TITLE: Late
NAME: Erynn
RATING: PG-13
SUMMARY: Angel is late for a very important date
SPOILERS: Up to Innocence.
NOTES: This is my first Willow/Angel. Please be gentle
but generous with the feedback. DISTRIBUTION: If you
want it. Just ask
DISCLAIMER: They don't belong to me, thank Joss.
DEDICATION: To Ruby, for all that wonderful fic she
produces at 3am in the morning.
____________________________________________________

"It's midnight, and he's not here." Willow muttered
angrily. She was supposed to meet Angel at her place
at nine, and he was three hours late.

'That's it', she thought, angrily 'I'm not doing this
anymore!'

'I don't care if the world has to be saved. That's
what the Slayer is for. He doesn't have to help her
*every* night.' A little voice in her head added.

The worst part was, she'd had a really lousy day, and
had been looking forward to some smoochies from her
lover to cheer her up. 'Instead he stands me up,
without so much as a phone call. '

"It's not the seventeenth century anymore, Dead-boy",
she muttered venomously to herself, "The telephone was
invented a while ago."

'This isn't the first time he's stood you up, either.'
The voice continued. 'Last week there was that stupid
Incubus demon thing, that had to be defeated. And last
month, that whole losing the soul again thing. Of
course, that was partly your fault, but you did fix
it, and fixed the curse too, so that he wouldn't lose
it a third time. And he did thank you rather nicely
for that.......' The little voice was getting
distracted.

Willow roused herself from *that* memory, and reminded
herself that she had better things to do than waiting
around for some soul-laden vampire who didn't even
care enough to tell her he'd be late. Grabbing a
couple of crosses, some holy water, and her spellbook,
Willow completed the ritual to uninvite him from her
house. At two o'clock, she fell into bed, exhausted.

She woke up sometime later to an insistent banging at
the front door. Her alarm clock informed her that it
was 4 am and she made her way downstairs, cursing
certain stupid vampires that thought everybody had the
same timetable.

However, the person at the door was Buffy. Willow
briefly noticed that she was bleeding from a large
gash in one shoulder, before she realised that Buffy
was holding Angel's leather jacket. "What happened?"
She cried, motioning for the slayer to come in. Buffy
followed, but the jacket was jerked out of her hand as
Angel appeared behind her. He looked as bad as the
Slayer, Willow realised, taking in his bedraggled
appearance.

"Angel!" Buffy exclaimed, obviously amazed. "Are you
all right? I thought-" Angel cut her off. "I know what
you thought. But you were wrong. I'm very alive- er,
undead. You just left me there! But," he continued, "
let's not talk about that now. I'm a bit busy right
now. I had a date, tonight." He looked at Willow, and
a light smoldered in his eyes. She gulped, and he
grinned. Then he walked straight into the invisible
barrier.

Buffy, who had been staring at Willow in dismay,
choked out a sob and brushed past Angel as she ran out
the door and into the night. Willow realised that she
hadn't actually known about herself and Angel, and a
fleeting thought of guilt passed through her mind
before her gaze met Angel's. 'He doesn't look happy.'

"You uninvited me?!" His voice was incredulous, and
Willow began to feel that her self-righteous anger of
earlier in the evening had not been quite founded.

"Uhhh....come in?" She asked, a little nervously.

"Damn straight." He muttered as he marched into her
living room, slamming the door behind him. 'He's not
going to start that whole brooding thing again, is
he?" Willow wondered anxiously.

She followed him into the room, but as she started to
explain, he motioned her to be quiet. "You uninvited
me?" he asked quietly. Willow nodded, and opened her
mouth to try again to explain, but he moved closer and
covered her mouth with his own.

Distractedly, Willow wondered how she could feel so
hot, when he was so cold, as his tongue coaxed hers to
play. When he released her, thought was difficult, and
speech impossible. "I'm sorry," Angel said, his brown
eyes doing that puppy thing that Willow couldn't
resist. "I'm so sorry, I'm late."

She could do nothing but nod, as he pushed her onto
the couch. He walked to the stereo and put on Willow's
favourite CD, before coming to sit down beside her.

"Let me show you how sorry I am." He whispered into
her ear, before beginning to nibble it gently. Willow
began to shiver, as much from her lack of real
clothing as from the vampire's ministrations.

Angel ceased his nuzzling of her neck. "Cold?" he
asked. Willow nodded, and he picked up her small form
in his arms and carried her up the stairs to her
bedroom, burying his face in her hair. He tucked her
gently into bed. She reached around his neck to bring
him closer, and he kissed her forehead gently, before
easing himself down beside her, on top of the covers.

He began placing feather-light kisses all over the
witch's face, murmuring 'sorry' between each kiss. For
a while she relaxed into her pillow, but when he
didn't stop with the sorry, and start with the
smoochies after a few minutes, she pulled away.

"All right, you're forgiven." She said, and *that*
smile broke out on his face. The one that made Willow
want to melt.

"Oh good." He grinned, and pulled the covers down. A
draught of cold air brushed across Willow's body. "Now
we can start with the date."

'He looks entirely too pleased with himself,' she
thought, 'for someone who was seven hours late. He's
going to have to work a little harder,' she decided as
she turned away from him, yawning. "It's after four,
Angel" she said. "I'm supposed to be sleeping."

There was silence behind her, and Willow fought the
urge to turn and look at what she was sure was a
priceless expression. "Aww, come on, love, I explained
about that." His hand crept up to the back of her
nightgown which, Willow realised too late, tied at the
back. He undid the tie, and his cold hand against her
back made her shiver in anticipation. Emboldened by
her response, his hand crept up to her shoulder and
down her arm.

"Yeah... and speaking of *that*, you promised me that
you would tell Buffy." She accused, hurt seeping into
her voice. "You *promised*." Willow rolled over to
stare at his handsome face.

"I did!" He cried indignantly. "I said that we
probably were not cut out to be together, and that we
should be adults about it, and -"

"And right about then is where she stopped listening
and started crying, right? And you just couldn't bear
to hurt her any more?" Her sarcastic tone cut deeply,
and she winced at his expression, a cross between a
puppy, and a child who'd just lost his favourite toy.

"Well...yes. But I thought she understood! It was
perfectly clear!"

"Yeah sure, Cryptic Guy, that would be clear to you!"

"Come on, Willow, honey. You can't blame me for not
wanting to hurt her. I-"

"Have a soul and can't bear to hurt anyone. Yeah I
know, I hear about it all the time." She rolled over
again, facing the window. She knew she was being
silly, but it hurt.

"Hey, you said I was forgiven." His tone was gentle
and pleading, and Willow felt herself start to give
in. Angel sensed it too, and pulled her close. "Look.
I promise I'll talk to her, tomorrow night. Try and
make her understand."

"Understand? This is Buffy. She doesn't understand
anything that isn't you and her together, forever. She
doesn't need to understand. She just needs to *know*."
She turned to face him, and noticed the moment the
brooding face started to take over his features. "NO!
No brooding on dates!" She cried.

His mouth turned up in a smile. "Sorry. I quite forgot
myself. I promise I'll tell her tomorrow night.
Happy?" Willow nodded, contentedly, and burrowed into
his arms.

"G'night Angel," She mumbled into his shoulder.

"G'ni- Hey, what?"

Willow lifted her head and grinned at the confounded
vampire impishly.

He growled and kissed her thoroughly.
*************************************
So, umm, yeah. What do you think?