A Promise To Keep

(Post "Not Fade Away". Angel/Nina. The characters are Joss's, of course. *Sigh* No infringement is intended.)

She walked along the beach, pausing occasionally to kick at the sand as the water swirled around her ankles. It was night and the clouds shrouding the deserted beach matched her mood. She was wearing shorts and a man's shirt with the ends knotted under her breasts. She swung her shoes back and forth in her left hand as she absent mindedly toyed with the shirt's buttons with her right hand.

He probably didn't even remember that she had taken the shirt home after their last night together. When she had got up after they had made love that morning, she had rummaged in one of his closets and picked this one out. Although clean and pressed, somehow she could smell him when she buried her face in the fresh cotton. Maybe it was her heightened senses, but she thought she could STILL pick up his scent on the shirt.

She smiled, recalling that last time they had been together. They had started with supper, a sweet romantic one with candles and wine and the lights turned low. The food had been delicious, but she hadn't been able to keep her mind on anything but him. He never understood the effect he had on her. Maybe the stories the others told her were true about what a frightening monster his other side was, but to her he had never been anything but caring and once she had broken through his defenses, loving.

They had made love all night long. The next morning she had teased him about being perfectly happy. It wasn't him though who was that happy, it was her. He had got up to answer the phone and then climbed into the shower. She had slipped out of the bed, originally planning on joining him. For some reason, when she had seen the shirt hanging in his open closet, she had crossed the room and donned it.

She had been looking at herself in the mirror when he came out of the bathroom with only a towel wrapped around his waist He had liked the way she looked in it. Just that shirt. Large enough to modestly cover her, his eyes had bounced back and forth from her legs to where she hadn't quite fastened all the top buttons. Not fastening them was a good thing. When she had looked in the mirror he had moved behind her with the stealthy grace and speed that always took her breath away. His hands had encircled her waist and he had lowered his head to kiss and gently nibble the side of her neck.

She had leaned back against him, enjoying the feel of his lips and the touch of his strong hands on her sides. He had whispered how much he enjoyed the picture she made in that shirt, but that he was going to have to take it off her. She started to protest, then subsided as his fingers stole around her waist and began to undo the buttons she had fastened.

She turned her head and tried to kiss him. Soft laughter had answered her as he switched to the other side of her neck and then began to lick up to her ear. The shirt was fully open by then and he released her just long enough to slide it down her arms and toss it onto a nearby chair.

Fair was fair. The moment the shirt came off she had spun around and her hands had pulled free the towel around his waist. She had jumped up into his arms and he had caught her and carried her back to the bed. He had tried to lower her to the mattress but she had wrapped her legs around him along with her arms and refused to let go.

He looked at her with a grin and demanded to know if this meant she wanted to get on top. She hadn't thought of that, but it seemed like a great idea. She nodded and he turned and fell backwards on to the bed, carrying her with him.

She had straddled him, leaned forward and kissed him. She felt his chest against her breasts and wiggled slightly, allowing her nipples to brush back and forth against his cool skin. At the same time she reached between them, taking his cock in her fingers and guiding it to her. It had only taken a moment for her to slide down onto him, impaling herself on his shaft.

She had straightened, her eyes closed and braced her hands on her hips. He had reached up, taking her breasts in his fingers. On her knees over him, she had risen and fallen onto him, each time allowing herself to fall harder onto his cock. She had ground her ass against him, moving the hard shaft inside her, the head touching her soft spot and rubbing against it.

Faster and faster she had moved. His fingers had been so gentle, stroking her breasts, caressing and teasing her aching nipples. As she felt them both near the peak she had grasped his hands and pulled them down to her hips, where he had helped her ride him until they both came in a long, delightful orgasm.

After they had laid together and teased each other. She adored being in his arms, her head pillowed on his shoulder. He had finally been forced to admit that he was late to a meeting and left her back in the bed with a smile and a goodbye kiss. Later, when she dressed and went home, she had automatically picked up the shirt and taken it with her.

She never thought of it when they were together, but sometimes when she thought about the simple, loving, affectionate gestures, especially when he would kiss her neck, she would shiver. It was one thing to accept intellectually what she knew about his past, what he had freely confessed in fact. That same caress the made her feel so warm and cared for had meant something quite different once upon a time.

She put the thought firmly from her. That was who he had been, not who he was now. "You're MY hero." she had told him, and she meant it. Innocent people were in more danger from her now when the moon was full.

