ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: The usual suspects. See Part 1.

DEDICATION: For Tam and Lex, in gratitude for The Naughty Slayer, the lists, and the inspiration which led me to create "The Silken Cage" and in memoriam for the lists, which are now closed. Thank you for inviting me along for the ride.

RATING: NC-17

DISCLAIMER: What Joss said about BtVS and fanfic still goes, so I'm only doing what he wants me to do. But he still owns Buffy and Angel. So do UPN, the WB, Fox and Mutant Enemy. No infringement is intended.

DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME: Repeating this warning from Part 18: Though the overwhelming number of reported interactions between humans and dolphins show dolphins as friendly towards humans, and while there are plenty of verified accounts of dolphins coming to the aid of humans, in recent years, there have begun to be accounts of negative interactions, as well. Perhaps years of being trapped and drowned in fishing nets are beginning to piss them off? Sigh. At all odds, Buffy’s actions in swimming out to play with the dolphins might be against federal laws meant to safeguard marine mammals and protect humans from being attacked by "wild animals." I didn’t know that when I wrote the initial interaction, and there are times when "the law is a ass" as Dickens said, so I’m not taking it out. But, I’m not trying to encourage people to do anything unlawful or dangerous, either. If you find the idea of swimming with dolphins irresistible, check around for commercial ventures that allow such interactions under controlled circumstances.

RANT RETHOUGHT: This rant will contain spoilers for the Season 6 BtVS and Season 3 Ats finales. Read at your own risk. After some considerable thought expended upon figuring out the Ats ep, Tomorrow I no longer think that the writers are trying to tell us that C/A are in love. Everything that Lorne, Groo (and in the past, Fred) beat Angel and Cordy over the head with as proof that they love each other is in fact contradicted by what’s been shown in the series. Contrary to the claim that they think so much alike that they laugh at the same jokes and finish each other’s sentences, we have seen Cordy looking at him blankly--along with everyone else in AI-- when he cracks a joke only he gets, and they no more finish each other’s sentences than the other members of the team have managed to do from time to time. Further, Cordy has twice shown that she finds Angel boring, and she states outright in the season finale, after Groo tells her she’s in love with Angel: "I just don’t feel . . ." I don’t know what the writers are up to, but it seems more like misdirection than anything else. When asked to believe what is told by the characters as opposed to what is being shown by character actions, I tend to go by the old adage "Actions speak louder than words."

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The Silken Cage

Journey - Part 20a

The real horseback ride with Mai was far more enjoyable than the dream version had prepared her to expect. Freed of the necessity of planning an escape, Buffy was able to give herself over to an appreciation of the visual splendors Kauai’s North Shore had to offer. She marveled at the dramatic plunge of waterfalls lacing the 3,500 foot high cliffs of Hanalei Valley, admired the lush jungle foliage through which the trail wound, and relished the warm Hawaiian sun on her face and the sight of the impossibly blue and cloudless Hawaiian sky. The lightening of her spirits was obvious. She seemed unable to keep from smiling, and laughed easily for the sheer joy of seeing a particularly brilliant flower, or watching a brightly plumed bird take flight overhead. Mai looked at her askance, but made no comment beyond suggesting where to stop for lunch, and asking whether Buffy wanted to return to the beach, head into Hanalei town and take a motor cruise around the island, or keep riding.

"The beach," Buffy said firmly. "Horses? Nice, but not really my thing. And, with the time I’ve spent on that freighter, added to the fact that we’ll be getting back on board by tomorrow, the motor boat isn’t as tempting as it might be. Plus, dolphins. How often am I going to get a chance to swim with them?"

"Then we ought to head back now," Mai said. "That way, you’ll have almost the entire afternoon for the beach. Although, if you just want to spend a few hours there, we could continue our ride a bit further."

"No. Going back now is fine," Buffy said. "Not that I’m not enjoying this, but I want more time for surf and sand than we had yesterday."

"As you wish," Mai said, and turned her horse on the path.

Buffy enjoyed the ride back to the stables as much as she had enjoyed the ride out, but was still glad to get off the horse and back into Mai’s sleek Miata. Mai had the top down for the drive back to their bungalow, and Buffy relaxed and enjoyed the view. Mai didn’t seem particularly talkative that morning, and Buffy didn’t feel particularly inclined to draw her out. She just wanted to enjoy the warmth and beauty of the morning.

It just past noon by the time they got back to the retreat. Buffy was humming as she ran lightly up the stairs to the apartment. Angelus wasn’t in the living room. She found him, instead, sleeping in the bed they shared. He was naked, the sheet draped loosely over his hips, revealing his sculpted upper body to her appreciative gaze. He was still and unbreathing and extraordinarily handsome, as only the undead can be when asleep, and she caught her breath at the sheer male beauty of him. Yet, looking at him, she was more aware than ever of the difference between Angel and Angelus.

