Two by Destiny

Two by Destiny


#
April had come too soon, bringing with it the heavy rains that always seemed to purify the city, if only for a short while. Each spring, that sweet elixir washed away the stains of the old year, leaving a freshness even Los Angeles
could not rid itself of for several weeks. Yet Los Angeles tried. An ever-moving, clattering plague of humanity, it marched steadily toward its old, stale existence. No one ever took the time to understand or cherish the gift of
a beginning.
Yet this time, Kate would not turn away. Thus she vowed as she stood in the hotel courtyard at twilight, face tilted toward the downpour. Her eyes drifted shut and a smile touched her lips as rainwater streamed through her hair and
seeped into her very bones. Her father was gone and her career finished. That road had reached a dead end, with no turning back. Yet she didn't care.
Because she had been given another chance.
Kate absorbed it all. Thunder rumbling in the distance, the soothing, rhythmic dance of rain on concrete, the brisk, fresh scent infusing the air. Then another smell intruded, one she could only describe as musky and masculine. She slowly
opened her eyes, and there was Angel standing beside her, his black shirt and pants plastered wetly to his body. The last hints of twilight played an unearthly glow on his pale skin.
"Kate," he greeted, that single word conveying his surprise at seeing her.
She smiled up at him. "I wanted to be here when you woke up. I needed to talk to you. But then the rain started, and I had to come outside."
"You mean you wanted to get soaked?"
He sounded utterly bewildered, and she couldn't help but laugh. Joy prevailed in that simple sound instead of her usual sarcasm and pain. For the first time in months, since that terrible day they had put her father in the ground, her heart
felt free.
"Now I know what it feels like to fly while still on the ground." She gave him a rare grin and threw her arms wide.
Angel didn't reply. Instead he reached his broad hands toward her shoulders, hesitantly, as though he were afraid she would flinch at his touch, and pulled her arms down to earth. The gesture felt comforting, brimming with a warmth and love she hadn't even realized she was missing. Until now. She leaned into him, yearning for more, and he wrapped his long coat around them both as he pulled her closer.
"Let's get you inside," he murmured, and then gently guided her out of the rain.
He left her on a couch in the lobby and went in search of some towels. Now that she was inside, the storm only a distant pattering against the windows, a chill
started to settle into her muscles. Then the shivers came. Kate wrapped her arms tight around herself and pulled her knees to her chest. What had she been thinking, going out like that into a California drencher? She hadn't even worn a
coat.

