Perserverance Has Its Own Rewards by Elisabeth

Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: I claim no ownership over these characters. I am merely borrowing them from Joss et al.
Distribution: Willow's Dragony Dreams: http://www.dragonydreams.com/
The Mystic Muse: http://mysticmuse.net
Spoilers: Season 2.
Feedback: Yes, please.
Author's Note: I am using a writer's prerogative and reworking the episodes 'Surprise' and 'Innocence' to suit my own purpose, both with the dialogue and timing in order to make it fit into my own little W/A world. You've been warned.
Pairing: Willow/Angel

Summary: Willow decides to reward Angel's patience. Sequel to Gold Star.

Another week passed before Jenny and Willow got the translation program to work. After the initial celebrating – jumping for joy, hugs of congratulations, and lots and lots of passionate kisses between Willow and Angel – the real work began.

Willow, Angel and Jenny began the arduous task of picking apart the translated curse in order to find a way to remove the happiness clause. For the hundredth time, at least, they commented on how stupid it was to have an escape clause in a curse. Jenny, feeling a need to defend her ancestors, debated that the curse was cast in a hurry and they most likely never expected that Angel would ever find a reason to be perfectly content.

Most vampires the curse had been used on had eagerly greeted the dawn within a few months of being cursed, unable to live with the guilt. No one could have predicted Angelus' stubbornness to give in nor his desire for redemption. Let alone the fact that he would one day fall in love.

Several days after the deciphering began Willow and Jenny were working together, alone, as school had just let out.

"Not when he already has his soul. In order to do that, we'd first have to remove the soul and then return it."

Silence returned as they continued searching for answers, the only sounds were the tapping of fingers on the keyboards.

Having been caught up in her own thoughts, Jenny jerked her head up. "What was that?"

"Adding an additional clause on top of the happiness one to cancel it out," Jenny excitedly continued.

"That might work," Jenny mused. "It would have to be something specific so that the happiness clause could never kick in."

"And something that will allow us to tack it on to the existing curse. We don't want to accidentally do anything to remove his soul while trying to make it permanent." Willow added.

Willow fidgeted nervously with her mouse, working up the courage to have a much desired heart-to-heart with the older woman.

"J-Jenny," she started, cheeks reddening with expected embarrassment. "Can I ask you a somewhat unrelated question?"

Jenny set her work aside to devote her full attention to the nervous redhead. "Of course you can. What is it?"

"I'm not really sure Willow." Jenny regretfully answered. "We have been going with the theory that if the two of you were to make love he would become soulless. Why?"

Unable to meet the brunette's eyes, Willow said, "Well, it's just that… Angel's been really good to me and I'd really like to return the favor, even though I'm not really sure how, but not at the expense of his soul."

"What is it that you had in mind," Jenny asked, not yet realizing what Willow was asking. "What has Angel done?"

Willow's blush deepened. She briefly raised her eyes to meet Jenny's before looking back down at her hands. "You know… he made me feel really… good."

Noticing Willow's reddened cheeks and her inability to look at her, and the way in which Willow had broached the subject, Jenny had a pretty good idea by now what she was saying. "And you want to repay the favor, in the same way," she said in understanding.

"Well," Jenny said, sitting back in her chair. "Knowing the way that most men feel, after… that," Jenny found that Willow's innocent way of discussing the subject matter was contagious and she couldn't bring herself speak more pointedly, "he will be pretty content and relaxed."

"I don't think so, no." Jenny replied. "It would be close, but as Angel said, making love to you is what would bring him perfect happiness and contentment."

"Oh good," Willow sighed. Then meeting Jenny's eyes again she shyly said, "Thank you."

"Angel would never pressure me to do anything," Willow insisted. "In fact, I bet it'll take some convincing to get him to let me do this."

Seriously Willow confided, "I love him, Jenny. I really do. And I think he loves me too. I haven't told him yet, but I want to." A vague memory came to her of telling Angel she loved him, but it felt more like a memory of a dream than something that had happened in real life.

"If you're going to do what I think you are, I'd wait to tell him until afterwards. After we secure his soul." Jenny warned.

As Willow's thoughts drifted to their other conversation, an idea popped into Willow's head.

"Couldn't love be the overriding factor?" She rushed on to say, "A person in love is happy, I know, but wouldn't a demon in love with a human be like the ultimate insult, the ultimate curse?"

Catching on to the idea, Jenny added, "And if the human returns the demon's love, it would essentially be doomed to live as a mortal would – unable to feed off of its love's kind, forced to conform to its habits."

"We could make it so that if love is found and returned then the soul would be forever bound to the demon – it would never be free. Forced to live out its life in a human world, even after its love dies of a mortal death." Willow ignored the thoughts that came along with this last idea, not wanting to dwell on the fact that she was indeed mortal, and Angel wasn't.

