Disclaimer: Joss and company own everything.
Note1: This story incorporates a lot of ideas and information from various movies and shows other than just Buffy and Angel, (The Crow, Blade, Interview With the Vampire, the WWF, just to name a few). Trust me, everything comes together pretty well, and if you really think into it, everything could've made sense on either show.
Summary: Angel returns to Sunnydale to reconcile with family- both present and past.
Spoilers: Everything before the musical on BtVS, and Darla was never brought back on A:ts
Rating: I'm gonna go with PG-13, just to be safe.
Note2: I've made a few changes for my story. First, Riley and Parker were never in the picture. Since Angel left, Buffy's only had some meaningless dates. Spike doesn't love Buffy and doesn't hang around so much; Angel, not Dru, was the one to actually sire Spike, and like I said before, Darla wasn't brought back, but Angel is still extremely depressed and stressed out in LA.
Note3: Words in between < > are a person's thoughts, and in between ~ ~ represents memories/flashbacks. I've thrown in a bunch of different songs here. Some I just took a few lines from because they seem to express things better than I could write them. "Thinking About Forever" is by P.O.D., "Gone" is by From Zero, "I Don't Want to Live Without You" is by Gregg Tripp, "Greater Than/Less Than" is by Saliva, "Running Out Of Time" is by Ozzy Osbourne, and "Home" is by Duncan Sheik.
Distribution: Want it- take it. Just let me know where it's going.
Feedback: I'd appreciate it. But don't be too harsh. It may warp me for life.

"Angel?" Buffy continued her walk through the darkness, calling out for her beloved. She cautiously approached the water's edge that lay before her. As she closed in nearer, flames began to rise up out of the water. She was pulled back suddenly before the flames could reach her. "Angel?" she asked, feeling a cold hand on each of her shoulders. She quickly turned around, but it wasn't Angel that she found.

"It's only after we've lost everything-" the taller of the two long blonde-haired men began...

"-that we're free to do anything." his younger brother finished for him.

Out of nowhere, Joyce Summers emerged from behind the brothers. "Buffy...Buffy, what are you waiting for?"

"Mom!" Buffy awoke with a start, still feeling the icy hold the two men had on her as they turned her around to deliver their message. Glancing around her room, still shaken by the dream, she attempted to get back to sleep. "Uggh...at least when I was dead I couldn't dream any more of these doom prophecies."

******

As the rest of the city slept, the two vampire brothers walked the length of the dock, silent as the grave, scrolls in hand, as they set out to begin the ritual. Finally reaching the edge of the dock, they began to recite.

-Aaccaal Alaan Draa...
-Dotre Diem Bray...
-Aaacaal Naapraa...

They watched, as with their final words a ring of fire began to dance upon the murky water, and they awaited the rise of their fallen comrade. After a few moments, they watched as the figure rose out of the rumbling vortex created in the water, animated by an unknown force, an earth-shattering scream escaping her mouth. Struggling in her swim, she pulled herself over to the closest pillar and began to climb the rotted wooden ladder along the side of the pier. Finally reaching the deck, she gasped for air, coughing up water with her last bit of strength as she collapsed at the feet of her "saviors".

******

Fragments of the sun's beams broke through the window, quickly rousing Buffy from her sleep. Slowly, she stretched out and looked over on her nightstand to check what time it was. "Nine?? On a Saturday??" She groaned as she rolled back over under the covers. "This has got to be the earliest I've ever gotten up on a weekend." Just as she was slipping back into the first good sleep she'd had over the past few weeks, she heard Willow at her door. "Hey Buffy," she knocked, "want any breakfast? We decided to all meet up at the café. Start some plans for Xander and Anya's wedding. Then afterwards we're gonna start decorating the house for Christmas. Even though I'm Jewish, I figure I'll help you Catholic folk with your little tree decorating tradition," she chuckled.

"I can hardly contain my excitement." She ducked her head out from under her pillow as Willow entered the room.

