If Only


TITLE: If Only
AUTHOR: Fyre
EMAIL: Fyredansa@hotmail.com
SUMMARY: Something's taken charge of time...and wackiness ensues!
FEEDBACK: Tell me what ya think...please?
DISTRIBUTION: "You got the stones" and anywhere else that wants it - ask if you want it.
SPOILERS: Buffy-S4/Angel-S1
COUPLE: W/S, B/R, B/A, C/Doyle
RATING: PG-13
DISCLAIMER: None of this is mine. I just play with it.
CLASSIFICATION: One insane moment of happiness...and I lost my soul! BWAHAHA!!!
NOTES: This is a challenge from "You got the stones?" - "Pairing: Buffy/Angel. MUST be B/A.
Rating: PG-13 or under.
Riley MUST die and be insulted and made fun of. Doyle must come back and Cordy has to kiss him. Spike and Willow preferably have to get together but it's not necessary. Angel MUST be turned into a human, yet still have his vamp strength, do this any way you please. Lots of B/A smoochies.
Must include all of the following: A slurpee, a caramilk bar, gum, the song "The Hardest Part of Breaking Up is Getting Back Your Stuff" by 2gether, a red rose, a white rose, Herbal Essence shampoo, a reference to ritilan, and last but not least: a dartboard with riley's picture on it. Well, there's your challenge, i wonder if any of you will be brave enough to accept it.. Bwahahahaah. Enjoy."
DEDICATED: Liza - for the titilating challenge
_________________________________________

Downing a glass of the glimmering golden liquid, Sidney glanced at Maevis. "They really don't like him, you know."

Maevis nodded serenely, an ethereal expression on her face. "I know." She cooed happily, her eyes still wandering over the series of images playing on the screen before them. Glancing over at her partner, she allowed a wicked smile to twitch at the corner of her lips. "I have an idea, sweet."

"What kind of...idea?"

The woman picked up the small remote control she had managed to…acquire with surprising ease from the PTB, toying with it, a delightfully devilish look in her innocent eyes.

"I say we should play with our little toys." She replied, inclining her head towards the screen. "We haven't done it for such a long time."

Leaning across the shabby couch, Sidney smirked, planting a kiss firmly on his lover's lips. "I love the way you think, Maev." He murmured against her mouth, his hand toying with her loose hair.

"So that's a yes?" Smiling, she rose to her feet, pulling him up with her. "In that case, we should dress more...appropriately for the situation, don't you agree?" She gestured at her patched bathrobe. "This really isn't fitting garb to wear when you're about to turn the cosmos on its head."

Sidney nodded with a grimace. "Back to the itchy togas then?" He asked, looking almost disappointed, as she nodded.

"Back to the togas." Grinning impishly at him, she chuckled. "You have no idea how sexy you look just wrapped in a sheet of black fabric." His eyes rose to her skeptically and she held up her hands with a laugh. "I'm serious!"

"And I suddenly find those togas very appealing." The glimmer in his eye suggested it was more than just the togas he found appealing, as they grabbed one anothers hands and raced for the audience hall.

With all the powers of good and evil at their fingertips, a little transformation of the dressing gowns and slippers into carefully twisted togas was a simple one, the blue whorls on their golden skin looking as bright as ever.

"Are we ready, my love?" Sidney laid a kiss on her palm, as they took in the view screen before them.