Even in repose, Angelus’ features spoke of arrogance, power, unrelenting will. The few times she’d seen Angel asleep, she’d been conscious of a vulnerability, almost innocence, expressed in his features that was totally absent now.

He wasn’t Angel. He would never be Angel. And while he might love her obsessively, passionately, and jealously, he would never love her selflessly. He might treat her with tenderness for a demon, but not with true tenderness. She wondered if she would ever stop wishing for that, wishing that she were with Angel, not Angelus. Angelus might be winning her over, she might be coming to care for the demon as well as the man, but she would probably never stop wishing that the man could return to her. But, as long as the demon didn’t know that . . .

She leaned forward, intending to press a soft kiss to his brow, and found herself roughly grabbed, pulled over his chest, then twisted beneath him and kissed thoroughly. Having no objections to such treatment, she wound her arms around her lover’s neck and enthusiastically kissed him back.

"I thought you were asleep," she said huskily when he finally broke the kiss.

"Light sleeper," he explained. She wondered if he was going to test how much she’d healed since last night, the thought making her nipples harden in anticipation. However, he contented himself with another kiss, then rolled away, releasing her.

"How was your ride with Mai?"

"Gorgeous," Buffy said, turning on her side to face him. "Are you sure we have to leave tomorrow? I mean, can’t we just catch another freighter in a week or two?"

"We could, but we won’t," Angelus said coolly, wondering if this was a ploy, if she had reason to think that lingering in the states would allow her watcher and her extremely annoying friends to catch up with them. Her next words and actions soothed away his doubts.

"Okay," she said agreeably. "But maybe we can come back here again? For a longer stay?"

Angelus raised his brows at that, smirking in pleasure. Buffy was beginning to accept her place at his side, if she could think in terms of long-range plans involving both of them.

"Perhaps next winter," he said temperately. "We’ll have done a bit of traveling by then, and you might find other places you enjoy, even more."

"I can’t imagine that," Buffy said.

"Spoken like the innocent you are," Angelus chuckled, wondering how she would react to the exotic charms of Japan, the dangerous beauty of an Indian jungle, the stark power of the Egyptian desert by moonlight, a thousand other vistas he planned to show her, share with her. By next winter, she might not even remember her desire to return to Hawaii. "Tell me, what else do you plan to do today?"

"Mai and I are going back to the beach," she said, walking her fingers playfully up his chest.

"Then don’t let me keep you," he said picking up her hand and lightly kissing the fingers before letting her go, once more. "Enjoy yourself. And be back her about an hour before sunset."

Buffy pouted. "But the sunset was so gorgeous on the beach!"

"And, now that you’ve seen it from the beach, you ought to see it from . . .another perspective."

Buffy looked at him thoughtfully. His voice had assumed a caressing note. She wondered what surprises he had in store for her now. Pleasant ones, she hoped, and she shouldn’t anger him by insisting that she wanted to stay at the beach. "If you say so," she said finally. Pleased, Angelus kissed her again.

For the first time since he’d captured her, Buffy was free to simply enjoy his kisses without beating herself up over yielding to a monster, without worrying about her sacred duty, or the way she was failing it. She was free to savor the taste of Angel that lingered on Angelus’ lips, free to relish the feel of his skin on hers, without guilt or remorse. She had Angel’s blessings. She had the assurances of her prophetic Slayer’s dreams that the Powers she served wanted her to be exactly where she was, doing exactly what she was doing: binding one of the most fearsome demons ever to have plagued the earth close to her with the cords of passion. For the first time since she had been called, Duty and Desire were aligned, rather than in conflict.

And, as she ground herself against the concrete evidence of Angelus’ own mounting desire, she realized that only one thing was keeping her from stripping off her clothes and offering herself to him, forgetting all about the beach and the sun and anything but the delirious rapture she could find in his arms. But she wasn’t able to seek out that rapture now. As the twinges rippling through her feminine core warned her, she wasn’t completely healed.

"Damn it," she swore softly as she pulled away from his embrace. Angelus raised a brow. "This is all your fault," she pouted. "My healing powers aren’t kicking in because of those stupid drugs."

"You’re still healing more quickly than a normal girl," Angelus pointed out with a chuckle. "We’ll check your progress . . .later." He kissed her again, hard and quick, then let her go. "You should get into your swim suit if you want to get to the beach."

"Wanna watch me change?" she offered impudently.

"Wanna be even more sore than you are now?" he returned dryly. "Because, darling, I really wouldn’t mind. You, however, might."

