Rain:

I couldn't think, but boy, could I feel. As I looked slowly through hundreds upon hundreds of pictures of myface, my expressions, my body, my smile, everything began to come perfectly clear -- knowledge washed over me like a soft velvet wave of truth that blanketed me in its eerily familiar warmth.

Buffy Summers was me. I was her. I didn't need to read anybody's theories or prophecies or explanations about reincarnation to fully understand. I just knew.

My entire existence made perfect sense, in a moment. I suddenly, for the first time, knew exactly who I was, and why I was put on this planet. I wasn't just any old Slayer (not that there's really any such thing, of course…) -- I was her. The greatest warrior who ever lived.

Angel did love me. More than I had ever dared to dream of. He loved me with all of the loyalty and passion and devotion that I always attributed to her. He wasn't hers -- he was mine.

I felt the most incredible sense of peace, and certainty, right then. I knew all the people and places in those pictures. I remembered clearly every moment that Buffy had chronicled in her diary. And some that she hadn't.

I knew Angel, inside and out. I knew everything he had been through, and everything we had been through together… everything we shared… I knew not because I'd read them, but because some part of me had lived them.

To say that I was overwhelmed would be like saying the Titanic was an unfortunate boating accident.

I had to go. Now. I had to talk to him. I had to tell him everything. I had to know if he knew all of this…

Of course he did. What a stupid thing to think. But I was totally senseless, right then.

It was all coming back to me in a rush of understanding and bittersweet remembrance.

I started grabbing things from the boxes and throwing them in my bag -- each item a physical representation of a memory that was only now being reborn in my mind.

As I ran, in tears, out of the archive room (damn if I can remember whether I locked it. Roger Lowenthal would have an embolism!), I grabbed the ornate broadsword from the cabinet by the door -- the one I knew that Angel owned the exact twin of, because I had bought it for him in Ireland for our 20th wedding anniversary.

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Angel:

I never got the chance to call her. It wasn't long after I got home that I felt her coming up the street. I knew she was there before she was even close to my door. I sat, and waited for her arrival.

I was struck with a deep sense of déjà vu as I got up to answer her knock. I opened the door and looked down at her…

And I knew. Before I even saw the sword… its engraving, 'By Blood, Heart, and Soul Are We Bound…' I knew.

"Rain," I said, as if I was surprised. It was the only word I could seem to form at that moment.

She stared up at me, her eyes red and puffy from crying. Her expression was… almost beatific… and so full of love…

My already soaring heart leapt.

"Sorry I didn't call first," she said, giving me a little shrug. I noticed the bag that she carried for the first time, and wondered what was inside. I stood there, looking at it for a few moments. "Um… do you think maybe I could come in? This is kind of heavy."

I blinked. "Oh. I'm sorry… Of course. Come in."

I backed out of the way to let her enter. She set the broadsword against the wall, and put her bag down before she sat. She looked around for a moment, taking the surroundings in.

Rain looked so right, sitting there, lit softly by the glow of all the candles I had arranged… surrounded by the soft sounds of blues in the background…

"Nice," she commented, and smiled at me.

I took a long, deep breath, trying to regain my lost bearings.

"Thanks. I… um… I'm glad you're here," I stammered, "Would you, uh… like some… wine?"

I felt like a schoolboy. A moronic schoolboy.

Her green eyes were twinkling. "I'd love some."

I walked to the bar, where I had set the Beaujolais on ice upon my return home. I took my time finding glasses, popping the cork (I did have a corkscrew, after all…), and watching the deep purple liquid roll into the goblets. It gave me a moment to pause; a moment when I didn't' have to look at her and fight the urge to grab her and crush her to me, and never let her go again.

If Rain had discovered (or, perhaps, remembered?) what I thought she might have, she would certainly want to talk about it, first. I had to be patient. I had to give her that. I owed her my shoulder, my understanding, at least… and oh, so much more.

But my moment of respite passed, and I turned, steeling myself. I shored up all of my restraint with all my strength as I looked into her eyes once more, and sat down on the couch, handing her one of the glasses as I passed.

"Thank you," she said politely. She was so calm… so utterly peaceful and still.

I glanced at the sword leaning next to the door. I remembered a rainy evening in Old Galway, the metalsmith asking if my wife and I would like him to fetch the old wisewoman to bless the swords for us…

"I guess you have something you want to say to me," I ventured.

Who knows? Maybe Rain had come there to tell me to leave her alone. Maybe she accepted who she was, and only rejected the part of the package that included me. Maybe she accepted neither. I could certainly understand that.

'What do you feel?' I wanted to ask her, 'Betrayed? Lied to? Cheated? Or is all of this okay with you, too?'

"I remember everything," she told me softly, never looking away from my face.

I'd heard those very words from those beautiful lips once before. But then, they had been spoken in anger… from Buffy's hurt fury that I had never told her about the day that I was human. But from Rain, they were… like a blessing of sweet understanding.

I sat back, sighing, still uncertain what that might mean.

"I see," I said, looking away from her, "What, exactly, do you remember?"

Her green eyes were locked on me, pinning me flat with the sheer weight of their intensity.

"I remember who you were… who I am… who we are…"

It was the most profound statement I had ever heard her utter. It conveyed so many millions of things… My heart ripped wide open, and tears filled my eyes. She took a deep breath, leaned closer to me, and said:

"I take you, Angel, to be my partner in all things, come what may, from this day forward until time ceases to be. By Blood, Heart, and Soul are we bound, to eternity…"

I stared into space, unable to bear the wrenching tenderness of that moment… of the memory it conjured… I was shocked senseless by the echo of emotion and magick I felt suddenly pounding in the air with her words.

I dragged my eyes to hers once more. Rain didn't smile, at first. But the look of contentment on her face gave me more than enough joy, in that moment, to last me forever.

"To Eternity," I said, and held up my almost-forgotten glass.

Then my wife smiled at me, and held up her own.

"Down the hatch!" she announced, clinking it to mine, and then drained it in a single gulp.

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