"As always." She replied, hitting the pause button on the remote control. "This is going to be...interesting."

~~~~~


{Is that her?}

{The red-head...yes. Poor thing. Her boyfriend just left her. Left her full of fury and pain. He was a two-timing brat.}

{Who is that blond in the Hall? He looks like he would be good for her.}

A muffled sigh flitted across the cosmos. {Your memory is like a sieve, Sidney. I thought you would remember that chap. It's Spike, Big bad vampire who, at this very moment, is about to find out he's impotent...but only in the biting sense...}

{So we change this situation?}

{Damn right we do!} One gold- and blue-patterned finger hit the edit keys, then - satisfied with their work - hit play.

Tearing the Dingoes Ate My Baby poster off the wall, Willow turned the volume on her radio up, singing happily along with the song that was blaring from the speakers at the top of her voice.

"So tell me girl, do I have to say please, or do I have to involve the police?" With a grin, the girl put on a deep voice. "We have you surrounded..." Then she giggled her way into the next line. "There was a time, when I'd trust you alone." **Two-timing bastard!** "I'd call you up girl, but you took my phone."

It didn't matter that the words didn't fit, the meaning was the same. "You borrow stuff every time I turn my back. Hey, that's mine! I can't believe I went out with a KLEPTOMANIAC! We're breaking up!"

Shredding the poster down the center, she grabbed the slurpee off the desk behind her and jumped up onto her bed, bouncing up and down on the mattress as she sang into the container.

"Breaking up is hard enough! Say you had nothing but I called you bluff. You got my sweaters," **Oz in pink and fluffy** With a snort of laughter, she could barely keep up with the song. "My hat...I can't find my cat! The hardest part of breaking up, is getting back your stuff."

A tap at the door distracted the hyperactive red head, her feet tangled in the blankets as she fell while shrieking. "Come iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin!...ow!"

The door swung open, to reveal a face not unfamiliar to the red-haired witch, a baffled expression on the familiar chiseled features. "Uh...ok..."

"Spike!" With a yell of delight, the girl stumbled to her feet and lunged at the startled vampire, throwing her arms around him. "Gimme a hug you great big chunk of burning vampire lurve!"

"Uh...are you on something, pet?" His question was answered when one of her legs snaked around his, pulling it out from beneath him.

Flat on his back, the vampire stared at the girl leaning over him in bewilderment, a saucy grin on her flushed face. "Only on you, Spike." She patted her hand against his chest. "Only on you."

"Right..." Trying to push her off, her tiny fists slammed him down on the floor again, the top of her shirt sliding off her pale shoulders, her hair spilling like a glorious gush of blood over her face. "What's the matter with you, pet?"

"Wrong?" She grinned wickedly, her full sexy, crimson lips catching his attention for the first time. "Nothing's wrong." Grabbing him by the front of the shirt, she jerked his face up and kissed him full on the lips. "Mmm...I've done what I've wanted to do since the minute I saw you, I'm don't have a two-timing boyfriend holding me back and I don't give a damn what anyone thinks."

"Obviously." He replied dryly, pushing his hand into her radiant hair and pulling her mouth down on his again.

{Was it meant to work that fast?}

There was a subdued silent moment. {I just took her despair away. I didn't make either of them do anything they didn't want to...}

{The woman of the team didn't recognise that they had a fancy for one another?} He almost laughed. {I'm going to tell the upper beings that they're being sexist. Anyone can see that she fancied the pants off him. Even a dumb male like me.}

{Fine. Be like that.} There was an ethereal 'thwack'.

{OW! That hurt!}

A prim reply drifted back to him. {It was meant to.}

{Okay, what do we do next and what are we going to do about them?} The two on the floor were rolling around and frantically tearing one anothers clothes off as they hungrily kissed one another.

{It'll work out.}

{Are you sure?} There was a prolonged, cool silence. {Okay, okay, already. I was just checking.}

~~~~~


{You can not be serious!}

The icy glare almost froze the room. {Pray tell, why not?}

{He can't die! We can't do in a major player in this game! Not this early anyway!} There was a momentary pause. {Okay, maybe he is as exciting as a wet gym sock, but you can't kill him!}

{I don't intend to.}

{What then...?}

{Watch.}

Leaning against a headstone, Buffy rubbed her eyes tiredly, snapping her gum impatiently. It had been a long few days, with Spike's return and newly-found relationship with Willow...something she didn't agree with at all, for obvious reasons.

But the vampire couldn't bite anything. He could nibble. Willow attested to that fact quite happily, wriggling in her undead boyfriend's lap for the simple pleasure of making him squirm. But he couldn't bite.

Campus Commados had seen to that.

So she couldn't kill him. Not yet. Not until Willow got over her silly crush and got out of her way and let the Slayer do her job in slaying the fiendishly sexy **Did I just think that?** fiend.

"Buffy?" Smiling up at the TA in front of her, Buffy peered past his twin curtains of floppy hair, raising an eyebrow.

"Riley? What are you doing out here?"

"Uh..."

{By George, he's a talkative one! Why on earth would she want to jump his farm-yard bones?}

{Shut up, Sidney.}

A dopey grin crossed the TA-cum-commando's face. "I was out walking...saw you just standing here...alone..."

{And he's meant to be smart? Ye Gods, what is this world coming to?}

{Sidney, I warned you.} 'Thwap'

{OW!}

There was a chuckle. {Just shut up and watch.}

Behind him, there was a groaning of the earth opening up, a newly-fledged vampire rising from the dirt and lunging towards the duo.

