She wouldn’t think about her future, so he did. It would be a long future, he hoped, and there were many different ways that it could go.
Buffy would graduate from high school in under two years. College could open up a wealth of potential careers for her, allowing her to earn a living and build expertise in some field other than slaying. She was a born leader, and Angel could see her running a company of her own someday. Maybe she would base it in Sunnydale so that she could stay close enough to the Hellmouth to keep an eye on supernatural activity, but she wouldn’t let herself be defined by killing vampires.
Angel would stay in Sunnydale too, guarding her from the shadows, identifying every threat to her city and eliminating them whenever possible. One day he would die in her service, but few would even know that he had existed.
Or maybe Buffy would choose to go out of state, leaving the Hellmouth in capable hands and concentrating wholly on her own dreams. She would always want to help people, but there were ways to do that beyond what destiny had decided for her. Ways that she could use her strength without revealing it to the world, and thereby put her intelligence and compassion into the spotlight instead. If she gave herself to law enforcement she would rise quickly, spend the rest of her life being honored for her achievements.
Angel would do his best to take over her duties in Sunnydale. She would contact him secretly whenever she needed intel about the underworld. Every few years he might see her in person; it would be a privilege just to watch her gracefully growing old.
Life might take some unlikely turns for the Slayer. For all they knew, a world without vampires could become a reality -- orchestrated, no doubt, by Buffy’s own efforts. Then she and her mother could find out what Sunnydale was like without the high mortality, and her friends could walk at night without fear, and Giles could retire from the meddling Watchers’ Council and even return to England, if he chose. Buffy might like to go with him, for a time. She might like to travel the world.
If Angel was the only vampire left in the world, he knew what he would do. He would follow Buffy for as long as she wanted him, and if he had to be away from her, he would protect her from afar. No other vampires meant that he could reduce the number of common criminals instead.
Buffy might find a husband someday, and although Angel didn’t like to think about that, he knew he would never interfere unless the man was in some way a danger to her. She might want children -- he had a sense that she would, regardless of how she felt about it now. Whether she was the Slayer or not, married or single, a waitress or the United States President, she would be a good mother and she deserved to become one.
Angel would stay in the shadows, always near but unseen, and protect her and her children, and, if he lasted that long, her children’s children.
There was one scenario that he kept coming back to, although he tried to be sensible and reject it: What if Buffy chose to stay, not just in Sunnydale, but with Angel? What if she didn’t grow out of this state of contented love that she was in now -- the same state where he would remain forever? There was so little that he could give her. She was already making sacrifices for his sake, keeping secrets and giving up time that she could have spent on any number of things. What else would she have to lose before she acknowledged the hardest truth between them?
Angel called himself immortal, but he knew he wasn’t. Like every other vampire, he was already dead, and someday what remained of him would be gone, too. He only wished he knew when it would come, and that each day that brought him closer to it would change him, like each day changed a human life.
There was no need to wonder what would happen to him a year from now, or five, or a hundred. All he saw was her.
Buffy would graduate from high school in under two years. College could open up a wealth of potential careers for her, allowing her to earn a living and build expertise in some field other than slaying. She was a born leader, and Angel could see her running a company of her own someday. Maybe she would base it in Sunnydale so that she could stay close enough to the Hellmouth to keep an eye on supernatural activity, but she wouldn’t let herself be defined by killing vampires.
Angel would stay in Sunnydale too, guarding her from the shadows, identifying every threat to her city and eliminating them whenever possible. One day he would die in her service, but few would even know that he had existed.
Or maybe Buffy would choose to go out of state, leaving the Hellmouth in capable hands and concentrating wholly on her own dreams. She would always want to help people, but there were ways to do that beyond what destiny had decided for her. Ways that she could use her strength without revealing it to the world, and thereby put her intelligence and compassion into the spotlight instead. If she gave herself to law enforcement she would rise quickly, spend the rest of her life being honored for her achievements.
Angel would do his best to take over her duties in Sunnydale. She would contact him secretly whenever she needed intel about the underworld. Every few years he might see her in person; it would be a privilege just to watch her gracefully growing old.
Life might take some unlikely turns for the Slayer. For all they knew, a world without vampires could become a reality -- orchestrated, no doubt, by Buffy’s own efforts. Then she and her mother could find out what Sunnydale was like without the high mortality, and her friends could walk at night without fear, and Giles could retire from the meddling Watchers’ Council and even return to England, if he chose. Buffy might like to go with him, for a time. She might like to travel the world.
If Angel was the only vampire left in the world, he knew what he would do. He would follow Buffy for as long as she wanted him, and if he had to be away from her, he would protect her from afar. No other vampires meant that he could reduce the number of common criminals instead.
Buffy might find a husband someday, and although Angel didn’t like to think about that, he knew he would never interfere unless the man was in some way a danger to her. She might want children -- he had a sense that she would, regardless of how she felt about it now. Whether she was the Slayer or not, married or single, a waitress or the United States President, she would be a good mother and she deserved to become one.
Angel would stay in the shadows, always near but unseen, and protect her and her children, and, if he lasted that long, her children’s children.
There was one scenario that he kept coming back to, although he tried to be sensible and reject it: What if Buffy chose to stay, not just in Sunnydale, but with Angel? What if she didn’t grow out of this state of contented love that she was in now -- the same state where he would remain forever? There was so little that he could give her. She was already making sacrifices for his sake, keeping secrets and giving up time that she could have spent on any number of things. What else would she have to lose before she acknowledged the hardest truth between them?
Angel called himself immortal, but he knew he wasn’t. Like every other vampire, he was already dead, and someday what remained of him would be gone, too. He only wished he knew when it would come, and that each day that brought him closer to it would change him, like each day changed a human life.
There was no need to wonder what would happen to him a year from now, or five, or a hundred. All he saw was her.
