregarded the fundamental
beliefs that she had been taught... "I respect Willow's beliefs and
she respects mine."
"It was a civil ceremony, with a judge," Xander jumped in. He still
remembered that time Willow's Dad had caught them watching 'A Charlie
Brown Christmas.' He had scowled disapprovingly every time he had saw
them for a month, poor Willow had hung her head in shame so often that
she had developed a crick in her neck. The last thing that his Wils
needed was to wake up from a coma and find herself a Catholic married
to a vampire totally disowned by her Jewish parents. Xander let out a
silent sigh as Ira Rosenberg visibly calmed down, unclenching his fists
while his color returned to normal.
"I...I'm not a practicing Catholic," Angel added. He didn't have much
experience with parents - as a human he had avoided them and as a
vampire he had just killed them - really his only experience had been
with Joyce Summers. This was different, he was claiming to be married
to Willow and his upbringing would have demanded that he approach
Willow's father first and ask his permission to court his daughter, not
just marry her. What the hell was his thinking? He wasn't really
married to Willow! He had no reason to feel uncomfortable and ashamed
of his actions. Angel turned to the doctor, who had wisely stayed
quiet during the family squabble. Angel assumed that the rest of the
Scooby gang was just flabbergasted. "Can I see her now?"
"Of course, but only two visitors and only for a short period of time."
"I'm not leaving her."
"Of course not," the doctor readily agreed with Angel. "She's been
moved to a private room in ICU. It's down the hall and to your left.
The nurse on duty will point you in the right direction."
Angel turned to head that way when he felt a hand on his arm. "May I
go with you, Angel?" Sheila Rosenberg asked softly. Angel nodded and
she followed him down the hall.
Buffy waited until Angel and Willow's mother disappeared around the
corner and Willow's father walked away with the doctor before she said
anything. "What the hell was that all about? Angel and Willow
married! And what possessed you to help Angel lie?" She turned on
Xander, pointing an accusing finger at him. Intellectually, Buffy
understood Angel's reasoning - he could keep Willow alive because as
her husband, any decisions about life support would be made by him -
but it still hurt. Angel had once told her that because of the curse,
he wasn't allowed to move on, and Buffy had been glad. If Angel
couldn't move on and love someone else, then that meant that he would
always love her. As the slayer, Buffy knew that she would never have
a normal life, would probably never have children and that eventually
her friends and family would die too. There would be no one to
remember her, no one to know about the sacrifices she had made, no one
to love her - except Angel. As long as Angel lived and loved her, then
a part of her would always be alive. Buffy knew it was selfish, but it
was how she felt. She didn't want Angel to be Willow's husband, not
even in pretend. He belonged to her.
"He saved her life, Buffy. Mr. Rosenberg wasn't joking, he was going
to have that respirator removed and there was no way we could convince
him otherwise." Xander glared at Buffy. "What's the matter, isn't
Willow important enough to put a dent in your 'Buffy and Angel forever'
shrine? Angel seems to think so." Xander swallowed the bitter taste
his words left in his mouth. He knew he shouldn't lash out at Buffy.
She was as confused and scared as the rest of them, but she was alive.
Willow had sacrificed her life for Buffy's and Buffy wouldn't even let
go of a relationship that should have died a long time ago.
"Of course Willow is more important. I was just..surprised...and hurt
that Angel even thought about pretending to be Willow's husband. I
didn't think he saw her that way."
"I wasn't surprised. Willow's beautiful. Why do you think I was so
worried about Xander having sex with her?" Anya peevishly offered her
opinion. All these silly emotions humans felt were starting to annoy
her. She liked the feelings that sex caused - the love, the pleasure -
she even liked feeling friendship, but the pain, jealousy, and
confusion she could do without. It was stupid for Buffy and Xander to
be fighting when they should be happy that Buffy was alive and that
Willow would get better. And she couldn't believe that none of them
had noticed how Angel looked at Willow. She had only seen them
together that one time at Thanksgiving when Xander had been sick and it
had been obvious to her that they both cared about each other more than
they both wanted to admit. These people had spent years with them
and hadn't noticed their burgeoning attraction at all. Anya shook her
head. Denial, thy name is Buffy and Xander. "Angel has feelings for
Willow and she has feelings for him."
"Willow is my best friend," Buffy protested.
"I noticed it too," Spike confirmed Anya's observation. He was kind of
glad that the moron had interrupted his weak moment with the Slayer.