{You're letting a vampire kill him?}

The warning note returned to her voice. {Sidney.}

The vampire was dust in a matter of seconds, leaving the two staring warily at each other, Riley taking in the stake and fighting posture of the nice little girl he had been hoping to date. She always freaked him when she did her Slayer...thing.

Little ladies were meant to be harmless and delicate and unable to take care of herself, but this tiny female could wipe the floor with him. It simply wasn't fair.

"I...gotta go." Stumbling away through the cemetary, the older man left the Slayer staring after him, a bemused expression on her face. Okay. Riley was nice, but he was definitely majorly weird.

Tucking her stake into the belt of her trousers, she made her way out of the cemetery only to collide with a snogging bundle of bleached blonde and red. "Guys."

Grinning, Spike looked up from his lover's lips. "Jealous, Slayer?" He rubbed his hand playfully over Willow's belly, chuckling as she squirmed at his touch. "Big old Captain Cardboard not good enough? I could help you with that..."

"Spike!" Willow whapped the vampire across the head lightly. "You. Are. Mine."

"And I'm very happy about it, luv." Turning his attention back to the red head, he pulled her into another kiss, his hand snaking under the back of her sweater and across the bare skin.

"Get a room." The Slayer sighed in disgust.

Ever since she'd seen Angel again, a few weeks earlier, after Thanksgiving, she had vowed that men were useless and worthless unless they were dead...actually...they were useless then as well.

"We did." Willow smirked in a fashion not unlike her boyfriend's. "Then Giles decided he was going to bed and found us..."

"Oh yeah, Slayer." Spike put in. "He wants you to report back to him, as usual. Wanna walk back with us? I want to see his face when he sees all three..."

Willow grinned, her arm around the bleached vampire's waist. "Not that he suspects anything." She added, as she looped an arm through the Slayer's. "So, how was Riley today?"

"He was...nice."

"You hear that, luv?" Spike's eyebrows rose suggestively, a wicked gleam in his pale eyes. "He was...nice. Like 'I'm a nice man' or just 'I'm-a-sappy-little-puppy-with-a-serious-complex-about-strong-women-nice'?"

"How about 'I-always-eat-up-all-of-my-greens-and-do-what-my-mummy-tells-me' nice?" Willow added with a chuckle. "Or 'I'm-not-a-vampire-with-a-big-..."

"WILLOW!" Buffy covered her ears as best she could, trying not to grin at her red-haired friend and the blonde vampire she was obviously referring too. "I'm too young and innocent to be hearing these things!"

Spike snorted derisively. "Too young and innocent...that's like saying doofus is too quick-witted and funny."

"Ha-ha." Buffy jutted out her lower lip, walking the rest of the way back to Giles' apartment in silence, as the lovers discussed when they were going to finally move in together, to make it easier on their families...or Giles, if the truth was to be told.

Pushing the door open, she opened her mouth to speak when she saw a familiar figure sitting on one of the chairs near the table, her expression changing from surprised to pain.

{Huh?}

{You want me to give you a step-by-step explanation? Too slow to figure it out, are you?}

There was a vary masculine cough. {I know what happened, but I want all the gory details...it's not like we don't have time.}

What could only be described as a feminine sigh of exasperation followed. {All right.} She agreed mildly. {But you go and get some popcorn and I'll start sorting things out, okay?}

{Yes, ma'am!}

~~~~~


Stretching her legs, Maevis made a gesture, reshaping her toga into her comfy, silken bathrobe and flopping out on the newly-materialised sofa, waiting for her lover to get back with the popcorn.

True, they could simply have made it appear out of nowhere, but it didn't *taste* right unless it was freshly popped by one's own hand.

It had to be some kind of unwritten law that to achieve perfect popcorn happiness, one must go through the painful poopy popcorn phase, when all the popcorn would come out looking like chunks of solid carbon.

Sidney had perfected it.

It had taken almost an eternity, maybe a little longer, but now, he could pop with all the best of them and his butter sauce was to die for.

Rolling onto her back, she nibbled on a caramilk bar that some childlike demon had offered her, playing with the edit controls on the remote, a wicked smile on her face as she continued to shift and change the characters around.

"Ready, my love?" Sidney staggered through from the kitchen realm, a massive bowl weighing him down.

Shifting back into her normal costume and tossing the caramilk bar into the bin - generously gifted to them by Black Hole Incorporated - she nodded, tossing a handful of popcorn into her mouth. "You bet."