After some more discussion as to how to word the addition to the curse, they came up with the following: "Should a time come when this souled vampire finds a human to love, who returns his love of her own free will, his soul is to be bound to his body until the day he becomes dust. Never again will the demon be allowed to run free once it has known love."

Both women slowly exhaled as Willow finished reciting the finished product. They sat in awe of what this would mean – Angel would never lose his soul.

"Almost," Jenny corrected her. "We still need to translate it back into Rumanian as well as cast the spell. It will take me a couple of days to do that as well as collect all of the herbs we'll need."

"That's fine. I can't wait to tell Angel. And I know exactly how I'm going to do it." Willow grinned.

Willow had to work very hard to school her features so that she wasn't grinning like a Cheshire cat. She desperately wanted to burst through the door and tell Angel they had found a solution. But she had a plan and would stick to it. Once she was certain that her breathing and heart rate were normal she knocked on the door.

Angel opened it immediately, having sensed that Willow was on the other side. He assumed that her delay in knocking was because she had bad news and didn't want to tell him. He greeted her with a kiss before stepping aside to let her into his apartment.

"I take it that things aren't going well," he quietly asked, deciding that it was better to get it over with.

"Wh-Why do you say that?" Willow nervously asked, afraid that he could tell she was faking disappointment.

"You didn't knock right away," he told her. "Usually you knock the second you reach the door, but today you waited. So, no luck?"

She stepped into his arms, wrapping hers around his waist. "It won't be long now," she promised, looking up into his soft brown eyes. She raised herself onto her toes to kiss his pouting lips.

Angel hadn't been prepared for the passion with which Willow was kissing him. He'd been expecting a soft, comforting kiss. Not for his fiery redhead to attack his mouth with lips, tongue and teeth. He surrendered to her passion, allowing her to control the kiss, curious to see what she was up to.

Willow's arms were wrapped firmly around Angel. Her hands slid up his back to clasp his shoulders – his nice, strong, shoulders. She felt Angel's arms tighten around her as he submitted himself to her passion, which was not easy to do given his height advantage.

Wanting, needing, to be closer to him, Willow slowly hooked one leg around his, drawing it up his body. When she neared his thigh she gave a sight bounce and wrapped both legs around his waist and Angel instinctually moved his hands to her bottom to support her.

Willow pulled back to take a much-needed breath of air. She looked down into Angel's passion-glazed eyes and chirped, "Hi."

"Very," she purred, rocking her hips against him, feeling his arousal, and causing Angel to groan.

Angel carried his precious armload towards his bed, which was not an easy task given that Willow was insistently licking and nibbling on his neck as he tried to walk. He finally made it and collapsed back so that Willow was now straddling his body. She immediately reattached her mouth to his as her hands began to roam over his torso.

Before Angel realized what was happening, Willow had unbuttoned his shirt and was kissing her way down his chest. She found his nipples and as her mouth attached itself to one, her fingers began manipulating the other. Once she was satisfied that his nipples were hard little buds, she continued her way down his torso.

As she tortured his body with the heat of her mouth and hands, Angel's mind was awhirl with what could have gotten Willow in such a mood. She rarely took such an aggressive lead when they were together, being too shy to initiate more intimate contact. Seeing this side of her was turning him on more than ever before.

When Willow's explorations took her close to Angel's pants, having followed the little trail of hair with her tongue from his bellybutton to the top of his pants, Angel desperately pulled her back up his body, just as her hands began to unfasten his belt.

"Pleasuring you," Willow uncertainly replied, reverting back into her shy, nervous persona. "Did I do something wrong? Do you want me to stop?"

After a kiss of reassurance, Angel confirmed, "You were, are, amazing. But are you sure you want to do this? You know that I can't be with you yet."

"Oh, that's okay," Willow bounced. "I talked to Jenny today and she said that even though this will probably make you pretty happy, it shouldn't be 'perfect happiness'. So it should be safe."

"Should?" he questioned, then realized the rest of what she'd said. "Wait a minute, you talked to Jenny about this?"

"Um, yeah," Willow confirmed, the blush returning to her cheeks. "It's just... you've been so patient and so good to me, that I wanted to thank you. Reward you like you did for me. And I wanted to make sure your soul wouldn't be in jeopardy."

Angel's eyes widened as he realized exactly what she was proposing. He could almost feel her warm mouth and hands on his cock. He closed his eyes and groaned at the thought.

He forced his eyes open to meet hers. "Are you sure you want to do that? Because it's okay if you don't, I'll understand."

Willow shook her head, a grin slowly growing at the tone of eagerness in his voice, even as he was trying to talk her out of it. "No. This is something I want to do." Then she impishly added, "I just might need some direction."

Angel pulled her back down to him, taking her mouth in a passionate kiss, showing her just how much he wanted this. As they kissed Angel placed Willow's hand over his material-clad erection, letting her get a feel for it, both literally and figuratively.

