Hurrying through the cold winter evening from her latest murder scene, Willow hugged her coat around herself tightly and tried to drive the images she'd seen out of her mind. She'd known that becoming a consultant for the police would be difficult at times, but they were so clueless about what was really out there. Tossing everything at all unusual under the label of 'satanic' really didn't work.
She wasn't sure there was really a Satan anyway.
At least the cops here in Cleveland weren't totally blind, if only terribly clueless. The city was too big for them to ignore totally what was going on around them, but they never tried too hard to find the answers to their questions, either.
Which was probably good, because in Willow's experience the police world-wide were incredibly naive. Lambs to the virtual slaughter.
Spying her bus pulling up to the stop half-a block ahead, Willow shoved the morbid thoughts from her brain and broke into a run.
*****
The apartment was warm and lit by candles and the fireplace in the center of the main room. Their place was a converted loft, the windows covered during the day with steel shutters, open now to let in the moon and few stars peeking through the converging clouds. It was supposed to snow which would actually aid her investigation as the demons she suspected of committing the latest murder went into hibernation at the first snowflake and therefore were quite easy to kill--if they could be found.
Willow had complete trust in her partner's heightened senses sniffing them out.
As she slipped off her coat and hung it on the coat tree she glanced around and saw him in the kitchen. "I'm home!"
Angel looked up, smiling, then held up a bottle of wine. "It's breathed enough. Want a glass while dinner finishes?"
"Yeah, and it smells wonderful. Rosemary chicken?" She walked towards the kitchen and took a seat on a stool across the island from him.
"And roasted potatoes and new peas," Angel nodded. "Nothing too difficult so it should be edible."
"It can't be anything else with the yummy way it smells." Willow took the glass of wine and took a sip. "This is good, too."
"I have a white chilling to go with the dinner."
"Is this a special occasion or are you just being the best boyfriend ever?"
Angel smiled and nodded towards one of the windows. "I set that up for you. Did you forget?"
Blushing in chagrin, Willow nodded. "Darn it. I've been so busy..."
"And it's not like Christmas which stays on the same day each year," he added lightly with a smile. "It's just past dusk. Still time." Setting down his glass of wine, he rounded the island and took her hand. "Light the first candle so you can open your present."
Willow's eyes lit up and she slid from the stool, letting him lead her to the Menorah in the window.
*****
An hour later, wrapped in a green burnt velvet shawl, her first Chanukah gift, and tummy full, Willow snuggled back against Angel on the couch, listening to Celtic harp music on the stereo and Angel's melodious voice as he read 'Heart and Mind' by Edith Sitwell. They'd recently begun sharing their favorite poetry and this surprise was one of Angel's.
"'Said the Sun to the Moon-'When you are but a lonely white crone, And I, a dead King in my golden armour somewhere in a dark wood, Remember only this of our hopeless love That never till Time is done Will the fire of the heart and the fire of the mind be one.'"
"That's kind of sad," Willow said when Angel finished and set aside the book. "Kind of hopeless love."
"Sometimes love's that way." There was a hint of sadness in his voice, but Angel tightened his arms around Willow and pressed a kiss to the nape of her neck. "And sometimes it's a bond that will burn forever."
Willow smiled and turned to kiss him softly, for the hundredth time silently thanking whomever was responsible that when Angel had returned from Hell broken and abused, he'd turned to her to help him find himself, and together they'd found something so much more.
End