It was obvious that she still loved his grandsire. Spike could live
with her thinking that his feelings were a mere crush, but if she knew
the true depths of his love and was unable to return it, he couldn't
live with that. He had spent over a century with one woman who was
overly infatuated with Angel, he couldn't do it again.
"We'll save the debate about Willow and Angel's feelings for when
Willow is awake and well," Giles cut in, placing a calming hand on
Buffy's shoulder. "Right now I need to know what happened so we can
begin researching. There may be a way to bring Willow out of this
coma that has nothing to do with modern medicine." The group nodded.
Now they were on familiar ground, researching the supernatural bad for
the solution. "Dawn, I need you to tell me what happened." Dawn
nodded and they all took seats in the waiting area. Hopefully by the
time Angel came back from seeing Willow, they would have a way to
bring her back to them.
*****
It was true. At first Sheila hadn't been certain that it wasn't a lie,
but seeing Angel with her daughter convinced her. He loved Willow. He
was her husband. She just stood back and watched as Angel caressed
Willow's bright red hair, a recessive genetic trait given that both her
and Ira's hair was a more sedate brown. It looked even more vibrant
against the whiteness of her surroundings and the pallor of her skin.
"Willow, honey, it's okay. It's me, Angel. I'm here with you and I'm
not going to leave you," Angel murmured close to Willow's ear. He
brushed a kiss to her temple, trying to ignore the constant whir and
hum of the machines that kept Willow with him. "You're going to be
fine. Your mother is here with me."
Taking her cue, Sheila reached for her daughter's hand. "Sweetie, you
rest and get better. There are a lot of people who love you.
Especially your husband." She took a seat beside Willow across from
Angel. His eyes never left her daughter's face as he stroked her cheek
gently. "How long have you known Willow?"
"Five years. I, uh, used to go out with Buffy." Angel decided to
stick to the truth as much as he could, that way there was less of a
chance of getting tripped up. "Willow and I kept in touch after I
moved to L. A."
"And what do you do there?"
"I'm a private investigator. I do pretty well. Willow was going to
move to L. A. and transfer to UCLA once her term in Sunnydale was
over."
"Oh. When did you get married?" There was a slight catch to Sheila's
voice. It hurt that Willow had kept something so important from her.
She knew that she wasn't as involved in Willow's life as she should be,
but she had always thought that she would at least know that her
daughter was married. And that she would have met the groom and been
at the wedding.
"Not that long ago, only a month. It was spontaneous, we were going to
tell you once you came back from your trip." Angel took a shot in the
dark and hoped that Willow's parents had just arrived back in town
from one of their many 'conferences.' The lies were coming too easily.
He had no trouble picturing it. He could see himself arriving at
Willow's dorm room one night, breathless with desire and impatience.
He would have swept her into a big hug, kissing her senseless and
declaring that he couldn't live another moment without her. Then he
would have asked her to marry him. Willow would have been stunned, her
lips parted in surprise, but her bright green eyes glinted with
anticipation and excitement. He had barely been able to hear her
soft 'yes,' but he had and they had tracked down a judge, grabbing
Xander and Anya along the way to witness. Xander had been a pain,
grumbling about how in the world his best friend could be crazy enough
to be marrying Deadboy, but he knew how happy Willow was and didn't
protest too loudly.
"That's wonderful. It's exactly what I would have wanted for Willow.
But why would Xander refer to you as 'Deadboy?'"
Angel started at Sheila's voice. He hadn't realized that he had
vocalized the fiction his mind had spun. His mind struggled back to
reality as he thought of an answer to Sheila's question. "He thinks
I'm really boring." It worried Angel how effortlessly his mind had
shifted from a 'might have been' to a 'how it happened' way of
thinking. A small pang of guilt twinged in him. In all the years he
had been obsessively in love with Buffy, he had never once fantasized
about marrying her.
He was still dwelling on that fact when Sheila stood up. "I'll leave
you alone with Willow now. I just wanted to see her. You have to
understand, Ira does love her very much, he couldn't stand to see her
suffering or in pain. I think that he's afraid that if he didn't make
the decision now, he wouldn't be able to later." She touched Angel's
hand. "Thank you, Angel, for taking care of our daughter and making
her happy."
"I'll always take care of her," Angel vowed. He brought Willow's
spiritless hand to his lips and kissed it and then rested it against
his cheek. He didn't notice when Sheila left the room.
Or when someone else entered. "How long are you going to wait to turn
her?" Spike asked curiously. He entered the room just enough to close
the door.