~~~~~


{So, when is this?}

{Two days before the point we left Buffy at.}

There was a moments silence. {So, its two days before Buffy and Riley met in the cemetery, then?}

{That's what I said.}

{So, where are we?}

{L.A.}

{Ah.}

With a soft growl, the dart sailed through the air, viciously imbedding itself solidly through the wall, the dart-board on the wall and the face of the photo on the dart-board on the wall.

"Nice shot, grumpy. You really don't like that guy, do you?"

Looking up at his secretary from the image of Finn on the board, Angel marveled at her attitude and how well she was dealing with Doyle's death.

It had only been a few days and yet, she insisted on not moping, saying he would have hated it. She also announced he would have liked her to go out and get drunk out of her mind as a tribute, so she had done just that...regretting it the moment she had her first vision.

Her eyes were still blood-shot from days of weeping, but she was strong, stronger than he would have believed after seeing her over those three years in Sunnydale as nothing more than an air-headed cheerleader with a penchant for fashion.

After cursing and yelling to Doyle's shade that he was evil for leaving her the curse of the visions, she had started working with a surprising efficiency, impressing even the dark vampire.

"What's up, Cordy?"

The brunette eyed him. "Did you use my shampoo?"

"Huh?"

{Huh?}

{Women's priorities.}

{Oh.}

"Don't give me that innocent act, Mister I've-got-a-soul-and-can-no-longer-steal-other-peoples-cosmetics!" Her slim hands on her hips, she glared at him in feigned anger. "I leave a bottle of Herbal essences here, in cases of big, slimey, goop-covered demons and stuff."

"That was y...I mean...er..." Hastily backing away from the former May Queen, he tried to smile his way out of it. "I thought it was mine..."

She advanced towards him, looking every so slightly angry. "Now, why would you do that? Since when did you use bottles that were anything other than black? Do you think I don't know you like lavender?"

"Lavender?" An amused voice interrupted from the doorway. "Angel, man, I thought you were more of a peach person."

Both the vampire and seer turned towards the door, the seer's face turning a strange shade of grey as she took a faltering step back towards the vampire. "Angel?" She whispered in a tiny voice.

"Whatcha lookin' at me like that for?" Doyle looked from one face to the other. "Is it my death thing? Is my comin' back a problem?"

"Coming...back? But...you...you died!"

Rubbing his neck ruefully, the half-demon nodded. "Yeah...I did. That's not an experience I want to go through again any time soon." He shuddered, looking at his skin. "It itched like no one's business."

"But how...?"

Walking through to the fridge, the demon grinned. "The PTB." He replied, as if that explained everything. "They got sick of me an' me demands for a good beer." He gave a soft chuckle, snagging one of the few remaining bottled beers from the freezer and opening it. "I missed this place."

"Wait a minute..." Pressing her fingers to her temples, Cordelia frowned. "You died, you drove the PTB nuts with your beer craving so they let you come back? As in permanently? Forever?"

"I'm back for good..." He began, but the rest of his words were cut off abruptly, as the seer grabbed him and pulled him into a fierce kiss, his head gripped between her slim hands. "That was nice."

"Damn!"

"Erm...did I miss somethin', man?" Turning to Angel as Cordelia stomped away up the stairs, the Irishman gave his employer a confused look.

Angel stood up and grinned wryly, remembering the moment Cordelia realised how she got the visions. "You gave her a leaving present." He replied, still unable to believe his friend was back, alive and drinking. "She became my link to the PTB."

"So I don't have to get the visions anymore? No more ritilan-mornins?" A grin spread over Doyle's face. "I don't like Cordy havin' them, but as long as I'm free of them..." He downed another mouthful of beer. "God, I missed this place." Draining the bottle, he turned to Angel slowly. "But there is another reason the PTB sent me back."

"To torment me?"

"Aside from that." The demon stared at the label of his bottle intently, as if willing it to spontaneously combust, unable to meet the vampire's confused gaze. "You remember when Buffy came to visit after Thanksgiving?"

"How could I forget?" Angel's face was expressionless, but Doyle could see the hurt gleaming in his eyes.

"The PTB...they feel that there should be some kind of...thanks." He slowly raised his face, revealing the wide grin he had been concealing. "They've agreed to turn you human again, man!"

Angel's jaw clenched. "No. You know what happened the last time. I can't. I have to have my..."

"Strength." The demon cheerfully interrupted, putting his bottle on the table and moving to the fridge again. "They know and they agree. You'll be a human with full vampire strength and healing and all that, permanently."