"Come on. Out of bed," she ordered, dragging her out by her arms. She waited for her to get dressed before leading her to the stairs, Buffy's eyes still closed, not wanting to face the day. "We're coming to stairs, I suggest you open your eyes," Willow joked.

"All right, all right. The sooner we get done breakfast, the sooner I go back to bed."

"You that tired?" Willow asked as she, Tara, Dawn, and Buffy walked to the local café. "Rough night?"

"Mmm. Managed to dust a few, no biggie. Afterwards though, Giles went into lecture-mode about some stuff he started researching after he got a call from Wesley."

"Wesley called? Anything wrong? I mean, is Angel...?"

"He's fine, Will. Actually, it had nothing to do with him," Buffy said, a hint of disappointment in her voice. It had been two weeks since she and Angel met, and she still kept replaying it over in her mind at least a thousand times each day. "Something about some 'grave, impending danger' lurking on the horizon."

"Same old, same old?" laughed Dawn.

"You know it. Happy as ever at happy house. Things were too quiet around here anyway. I've been needing to dish out a good ass-kick-"

"Owww! Oh, jeez, sorry," Buffy apologized to the fallen party of the head-on collision, rubbing her forehead. Being so caught up kidding with her friends, she hadn't noticed the young girl running, turning the corner of the next street. "Here," she offered her a hand, which the girl took. "You okay?" At her nod, Buffy began a closer inspection of her. The girl couldn't have been more than 20.

Dressed all in black, she was dripping wet from her shoulder-length black hair to her boots. Patches of what looked to be a mixture of blood and mud covered her black shirt, slashed from end to end and having two of what seemed to be large bullet holes. Her face, somewhat pale, held a blank expression, and her eyes…the only other time she had seen eyes so dark were Angel's. The only other thing she could make out on the girl was the silver charm dangling from the chain around her neck- "Nice cross," Buffy smiled. "You sure you're okay?" The girl slowly nodded again, pulling herself up completely and dashing off again down the street, stumbling slightly as the others watched her in the distance.

"Oookay. That ranks up there with weird," said Dawn.

"So what else is new?" answered Tara. "She had a nice ankh though."

"Tara, please, watch the language. We've got a kid with us," Buffy said, motioning towards Dawn. "I swear Willow, you are such a bad influence on her. You're warping that innocent mind."

"Haha," Willow replied, taking Tara's hand once again. "She's talking about the cross around her neck. Technically, it's an ankh- it's a symbol for life."

"Lovely..." Buffy sighed. "So, who's cooking Christmas dinner this year...?"

******

I'm on my way, alone inside If I could just have another wish Then maybe you wouldn't have died

Give me reasons tell me lies The truth be told no one to believe Can't follow you and don't ask why Cause you've gone, yes you've gone To the other side

"You're sure the vision showed Buffy?"

"This one was the strongest I've ever had. I could see Buffy so clear...and another girl. There were gunshots, a rope, a huge cage...a lot of water...and you and Spike were both in it- with these other two guys...both vampires." Nodding his head in approval, Angel quickly grabbed his bag. "Okay, explain this to me again, because I'm still not getting this whole thing." Cordelia was sitting on her boss' desk, watching her co-workers as they scrambled about, gathering weapons and books. Anything they could get their hands on to help them.

"Look, you guys really don't have to come. We're not even sure if they've managed to do this yet." Angel slipped into his leather jacket, glancing over his shoulder to check the clock. 5:31pm. Sundown was a few minutes away and he wanted to head out as soon as possible.

"But they can. That's all that matters, right?" Gunn said, anxious to get going as well.

"Hello? I'm definitely coming, but I just don't-"

"Then just get some clothes, pack a bag, and let's get going, Cordy."

"And you expect me to ready in a few minutes?" Noticing the sharp looks directed towards her, she quickly began gathering her own things. "Why clothes? This isn't going to count towards our Christmas vacation time, is it? Wait...do we even get vacation time for Christmas?" Ignoring her for a moment, Angel turned his attentions to Wesley. "You phoned Giles, right?"

