Authors Notes : I really hope you all like it, its sad, but there's a happy ending. Its not like "sad, now I hafta die" sad. Unshed Tears is kinda like a present to all those people out there upset about Riley becoming a regular. Greasy INBRED fishboy... anywayz, again, I hope you all like it!
Distribution : ask me first
Song : This song is called "When I Saw You" by Mariah Carey, if you want to download the song email me separately and I'll give you the link
DISCLAIMER : Buffy, Angel, Giles, Willow, and Xander are NOT mine cause, hey, I'm not that mean to them. Don't sue cuz it makes me sad.
Classification : Buffy/Angel with mention of the rest of the Scooby gang.

Soft heavenly eyes gazed into me
Transcending space and time
And I was rendered still
There were no words for me to find at all
As I stood there beside myself
I could see you and no-one else

Buffy sat in the corner of her room in Giles' apartment. She had been staying there for the past three days.

She had lost all her friends in Hemery. She had burned down the gym. She had been the total outcast. She had died at the hands of the Master. She had stopped the end of the world more times than she could count. She had sent her lover to hell for the world.

But, in time, she had become stronger for it all. Buffy accepted it, cried her tears and lived with it. She was a survivor, she was The Slayer. The one girl in all the world chosen to protect humanity from vampires. In her times of trouble, knowing that made her feel slightly more secure. Knowing she was the one chosen made her feel strong.

But Buffy no longer felt strong. She didn't feel strong enough to thwart evil, she didn't feel strong enough to face the world...She didn't feel strong enough to stay at her own apartment alone.

She no longer had the strength to cry.

When I saw you
When I saw you
I could not breathe
I fell so deep
When I saw you
When I saw you
I'd never be
I'd never be the same

Angel stepped out the car, the Sunnydale winds blowing all around him as he closed the door. He closed his eyes for a short moment, preparing himself for what lay ahead.

He once said that he was the "worlds best actor." And recently he realized he could not only fool others into believing his "act", he could fool himself. He couldn't pretend any longer. He couldn't pretend that he wasn't consumed by guilt over what he did as Angelus. He couldn't pretend that he left because of Buffy's future, not his own self-hatred and selfishness.

Angel couldn't stand his own guilt and fear so he pushed her away. The love of his love who was the only one who held his salvation.

He pushed her away.

Only once in a lifetime love rushes in
Changing you with the tide
And dawn's ribbon of light
Bursts through the dark
Wakening you inside
And I thought it was all untrue
Until there, all at once, I knew

Buffy stared mindlessly at the mirror, desperately searching for her reflection, not willing to believe she was a vampire.

"A vampire casts no refection," the broken girl whispered, remembering her first watchers words explaining the characteristics of the undead.

Unable to stand the sight of her non-existent reflection in the mirror, she abruptly turned away, only to see a half eaten bowl of blood that her friends had left for her. The thought of drinking it made Buffy want to throw up, yet she couldn't deny that the demon in her craved it.

Knowing that only made Buffy hate herself more.

When I saw you
When I saw you
I could not breathe
I fell so deep
When I saw you
When I saw you
I'd never be
I'd never be the same

Angel walked slowly, his heart leading him forward but his fear dragging him along the sidewalk. Giles had called him a just three days ago, telling him to come to Sunnydale. Telling him that His Slayer had been...turned.

Rage had consumed him like none he had ever felt when he heard the news. Rage and a new-found loathing for himself. He had pushed her away, he hadn't been there and Buffy's death had been the outcome.

But with the rage and loathing, he took on a new purpose. When he went to Las Angeles, he went with the purpose to atone for his sins by fighting demons and ridding the city of the vampire threat. But the city didn't get any better, no less evil roamed then when he first came, leaving him feeling strangely empty.

His new purpose would be to heal his beloved, even if he couldn't heal himself from the scars that Angelus left with him. Angel knew that though well-meaning, Giles, Willow and Xander couldn't save Buffy from herself and would only prove to remind her of what she had lost.

He would heal her, make her well no matter how afraid he was. He would overcome his fear for her and end his selfishness to save her.

In the distance, Angel saw a sight that stuck a chord of fear into his undead heart. He had reached the apartment.

With no beginning
And without an end
You are the one for me
And it's evident
And your eyes told me so
Your eyes let me know

She had no one. Her failure had lost her the friends she held so dear, her failure had cost her everything. Long ago, she would have run to her love, the one she thought would NEVER abandon her... Buffy believed that when he left, it was for the best. It was logical, it was...for the good of both of them, not knowing the pain that would come with his absence. She had believed that when he left, he left for love. To give her a normal life, without the darkness. Now she was no longer naive enough to believe.

Two years ago when she went to Los Angeles to see him, he barely seemed phased, almost stoic in his lack of emotion. She commuted to LA. to tell him not to see her, putting more emotional distance between them. And he, in turn said that they should forget. Forget their love, forget the past. It was obvious to her that he had moved on.

It was all she could do not to cry. She had made a decision after she betrayed Angel with Parker that she would never succumb to such weakness. She decided to harden her heart, never to let anyone drive her to such frailty.

Now, in the time of her greatest sorrow, she could not mourn for her lost life. She felt the pain, but could no longer embrace and accept it like she could in the past. Her "strength" had now become her greatest weakness.

Lying on the cold hardwood floor, staring numbly at the mirror once again, Buffy Summers drowned in her own self-destructing self-pity. Too consumed with her pain to notice the door opening...

When I saw you
When I saw you
I could not breathe
I fell so deep
When I saw you
When I saw you
I'd never be
I'd never be the same

He entered the room, the unusually cold air sending chills up his spine. He felt his undead heart break as he saw his beloved lying on the floor, sadly staring at the mirror with longing. And with that, he too felt himself staring into that same mirror with a similar sorrow. And the two star-crossed lovers just resided there, caught in a moment of reflection.

Breaking from her daze, Buffy quietly realized that someone had entered her room. A small twinge of anger run through her, clearly telling Giles that she did not want to be disturbed. But she resigned her indignation, slowly turning around ready to face whoever it was that had disturbed her.

And her newly-undead heart stopped. Staring in awe of his beauty, Buffy felt her throat constrict and her eyes well up.

When I saw you
When I saw you
I could not breathe
I fell so deep
When I saw you
When I saw you
I'd never be
I'd never be the same

Realizing that he was being watched, Angel broke his gaze from the mirror. He stared into his beloved's eyes for the first time in years, her hazel eyes peering into his soul like no other ever had. Her eyes pierced his heart, feeling all the pain and loss that the held. After all the time that had passed, he loved her still.

Losing herself in his presence, Buffy tried to speak but she could not, still awed by his arrival. She desperately searched his eyes, losing herself in them, like no time had passed. Staring into his pain-filled eyes, she found the answer she was searching for. He had comeback to her, he loved her still.

With that realization, she stood and was overcome with a flood of emotions. Before she knew it, her eyes were filled with unshed tears and Buffy ran to her lost love, pulling him to her in an intimate embrace.

At a loss for words, Angel wrapped his arms around her, shuddering at the pleasure of her touch. It had been so long...

Breathing in his scent, Buffy felt his arms around her, comforting her like he had once when she conquered the Master. Trembling at the familiarity of his embrace, the broken slayer sobbed her tears of pain and joy.

The two soul mates just stood there together, the sound of the chosen one's tears resonating in the cold damp room. And the ex-slayer and vampire stayed in each others arms for eternity, where they belonged.

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