There was a sharp knock on the door. Buffy sighed, pulling away fromAngel and quickly buttoning up her shirt. "Coming!" she yelled, raking her hands throughher hair.

She yanked open the apartment door to find a tall, dark-haired woman onher doorstep.

"Oh, good, I was afraid that you two were screwing aroun- you two weremessing around weren't you?"

"N-No, Cordelia, why would you say that?"

"Your shirt is more lopsided than Xander's! See, Buffy, the buttons *line-up*. And yourhair? Unless you're embracing the environment and sponsoring a bird'snest -"

"Why don't you put your bags down?" Buffy interrupted.

Cordelia shrugged. "Sure ... where - ouch! Buffy, what *is* this?" Shepicked up what shehad just tripped over, a baby bottle. "Oh, gross, you're supposed to washthese, not leave them lying around!"

Buffy shook her head. "So, what do you think of the city so far?"

"The taxis SUCK!" Cordelia burst out. "They charged me like a milliondollars, like it was my fault they couldn't get through the stupid traffic jam!"

"I told you not to take a taxi from JFK," Buffy reminded her.

"What was I supposed to do? WALK?"

Buffy bit her lip. "Oh. Yeah. Okay, nevermind ... besides that, what doyou think?"

"Well, it *looked* nice ... through all the *smog*!"

"I guess you'd rather not be here?"

Cordelia laughed. "Where did you get that idea? I'm in New York City. NEWYORK! Of course I want to be here."

Buffy shook her head. She would never understand Cordelia, that was agiven.

"Hey."

Buffy turned around to see Angel, who kissed her gently on the neck.

"Are you two about to get mushy?" Cordelia asked. "Because if you are,I'm going to find that adorable baby of yours."

"Oh! That's right, you haven't seen her in six months -"

"No," Cordelia agreed, "Seeing as how you two moved clear across thecountry six months ago."

"She's gotten so big!" Buffy squealed, in full motherly hype.

"Babies do tend to do that over time."

Buffy ignored her remark, motioning for Cordelia to follow her and Angelacross the apartment and into the baby's room.

Buffy leaned over the crib and scooped up the sleeping girl, resting her against her hip asthe girl awoke with a start. She moved to hand her to Cordelia, but thetwo-year-old shrieked and clung to her mother. "Mama, no!"

"Shhh, Tarina, don't cry, it's Aunt Cordelia," Buffy whispered, placingTarina in Cordelia's arms.

"You guys are freaks!" Cordelia cried.

"Scuse me?" Buffy asked, surprised.

"She's two years old and she has black silk pajamas! Did you get themcustom-made or something? She'll mess them up in no time!"

"Hey, it was Angel's idea," Buffy cut in, "And this woman I work with hasa pajama company, so she made them. They're adorable."

"Yes, but she's going to mess them up, and you know it."

"Stop arguing with me," Buffy instructed, smiling. "We're going to go ...are you sure you don't mind?"

"It's fine," Cordelia assured Buffy. "Go. Have fun."

Buffy sighed. "Thanks, Cordelia." She kissed her daughter on the cheek."Daddy and I are going out, okay, Tarina? Be good for Aunt Cordelia."

"No!" the baby protested, reaching for her mother. "Mama! Daddy!"

Angel touched Tarina's cheek. "We'll be back soon, Tarina. You'll havefun with Cordelia, my darling," he whispered soothingly in her ear. He kissed heron the cheek and then did the same to Cordelia before taking Buffy's hand and leading herout the door.

*****

"So, where are we going?" Buffy asked as they walked. "I love the snow,"she murmured, reaching out a gloved hand to catch the falling snowflakes.

"I figured we could go to Rockefeller Center. Our last skating date ...wasn't. What do you think?"

"Really?" Buffy asked excitedly. "I've been wanting to go skating there!"

"I know," Angel whispered, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. Shesmiled and leaned against him.

"Do you think we'll be able to get skates?" Buffy asked.

"It's still early ... I'm sure we can manage. We'll wait if we have to."

Buffy grinned. "I so hope you're right."

They reached the ice rink quickly, only pausing to stare at theRockefeller Christmas tree in awe. They managed to get skates right away, much to Buffy's excitement and Angel's relief.

"Have you ever been here before?" Angel asked her once they had theirskates laced up.