The vampire's legs went out from beneath him. "Why are they doing this?" He asked, sinking into the chair he had been occupying moments earlier. "Why didn't they just do that in the first place?"

"Don't ask me, man." Doyle shrugged. "All I know is that I'm goin' to drag Cordy and you to the nearest pub to celebrate me miraculous return from the dead." He paused to open another bottle of beer and down a mouthful. "And yours, of course, which is even more miraculous."

"I don't know if I want this...Buffy...she's getting on with her life..." Angel glanced at the round board that was held on the wall simply by the dart that had driven through the bull's eye at the center. "She has him..."

"Will ya just shut up and give me yer hand." Doyle sighed, looming over him. "You know she only wants ye. He's a waste of space and she loves you."

Unable to think of a reply, Angel grabbed Doyle's hand in an iron grip, a surge of power coursing through his veins from a light than seem to emanate from between their clenched hands.

Releasing the gasping former-vampire's trembling hand, Doyle stepped back with a wide grin. "Welcome back, man."

{You did that?}

{Well, duh, Sid.}

There was a weak moan. {You've been listening to those teenagers talking far too much, lover.}

{Time to head back to the Hellmouth then.} Ignoring her lover's mumble of despair, the woman giggled, hitting the control of the remote and fiddling with the editing once again.

~~~~~


{What now?}

{Just shut up and watch, you idiot}

{But she's gone. She turned and ran...why isn't he going after her?}

{Sidney, wait and see. I know what he's doing, so just shut up, will you?}

There was a muffled sigh of dismay. {It's not fair.} She could almost see the pout in his voice as the dark ex-vampire smiled dazzlingly at Spike and Willow. {How come you know and I don't?}

{Cos I'm the smart and pretty one?}

{Let's talk deluded.}

{That too.} She agreed amiably. {Can I fast-forward already?}

~~~~~


Pushing the door open, Buffy frowned, bending to pick the plain white envelope off the floor, the sweeping strokes unrecognisable.

Opening it, she pulled out a sheet of paper and a single pressed white rose, the petals crisp against her fingers. Unfolding the paper, she let her eyes skim over the words, taking in the message.

With a shaky step, she made her way over to the bed and sat down, her heart pounding against her sternum.

A secret admirer.

A secret admirer who wanted to meet her to watch the sunrise from the roof of one of the buildings.

A secret admirer who wanted to watch a sunrise?

Aside from Riley - who didn't really care about sunrises as long as she played the little damsel in distress to his big soldier ego - she couldn't think of anyone who would want to spend the morning hours with her.

But there it was, in black and white, saying that he would be waiting for her on the rooftop the following morning, if she would only give him a chance and accept him for what he was.

What could it hurt?

Riley.

That's what it could hurt.

{I thought you said you were bumping him off? Angel's back and Spud-U-Like man is still on the scene.}

{I warned you once} 'Thwack' {I won't warn you again.}

There was a pained moan. {Yes, ma'am.}

"Buffy!" the door flew open, revealing Willow, an upset-ish expression on her flushed face, her hair tumbling around her ears in disarray. "Call an ambulance! I think Riley's had a heart attack! Last time I checked, he looked like he died of shock!"

"What?" The sound of sirens from outside the building already reached the ears of the two girls. "What? How? When?"

Willow's flush turned to a full-powered blush, even the tips of her ears going red. "I think he was shocked..." She looked at her hands uneasily. "He...kinda walked in...on me and Spike...recognised Spike as the hostile that escaped...saw me...boom..."

Buffy bit back a giggle. She was kind of glad that she'd broken off her relationship with corn-boy. Now, finding out that he had a heart attack after witnessing her friend and a living corpse going at it, she was even more relieved. She couldn't be dealing with a guy that pathetic...especially if he ever found out about...

"Will, what's Angel doing here?"

{Bingo!}

"I don't know." The red-haired witch replied honestly. "That was the other reason I came to get you. He's gone to the mansion and Giles still wants to talk to you about the hunt."

"I've only got until sunrise." The Slayer acquiesced reluctantly, grabbing her ever-present jacket. "Then I've got a date, ok?"

"A date? And you didn't tell me?" Willow put on her standard 'I'm hurt' expression.

Well, if you hadn't been so busy going at it like bunnies with a certain bleached blonde vampire-type, then I would have told you." Buffy grinned. "Let's go find the G-Man."