She cocked her head at him, considering his words. "I bet that if you wanted to, you could make it so I wouldn’t," she said slowly. "I bet if you put your mind to it, I wouldn’t feel any pain at all." Encouraged by the rumbling growl in his throat, and the rising heat in his eyes, Buffy crawled back up the bed to him, leaning over him until her lips skimmed just above his ear. "I bet," she whispered, "that you could make me so wet, and you could slide into me so slow, that I’d come hard as soon as you were inside me." She licked the shell of his ear, relishing his hiss of appreciation as she did so. "I bet that you could stay still inside me for as long as you wanted. I bet that you could fuck me for hours, slow and easy and without any pain, and that when you finally came, you’d feel so good and so cold inside me, that we’d both want to die." With a snarl, he pushed her onto her back, and she realized that he’d gone into game face. She laughed and pulled him close, kissing him fiercely, letting her tongue slip into his mouth, flicking against his razor-sharp fangs. Growling, he pulled away before she could succeed in opening a small cut from which to feed him drops of her blood.

"You’re right," he told her, "if I wanted to, I could."

"Oh, goody!" she chortled and reached for him again. The kiss he gave her was punishing. She moaned, lifting her legs to wrap around his waist, willing to ignore the twinge of discomfort from her still-sensitive clit if it meant she could get closer to her lover. To her increasing frustration, he grabbed her knees and pushed her away, before pulling entirely out of her embrace.

"The problem, darling girl, is that I don’t want to," Angelus said as he stood up, towering above her from the foot of the bed.

"You don’t?" Buffy squeaked, wide eyed, sitting up against the headboard, feeling humiliated and foolish. How could she possibly have read him so wrong?

Recognizing that her wholly unwarranted insecurities about her appeal to him were surfacing, Angelus couldn’t resist laughing. "My seductive, innocent darling, don’t misunderstand me. It isn’t you I don’t want: it’s taking things slow, at least right now. When you speak to me the way you just did, when you look at me like you are looking, when you offer yourself so deliciously, the last thing in the world I want to do is be gentle with you. One more word, my love, and I will not be able to stop myself from pounding you into the mattress. One more sultry glance, and I will fuck you until you come blood, and while we will both undoubtedly want to die from the sheer force of pleasure I am damned sure we will both feel, we will then have days to regret our mutual impetuosity. Because you will be in more discomfort than ever, and I will have to continue to deny myself. And, my heart: when it comes to you, I’m not at all inclined to deny myself."

"Oh," she said simply, reeling from the heat of his words, and the implication of what he was telling her. Reading her reactions perfectly, Angelus smirked down at her. Fuck, he loved the way she wanted him. Sweet as dominating her, forcing her, making her want him despite her hatred had been, there was something about her willingness, about the blossoming of her lush sensual nature under his tutelage that affected him like an aphrodisiac. He really did need to get her out of there before all his good intentions went right out the window.

"Be a good girl, get your bathing suit, go into the bathroom and get changed," he told her now, reaching a hand to help her off the bed. "Enjoy your outing with Mai, and remember, the more rest you get, the more quickly you will heal." He leaned forward to whisper in low in her ear. "And the sooner I can make you scream in pleasure." Buffy moaned and leaned into him.

"Promise?" she said, looking up at him through slumberous eyes.

"Count on it,’ he growled as the invitation in her eyes pulled him that much closer to the brink.

"Sounds like a plan," Buffy said with a throaty laugh, before she kissed him, and went to change.

She’s donned a swimsuit and beach coat in a matter of moments, and was soon on her way back down to Mai, blowing a kiss to Angelus as she passed their bedroom on her way out. He grinned wolfishly back at her before returning his attention to the newspaper he was reading.

Buffy felt ridiculously happy. Angelus’ behavior just now had been the exact opposite of his behavior in her dream. He liked her willing, even aggressive, more than he liked hurting her. That was a very, very good thing. She was perfectly willing, and looked forward to being more aggressive. She did not like it when he hurt her, and she was going to devote herself to weaning him away from his own enjoyment of that particular aspect of his vampiric nature. She was also going to devote herself to changing the balance of power between them. Their relationship was too one-sided, with Angelus in total control. The balance needed to be redressed, and she was looking forward to getting things on a more even footing. It wouldn’t be easy: she wasn’t so naïve as to think that he was just going to roll over and become a tame lap-dog because she was keeping him happy in bed. But, she knew that if she handled him delicately, she could get him to do things her way. Perhaps not everything, but any move toward equality would be a good thing. She wasn’t about to spend the rest of her life as a victim: she’d allowed herself to spend too much time in that mindset, already. She was the Slayer, a force to be reckoned with, and if Angelus had taken the unprecedented step of capturing her, and making her his mate, he would find that she would recreate that role to suit herself . . .and make him love every minute of it.

On that pleasant thought, she rapped on the door to Mai's apartments.

To be continued in 20b

FEMFIC        PART 19c        PART 20b    FEEDBACK

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