"I don't have to turn her, she's alive." Spike noticed that Angel
wasn't completely appalled by the idea of turning Willow. He also
noticed that Angel didn't say he wouldn't, he was considering it.
"Don't wait too long, Peaches, her muscles will turn to mush and her
hair will go grey. Not attractive features in a vampire."
Instead of snarling at him, Angel talked as if he hadn't heard Spike's
jibe. "I could feel it, when she died. A searing pain in my chest,
like my soul wanted to leave with hers." Angel was quiet.
"Why didn't it?" The question wasn't sarcastic this time, Spike really
wanted to know. He slipped into the chair vacated by Willow's mother.
He had come into the room because he was bored with the 'Save Willow'
project the others were so engrossed in and Buffy was ignoring him, so
he had decided to get a rise out of Angel. He had also wanted to
reconfirm his suspicion that Angel wasn't just playing white knight
and that the witch had replaced the slayer in his heart.
"Maybe because her soul didn't leave. It's still there," Angel finally
answered. "When the gypsy who had done the original curse died, I
felt it, but it wasn't the same. My soul didn't want to leave with
hers."
Spike's eyebrows rose. This was news to him, but it's not like he was
ever interested in the intricacies of his grandsire's curse before.
"You can feel what Red feels?"
"I tried not to, it always felt like an invasion of her privacy, but
some things still filter through the connection. The gypsy woman had
used it to send me hate. She hated me with every fibre of her being
and when she died, it was a relief at first. The hate was gone, but
the guilt was worse." Angel stopped talking, lost in his memories of
pain and despair. Spike waited anxiously for him to speak again.
Suddenly, he wanted to know more about his grandsire, he wanted to
understand how his soul influenced him - besides making him the Poofter
he was. Maybe it would help him to understand how this bloody chip
worked in his head, it sure was bringing out the sap in him with the
way he had fallen for the Slayer and how he doted on Dawn. "Willow
never really hated anything," Angel mercifully continued before Spike
broke down and asked him. "She even liked you. I didn't think it was
possible for that much love to exist in one person and I didn't feel
worthy enough to be privy to it. I shut down the connection as much
as I could, which was quite a bit considering that Willow wasn't aware
of it." Angel laid his head on Willow's chest and clutched her hand
tighter. "Please, Willow, let me in again."
The bleedin' chip really had turned his brain to mush. Spike actually
felt sorry for Angel instead of the anger and envy. Spike took
Willow's other small hand in his own and gave it a squeeze. "Don't
worry, mate, she'll come back to you. The birds never could resist
you."
Angel looked up at Spike and gave him a small smile of gratitude before
closing his eyes and nestling his head more comfortably on Willow's
chest. He could hear her heart beat sure and strong. He used it as he
looked deep inside himself to guide him to the part of his soul
connected to Willow. He had to open the link and use it to help her.
She was in there somewhere and she was hurt, frightened, and alone.
She needed him. He needed her more.
*****
"Willow used your energy as the Key to restore Buffy's soul to her
body and she told Angel to break the connection when she started to
draw more power," Giles summed up the events that Dawn just finished
explaining. He took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his
nose. "What happened after Angel broke the connection?"
"Willow finished the spell and Buffy was alive again." Dawn yawned.
She smiled sleepily at her sister. "We were all so happy. Spike and I
were hugging her and I was crying. Willow was standing away from us
with Angel. Then she collapsed and he caught her. He said she was
dead."
"That's when I told Dawn to call nine-one-one and I started CPR," Buffy
took over. "What happened, Giles?"
"I'm not certain. It sounds like some sort of magical backlash from
the broken connection between Willow and Dawn."
"But she'll be okay, right?" Xander asked desperately. "We just have
to wait for her to wake up and then she'll be okay. One hundred
percent Willow."
"I don't know, Xander. It's difficult to ascertain what damage was
done and if Willow can recover from it. Maybe if I had the spell, I
could do more research. Where's the book?"
Blank stares met Giles' question. Dawn shrugged. "Maybe it's still at
the funeral home," Buffy suggested. "I'll go get it."
"Don't bother." Tara's voice stopped Buffy as she rose from her chair.
The normally timid looking blond's face was set in hard lines. She
handed a small black book to Giles. She glared at Buffy. "Willow
killed herself to bring you back. She knew what would happen and she
won't recover. The book is useless. She's dead and there's nothing
any of you can do to bring her back."