Buffy took Angel's hand as they stepped onto the ice shakily. "I haven'tbeen skating since we went ... tried to go ... five years ago," she murmured. "And to answeryour question, yes. My dad was here on business, and my mother and I came with him, andwhile he was pulling the work-a-holic thing, my mother took me skating here. And Ilost track of her. ...What about you?"

Angel shook his head. "Never skating ... but I used to live around here."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously," Angel confirmed. "So I saw my share of skaters."

"Hey, maybe you saw me!" Buffy giggled.

"You never know." Angel grinned as they looped around a couple that hadstopped to kiss.

"I think they have the right idea," Buffy murmured, stopping and standingon tip-toes to kiss Angel.

"Definitely," Angel agreed against her mouth.

They hadn't been kissing for more than a minute when there was a loudcough. Buffy and Angel broke apart to see an older woman glaring at them and then lookingpointedly at her young daughter.

"Sorry," Buffy murmured, fighting the urge to giggle. She grabbed Angel'shand and pulled him towards another part of the rink - or tried, rather. However,she moved too quickly and instead ending up slipping and careening against the blade ofsomeone else's ice skate and then into a wall. "Ow," she muttered, looking at a tear inthe knee of her pants where blood was gathering.

Angel was at her side immediately. "Are you okay, Baby?" he asked,looking tearing the hole a little bigger so he could see the cut better.

Buffy chuckled. "I think this rink is cursed."

"Why is that?" Angel asked, frowning, his eyes still on her cut.

Buffy unzipped her coat pocket and pulled out several tissues, dabbing atthe blood. "Last time I was here - when I was eight - I did the same thing."

"You did." It was more of statement than a question when Angel said it,appearing confused. He took the tissues from her, blotting up the blood.

"Yes," she affirmed. "After I lost track of my mom, I was rushing allover the place looking for her, freaked out of my mind ... someone else had fallen, andI tripped over them and cut my knee on their skate. My other knee. Hey, maybe I can havetwin scars now!" She winced at as the pain of the cut suddenly kicked in.

"I'm going to get a bandage," Angel told her. "Just stay here."

"Didn't have any other plans!" she called to his retreating back.

He returned a few minutes later with peroxide, gauze, and tape. He kneltdown next to her to help her bandage her knee. "Here we go," he murmured, pouring someperoxide onto a tissue to disinfect the cut.

"Angel, I don't want that on my knee, that stuff hurts!" Buffy whined,unsurprised when Angel paid no attention and placed the tissue on her knee anyway. "Ouch!Damn it ... now I *really* have deja vu ... ouch!"

Angel continued to clean her knee, ignoring her protests. "You hadperoxide on your knee last time you hurt yourself? Was it the same knee?"

Buffy shook her head. "No ... it was the other one. I have a tiny scarthere, but it wasn't enough to go to the hospital ... some guy helped me, because I didn'tknow where my mom was. Sort of like you are now." She smiled at Angel as he tried totape the gauze onto her knee through the hole in her pants.

"Really? Interesting," he smiled up at her, then growled, ripping a hugehole in her pants.

"Hey! These were expensive!" she protested.

"Tell me about last time you went skating," Angel suggested again, tryingto change the subject from what he was doing wrong to something else.

"Well ... I was usually afraid of people I didn't know, especially guys.. intimidating, you know? Okay, well maybe you don't know, but pretend you do," Buffybabbled. "But this guy was completely sweet ... he just had like ... an aura or something,and I felt safe. Even safer than when I was home with my parents, but I guess that's notsurprisingly, because they were *always* arguing, like you know. And he fixed up my knee, andthen he stayed with me until my mother found *me* ... apparently she was more wiggedthan I had been!"

"And then what?"

"Well, she thought he was like ... well, like an angel," she smiled, "Andshe kept praising him, and offering him money - which he didn't take - and thanking him fortaking good care of me and helping me and all that, because who knew *what* kind ofpeople were out in the city at nine at night ... oh, and she had a camera. You know,one of those instant ones? And she took a picture of me and him ... of course she gave it toHIM, like he would actually care or something ..."

"I'm sure he did," Angel argued.

Buffy laughed. "Yeah, 'cause every guy cares about some little kid whonearly killed herself tripping over an ice skate ... talent much?"

"Hey, you never know," Angel digressed, smiling. He stood up and thenreached his hands out to her, pulling her up. "For all you know, the guy treasures thatpicture."

Buffy snorted. "Oh, of *course*."

"Do you want to keep skating or go home?" Angel asked.