She tensed and broke stride as the moon peeked out from the drifting clouds and shone onto the long expanse of white sand. It was safe, she was safe. Not even half-full yet, the waxing orb would not have its effect for a couple of weeks yet.

She stopped and turned to face out towards the ocean. Her thoughts were in turmoil. What was she going to do without him? What was going to happen when the moon exerted its influence next time? She had followed the news from LA. It wasn't a front page article, but the collapse of a large downtown office building had not gone unnoticed. The story had said it looked like something had sucked the prestigious law firm's headquarters into the ground.

There went her holding cell, her refuge that kept those around her safe when the transformation took her. She berated herself. It meant HE was gone too, she knew it. Maybe. Somehow she thought she would know, but she didn't, not for sure.

But why should she know? She winced when she thought about her last words to him, when he had insisted that she take her sister and niece and go away.

"I'm not asking, I'm telling you."

"Fine, there's nothing here anyway."

She sighed. What had she expected? It didn't have anything to do with the fact that one of them was a vampire and the other was a werewolf. It had to do with the fact that he couldn't express his emotions for anything and she never tried to suppress hers at all. She had walked away, stiff-backed and angry when he was trying his best to show her that he cared for her in really the only way he could, by his actions.

He had paid more attention to what she had said about a vacation than she had thought he had. Here she was, the place where she had told him that he, and of course her, should vacation.

"You should get away. Vacation? You know that word? Go to Cabo, drink margaritas, midnight skinny-dipping, making love on the beach. Did you catch how I subtly included myself in your little vacation package?"

She repeated those words out loud even as tears filled her eyes.

"So here I am in Cabo. You DID remember what I said."

"I said something else too," a deep voice came from behind her.

She spun around. Oh GOD! There he was. No, it must be some kind of dream, some fantasy she had conjured up.

He stood there in the weak moonlight. "I made you a promise. I told you if I was still around when it was all over I would join you."

Different tears cascaded down her face. She dropped her shoes in the foaming surf and ran to him, throwing her arms around him.

"Oh God, you're real. You're here. You're... oh my GOD! Your heart..."

"Is beating," he finished softly.

"But how? When? Why?" She pulled back enough to look in his face and desperately tried to stop babbling.

"I really have no idea." He got a far-away look in his eyes for a moment. "The fight in the alley behind Wolfram and Hart, it seemed to go on for hours. I lost track of everyone else. The world narrowed down to whatever opponents were in front of me at the time. Then, suddenly there was no one else to fight. My strength ran out and I collapsed into the pile of bodies.

"When I came to, I was alone there. No bodies, not of the dragon, the giant, the demons. No sign of my friends, even though I knew Gunn was fading at the very onset of the battle. I was alone, but I was alive. Alive in every sense of the word."

He refocused on her. "I sort of wandered for a while. I'm not sure how long. I finally found my way back to my old office, my old living place. Now that didn't make sense either as it was blown to pieces quite a while ago. But there it was. I went downstairs and tried to sort things out. Eventually I fell asleep. When I woke, I knew I had to find you."

"Me?"

"You."

"What are we going to do when the moon is full?"

"Oh, well, how the Powers That Be restored me to life I don't know, but they must have known I was going to need to know how to take care of your situation. So, tomorrow we're off to visit a Central American Shaman I was told about. He couldn't do anything about a certain pregnancy, but once I have given him the information that I have he'll be able to work a cure."

Damn, every time she stopped crying for a minute something like this made her start again. As she sniffled, he cupped her chin gently in one hand and lifted her face.

"Now, that that is settled, come over here."

She followed him to a hidden place in the dunes where a blanket was spread over the sand. He produced two glasses, filled them from a pitcher and handed her one."

"What's this?"

"A Margarita, of course." They drank together. He took the glass from her hand, placed it along with his on the blanket. Stooping, he tossed her a towel.

She looked at it "And this would be for...?"

"I think the next step you mentioned was midnight skinny-dipping, wasn't it? You don't want to be frozen after that and miss the last step in your vacation plan, do you?"

She could barely breathe. In a tiny little voice she whispered, "Making love on the beach."

"Exactly."

"I love you, Angel."

"I love you, Nina." He grinned, the shadows that had always been in his eyes gone. "Now then, last one in is a rotten egg." He ran for the water, shedding his clothes as he went. With her heart soaring, she followed.

(The End)

(I've always loved Angel and Buffy together but over the final season they were so far apart. It seemed that Nina put the smile on Angel's face the few times he had one and I fell in love with her. She had no agenda other than making him happy. So I thought she deserved this.)