Yet it had felt so right ... so cleansing.
When Angel returned, he carried a stack of neatly folded towels under one arm and a change of clothes under the other. He had already slipped into a dry shirt and pants, Kate noted. Yet water still dripped from his hair, creating darker patches where it soaked into the shoulders and neck of his grey shirt. Thunder cracked outside, louder than before, as he handed his bundle to Kate.
She thanked him with a smile and then took her turn out of sight to dry off and change. He had obviously handed her some of his own clothing. The pants would
have fallen off if not for the belt, and she had to roll up the cuffs. As for the black cotton shirt, it hung almost to her knees. Still, it all smelled of Angel. Not long ago that scent had haunted her worst nightmares, the ones that left her sweaty and trembling alone in the darkness. Now, though, she breathed in deeply. His lingering musk gave her a sense of stability, and home.
"Thank you," she said as she returned to the lobby. She tugged loosely at the shirt. "It's a little big."
"It was the best I could do." He shifted over as she joined him on the couch. "Now are you going to tell me what you were doing, standing out in the rain like
that?"
She flashed him a tight smile, then shrugged. "I'm not really sure. It was like
--" She furrowed her brows as she searched for the right words. "It was like ... I had never really felt the rain before. All my life I've run from it, or huddled under an umbrella or just waited for it to go away, but I've never stood
out in a storm and let it come down on me."
"You weren't missing much," Angel assured her. "Trust me, I've suffered through many cold, wet and miserable nights because I couldn't find a family to invite me in. It wasn't fun."
"You're wrong, Angel. I was missing a lot." She paused, absently running one hand through the tangles in her damp hair. "Fun isn't quite right, though. It wasn't fun so much as it was... religious." She breathed that last word, her eyes growing distant.
Angel snorted. "Religious? Either you've completely jumped off the deep end or you've just experienced a --"
He stopped short, then simply stared at her in amazement. Never before had she been able to calmly meet those deep eyes, so intense they made her throat tighten and her heart pound. On this night, though, she returned his gaze with newfound self-assurance and inner strength.
"Go ahead," she prompted. "Say it."
At first, silence. When he finally spoke, it was an awed whisper. "You had an epiphany."
She couldn't stop from grinning. "Amazing, isn't it? Or did you think you were the only one who could do that."
Angel rose from the couch and started pacing, four long steps away before coming back toward her. His fingers tapped against his lips in thought. "So if you had an epiphany, then what brought it on? Did you fight some demon, or did you fall and hit your head?"
"Nothing that traumatic." She patted the cushion beside her. "Please sit down."
She gave him what she hoped was a reassuring smile, and his eyes flickered to where her hand rested on the couch. He shook his head in a sign of obvious disbelief, but he did as she asked. So close to him, she imagined she could feel warmth radiating from his body, even though she knew the impossibility of it.
Maybe it was the heat in his eyes, that slow burn she always saw there.
Kate licked her dry lips and softly cleared her throat. "I was on the seashore this afternoon. It's been forever since I spent a weekday relaxing and not trying to hunt down some serial killer or demon. I was thinking about how you had gotten into my apartment that night without an invitation, and I was trying to figure out why. I mean, why did some higher power allow you to enter? Why do I deserve another chance?"
"Maybe you're meant to do something more with your life," Angel suggested."That's what I thought," Kate said, nodding. "But what am I supposed to do?
Second chances are nice, but they don't come with instruction manuals." She paused, for a moment reliving the scene. "So there I was, sitting on the rocks and watching the tide come in. I saw this sea lion not far down the shoreline, sunning itself, and I thought about how content it looked. Never in my whole life have I felt that sort of peace."
Angel cleared his throat noisily. "Um, Kate ... it was just a sea lion. That's no reason to go all serene."
"But it was more than that," she insisted, "It was the gulls soaring above thewater before diving straight in. And the sound of the waves crashing against the rocks. And how the wind was blowing clouds across an impossibly blue sky. It was like I was seeing it all for the first time, because I'd never bothered before to wonder what was around me." She looked up at him with all the sincerity she could muster. "Yes, there's evil out there, and we need to keep fighting it. But there's also so much beauty that it makes me want to cry." She gently placed her hand over his and let their fingers intertwine. "Do you know what that's like, Angel? To look into the face of beauty?"
He lowered his head at that and sighed deeply. "Her name is Buffy, and my love for her changed my life."
"And when you looked in her eyes," Kate said softly, "you realized that until that moment, you had never thought about anyone but yourself. That your whole existence had been selfishly motivated. And all you wanted, from that moment on, was dedicate your life to something greater than yourself."
Angel breathed out in soft amazement, no matter that he didn't need the air. His fingers tightened on hers. "So you understand."
"I understand now what I'm supposed to do with my life." She bowed her head and focused her gaze on their joined hands, unable to look into his eyes any longer.
"Since the first time I saw you, I sensed a connection between us. I knew even then that you were different, that you were special. We're fighting the same battle, Angel, and I think we should fight it together."
A cool hand touched her cheek, gently lifting her face. Angel's usual, tightly guarded expression softened as he caressed his fingers down her jaw, and for the second time that day, Kate was certain she was looking into the face of absolute beauty. Her breath caught as she found herself mesmerized by every detail. The almost imperceptible smile tugging at one corner of his mouth, the loosening of tension across his jaw, and the single tear slipping down his pale cheek.
"Do you know what you're suggesting, Kate?" Angel murmured. "This battle I'm fighting -- I probably won't survive. Anyone who stands with me is bound to get caught in the crossfire. Already people have been hurt. Doyle even died because of me."
"I'd rather die while fighting for the right cause than continue to live as selfishly as I have been." She reached up to brush away his tear. "I know this is what I'm meant to do. This is why you were allowed to save me. Please let me stand with you."
His eyes grew distant at that, and he became so still, as though he were no longer flesh but carved from stone. For a moment, Kate felt certain he would reject her offer and turn her away. Tears threatened to blur her vision. She gripped his hand even harder as she searched for some sign, anything in his expression that might give her a clue to his intentions.
Then the moment ended, but his thoughtful expression remained. "All right.
Partners."
She nodded in relief, the last vestige of tension draining away. "Partners," she repeated, trying out the word. "I like the way that sounds."
A smile grazed his lips. "So do I."
He leaned toward her then, so slowly that at first Kate thought she was imagining it. The movement became all too real, though, as his mouth brushed against hers. It wasn't a romantic kiss, Kate realized as he pulled back, but a gesture of love and acceptance. A partnership sealed with more than a handshake, and a friendship finally restored. Still, her heart raced, and she could taste him as she licked her lips.
With a contented sigh, she lowered her head to his shoulder, then moved even closer as his arms circled protectively around her waist. They sat like that for a while, drawing comfort from each other as they listened to the rain gradually dissipate, leaving behind a city cleansed by nature.
the end