"Can we leave? 'Cause I don't really think me and skating will work wellright now, and Tarina is probably giving Cordelia Hell ..."

Angel kissed her gently, efficiently ending her chattering.

*****

"You guys are home! ... Why are you guys home already?" Cordelia wonderedwhen Buffy and Angel came through the door.

"I fell," Buffy responded flatly.

"You do look kind of awful," Cordelia agreed. "How'd you manage that? Ithought you were all good at skating."

"I haven't skated in five years ... I was pulling Angel to somewhere more.. um ... private, and I slipped, and hit my knee on someone's ice skate, and smashed into awall."

"Jeez, Buffy, skillful much?" Cordelia shook her head. "I did get Tarinato go back to sleep!"

"Really? How?" Buffy questioned.

"I sang her a lullaby, of course," Cordelia answered as though it wascommon knowledge.

Buffy winced, remembering the talent show six years ago at SunnydaleHigh. "She's going to have nightmares!"

Cordelia glared at her. "This is the thanks I get for baby-sitting, huh?"

Buffy leaned forward, ignoring the pain in her knee, and hugged Cordelia."THAT is the thanks you get! Thank you."

"That's more like it!" Cordelia declared, hugging Buffy back. "You'rewelcome." She stood up. "I'm going to go to the little cafe that I saw out the windowand get a mocha or something, okay?"

"Be careful," Buffy warned.

Cordelia displayed a stake proudly. "I'm still down with it!"

"Uh ... Cordelia, this isn't a big vampire place. Just muggers andstuff."

"I can stake them, too!" Cordelia responded defensively. "Ta-ta!"

Buffy shook her head, watching Cordelia skip out the door. She turned toAngel. "I have to get out of these pants ... they're totally ruined."

"That sounds promising," Angel murmured.

Buffy glared at him playfully. "That was NOT what I meant ... and youknow it." At the look in Angel's eyes, she relented, "But it could be ..."

He grinned and pounced on her, pushing her against the wall.

*****

Buffy opened her eyes slowly and looked around. "Angel?" She sat up,clutching the quilt to her chest. "Angel ..."

"Right here," he answered, coming back into the room, holding somethingin his hand.

Buffy grinned and bit her lip, noting that he was only wearing a red silkrobe that she could *very* easily undo ... Reminding herself that Cordelia was in thenext room, she took a deep breath and asked, "Where'd you go?"

"I wanted to show this to you earlier ... but I was ... distracted. Lookfamiliar?" He handed her a photograph.

She glanced at it, frowned, and reached over to flip on the bedside lamp.Blinking quickly as her eyes adjusted to the light, she looked again, frowned, blinked,and looked closely at it. "Okay ... I'm ... confused. 'Cause this is ... that picture ... andthat's me ... at age eight .. and ... that's you ..."

Angel nodded, waiting for her to make the connection.

"And you used to live around there," she continued, "And you saw skaters.And I fell, and that was the day, because see, I have gauze on my knee, but you're there.. why are you there? Unless you were ..." She shook her head. "No, but you couldn't.."

Angel nodded, smiling.

"Oh my God," she cried, then looked at him sharply. "And how long haveyou known this for?"

"I just remembered when you were telling me earlier," he swore. "I forgotI even had this picture."

"Okay ... so *if* that was you ... that helped me ... why did you saveit? You didn't actually know me then or anything ..."

"I had very little contact with humans back then," he told her. "It was awhole new experience for me, to actually be able to help someone, and have themtrust me. Like you did."

"Like I always will," she whispered, brushing the back of her hand overhis cheekbone and kissing him. When they broke apart, she smiled. "You always were thegentleman."

"And you were always wonderfully sweet."

"Really?" she asked, her tongue darting out to trace his lips.

"Really," he confirmed, growling as she ran her hand down his chest anddangerously low. "Cordelia's in the next room," he reminded her with a groan.

"Then I guess we'll just have to be quiet," Buffy said.

"Buffy -"

"After all ... I'm still hurt," she reminded him. "You'll just have tomake it ... all better."

"Well when you put it that way ..." He pinned her underneath him.

She giggled softly. "I think I'm going to have to get hurt more often ...because one way or another, you always ... help me."

"Do I?"

Buffy nodded solemnly. "Last time, you just bandaged my knee and waitedwith me for my mother ... but this time ..."

"This time what? Tell me," he implored.

She shook her head. "I'd rather show you."

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