Willow's fingers lightly flitted across Angel's pants. Obviously she'd felt him pressed against her before, but she'd never had a chance to explore him before today as the contact was always very brief. Tentatively she ran her fingers over his length, noticing how it twitched beneath the material. She moved her hands to unbutton and unzip his pants and Angel raised his hips in preparation for their removal.

"No, I guess not." Willow stood to pull his pants down his legs, as well as remove his shoes and socks. She turned back to admire Angel stretched out on the bed wearing nothing but a pair of boxers. Her breath caught at how gorgeous he was. And he was all hers.

She warily eyed the tent in his boxes as she stepped closer to him. She took a deep, steadying breath before slipping her fingers under the elastic and began drawing them over his hips. Once again her eyes followed the path of her hands, delaying the inevitable.

Willow's breath caught as she looked upon Angel's glorious naked form. She trailed her eyes up his strong legs, pausing with an audible gulp at his waist. He was bigger than the pictures in her biology text book. In a trance-like state she reached out to touch him.

Angel watched as Willow's eyes surveyed him. He couldn't help the purely male pride he felt when her eyes turned into saucers at the sight of his fully aroused cock. He reveled in the curiosity and awe he saw on her face as she approached him. He wouldn't rush her explorations, but it would take every ounce of willpower he had when her naiveté and awe were turning him on beyond belief.

After an eternity of waiting he finally felt her first gentle touch on his shaft. He hissed his pleasure at the fire of her touch on him. Her slim fingers swirled around his length from base to tip in a slow, exploratory motion. Gentle touches that were mere whispers of flesh against flesh. When she reached the head she circled it as well, catching the drop of moisture at the tip with her thumb.

Angel watched as Willow studied the dollop of pre-cum on her thumb. She finally met his eyes as she grinned and brought her thumb to her mouth, licking it clean. Angel growled softly at the erotic sight, his entire body tight and trembling with need.

Willow returned to her task, this time applying a bit more pressure when she stroked him. She let her hand trail lower, carefully weighing his sack in her hand, squeezing gently. Her curiosity having been piqued at the taste of him, she slowly lowered herself to her knees between his legs. Angel felt her hair whisk across his legs as she tossed it over her shoulder.

Willow rested her hands on his thighs as she lowered her head to flick the tip of her tongue across his head. Angel's hands fisted in the sheets as he willed his body to hold out a little longer.

Willow slid her eyes back up to Angel's face, amazed at the hunger she saw there. "How am I doing so far?" she wickedly asked.

"Like I'm going to lose control at any moment," he honestly answered. "Don't stop."

"I wasn't planning on it," she reassured him, once again lowering her head. Her tongue snaked out and made a thorough exploration of his shaft before returning to the tip. Cautiously she began to take him into her mouth.

Angel held his non-existent breath as Willow's hot, wet mouth began to cover him. He whimpered with the incredible pleasure.

Thinking that she had somehow hurt him, Willow quickly pulled back to ask, "Are you okay?"

"I'm good," he croaked out. After regaining some control he added, "This time when you take me in your mouth, use your hand on the part you can't reach."

Willow smiled her agreement before engulfing him once again, as far as her inexperienced mouth could go, placing one of her hands loosely around the base.

For the next several minutes Willow diligently went about her task of bringing Angel as much pleasure as possible. She quickly established a rhythm where her hand would move at the same time as her mouth. She experimented with how much pressure to apply with her tongue and hand as she moved. Angel wasn't giving her any additional directions, so she assumed that she was doing something right.

Any directions Angel could have given, had he needed to, would have been completely incoherent. He was lost in the sensations the redhead was creating. He was so close to losing control – had been since she undressed him. It took every last bit of restraint to keep himself from thrusting into her mouth and letting go. But he knew that she wasn't ready for that, yet.

When Willow's hair fell back in front of her face, brushing against the exposed part of his cock, Angel was done for. In a voice filled with urgency he told Willow to either release him or take just the tip in her mouth because he was going to cum. Curious to see what to felt like, Willow pulled back until just the head of his cock remained in her mouth, waiting for the inevitable.

She didn't have to wait long. Angel's body became taught as his hips jerked, releasing his dead seed into her mouth. Willow resisted the initial urge to gag and managed to swallow every last drop that he had to offer before licking him clean as he collapsed back on the bed.

Smiling, Willow climbed onto the bed and curled herself around her prone vampire. Angel blankly stared up at the ceiling as he pulled Willow against him. She giggled at his relaxed, happy expression, running her fingers over his face.

Angel slowly met her sparkling eyes. "Thank you. That was… fantastic." He drew her down into a passionate kiss, tasting himself on her tongue.

She snuggled against his chest again, tracing patterns with her finger. In a tone that she hoped sounded casual she said, "Oh, by the way, we found a way to make your soul permanent today. We just need a few days to get everything together."

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Perseverance Has Its Own Rewards

by Elisabeth

Copyright © June 2003

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