{But...}

{What now?}

{I thought she was meant to be in love with Riley?}

The feminine chuckle rippled across infinity and back. {Not when you emphasise all his bad points...which she now does. How else are we meant to get her back with her cradle-snatching, ex-creature of the night boyfriend?}

{Point taken.}

~~~~~


Making her way up onto the rooftop, Buffy looked around in awe. There was no one in sight, but spread on the shadowed roof was a candle-lit picnic, laid out on a dark blanket.

Relaxing her body, she reached out with her senses for demons or vampires, but felt nothing, until a pair of warm hands brushed over her shoulders, preventing her from turning around.

"Do you trust me?" A soft voice murmured against her hair, one finger gently running over the scar tissue of her neck, making her shiver.

"Yes." **What the hell...if I'm going to give up on Riley, why not go all the way with a complete stranger**

She gasped as a cool, silky blindfold slid down over her eyes and was lightly tied around behind her head, obscuring her vision, as her companion stepped in front of her and took both her hands in his warm ones, leading her towards the picnic spread.

Sinking to the ground, she sensed him kneeling alongside her, running gentle fingers through her hair. "You are so beautiful, Buffy." His voice was soft in her ear, making her pulse race. "I feel like I've loved you forever."

"Who are you?" She managed to whisper, one of his hands tenderly cupping her chin, his thumb brushing along her lower lip lightly.

"You know." He murmured. "Or maybe you don't. It doesn't matter anymore." His mouth captured hers in a deep kiss that shook her to the core of her being. No one had ever kissed her with such an intensity before, leaving her trembling and breathless.

It conveyed everything about him: Tenderness, adoration, strength...love.

"It's almost time for the sun to rise." His lips were once again close to her ear, as he rose, taking her with him.

Directing her gently towards the edge of the roof, he stood behind her, his arm around her waist and slowly peeled the blindfold off as the first fingers of the sun crept over the edge of the horizon.

Entwining her hands with the hands that crossed in front of her, Buffy let the golden rays wash over her, warming her and caressing her, the hues of the sky melding into a rainbow of golds and blues. "It's beautiful." She murmured softly.

"Like you." He replied in acknowledgement, equally softly. One of his hands moved from her waist and rose, to profer a single blood-red rose to the girl. "Be mine, Buffy." He whispered huskily. "Be mine forever?"

Pivoting, Buffy turned to face her secret admirer, her eyes rounding in amazement as she took in the features of the man standing on the sun-drenched roof with her, a tear breaking from her eyes and trickling unnoticed down her cheek. "Angel?"

"Looks like you do know me after all." He replied softly, his dark eyes meeting hers, a vortex of passion. "Do you have any idea just how much I love you Buffy Anne Summers?"

"How much?" She asked in a small voice.

"I loved you to both our deaths and back." He pulled her into his arms, kissing her with all the pent-up passion he had been hiding for the last few weeks.

~~~~~


"So, let me get this straight…" Giles was pinching the bridge of his nose between his forefinger and thumb, his eyes pressed shut. "Spike and Willow are a couple, a half-demon who died to save you came back from the dead because he was an alcoholic and had run out of beer in Paradise and you…are alive?"

Drawing his gaze away from Buffy, who was curled contentedly in his lap, her hand spread over his chest, the steady thump-thump-thump of his heart under her palm widening her already Cheshire-size grin.

"That's pretty much it." He agreed with a dazzling smile. "And we're getting married, as soon as possible."

"Married?" Buffy squealed, raising her head to stare at him.

"If you like."

"I like! I like!"

~~~~~


Sighing contentedly, Maeve snuggled against Sidney, her arms tightly around his waist. "I'm glad it worked out so well." She murmured, feeling his lips press against her hair gently.

"Do we let the PTB change it all back again?" Sidney inquired, turning the remote in his hand. "I mean, Mister Whedon may be the all-powerful force in this universe and in control of everything, but we have his remote that does it all for him."

With a gesture from Maeve, the blue- and silver-striped remote melted into a blurry mass, then faded away into nothingness, leaving no trace of the mischief the Oracles had been up to.

"Control?" She made another gesture, turning the room back into their dimly-lit bedchamber, drawing Sidney over her, his toga slowly unwinding and sliding down his body. "What control?"

"I think I've forgotten." He murmured, covering her lips in a kiss. "I have such a delectable distraction in my arms now."

~~~~~


And, for once, in Joss Whedon's Universe, all the characters lived happily ever after with some semblance of reasonable continuity, slaying evil and having great sex along the way.


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