"I told him as much as I could-"

"And I'm still doing more research-" Fred chimed in. "According to everything we've already found, the ritual can't take place without the ankh-"

"Let's just hope they didn't manage to find it before we could." With that, they finally packed into Angel's new black Benz and headed towards Sunnydale.

******

It was a slow day at the magic store. Halloween and Thanksgiving had come and gone, with their share of problems, of course. Anya and Xander were now in the clear without distractions to begin plans for their wedding. The gang was gathered around their table in the closed shop to talk about arrangements for the big day.

"Honey, are you sure about wanting to get married in a church?" Xander questioned. "I mean, that's a little too normal to be...well, normal." Anya, caught up in everything, simply kissed him on the cheek and continued. "Now I have my gown but you still need to rent your tux, so I guess pretty much the only things left are the invitations. Ooooh...plus the catering, the cake, the reception- ugh. We've got a lot to do Xander. Xander? You okay sweetie?" Everyone had taken notice over the past week of Xander's semi-panic attacks whenever new plans for the wedding came up. It wasn't that he didn't love Anya and wanted to get married. That was one of, if not the only thing he was sure of in life. But just the thought of all the preparation was enough to make his head spin. "Yeah. Oh, I'm fine. See..." he pointed to his face, "...happy camper. All smily teeth and dimples."

"Speaking of teeth," Buffy interrupted, getting up from her seat, "I'd better get going. Do a few sweeps. You," she said, pointing to Dawn, "home by 10:30."

"Eleven?"

"10:45."

"10:50?"

"What's an extra five minutes going to be?" Giles asked, still bewildered by teenagers after all these years.

"Fine, eleven. But straight home with Tara and Will, k?" At her nod, Buffy started her walk towards the door.

"Wait up Buff," shouted Xander. "Sweetie, I'm gonna tag along tonight with Buffy," he said to his fiancee, gently leaning over her shoulder to give her a gentle kiss on the cheek. "I'll meet you at home. Love you."

"Love you too. Be careful." She watched as Buffy and Xander left for the graveyard, Giles slouched over the counter with his books, Willow and Tara were caught up with each other, and Dawn had taken off god knows where. "Okay, is anyone going to help me with my wedding, or is this a one ex-demon job?"

******

"Just wanted to get away again, huh?"

"Ya know me too well Summers," Xander chuckled.

"Wuss," she flatly stated, nudging him with her elbow. They began their walk to the cemetery along the sleepy, empty streets of their town.

Meanwhile, the now fully powered force inhabiting the abandoned mansion that once served as a safe haven to one of their own, began to set their plans into action.

"Who are you?" the young girl asked, curling herself into a ball on the ground. She had found her way back to the mansion after initially running off from the docks.

"We're family, Ashlan." Their leader bent down to pull her into a sitting position.

"Edge?" She looked at him with longing eyes, not knowing what to make sense of anything.

"We're both here," spoke Edge's younger brother from aside. "You'll be alright. It's been awhile," he chuckled.

"Spike? Angelus? They're here too?"

"Unfortunately, they've had a change in priorities. No matter though. It's of no great consequence. You'll see them soon enough.

"How did I survive, Christian?" She was becoming even tenser, eyes darting around the mansion, still not understanding how she came to be where she was.

"You didn't...but we brought you back..."

"No!" Ashlan pushed herself up off the cement floor and backed against the wall, yelling wildly. "This isn't real! This can't be! I- I'm still- but I can't be-" she finally collapsed to the floor, holding her head in her hands as the images of her own murder played out in her mind. The five gunshots ringing out in her ears, the taught rope wrapping around her body, the feeling of the icy water engulfing her as she was tossed over, and the pure hatred for the brother who watched her fate befall her. The two blonde brothers approached her, gathering her up and pulling her into the corner. "There's a reason why you've been brought back, Ash," Edge said. Her eyes, which were just moments ago filled with anguish and fear, now sharply focused on the two young vampires before her. She knew...and she knew what was going to be done.

******

"Slow night you two?"

"What is it about you vampires sneaking up on people," Xander asked, startled by Spike's appearance.

"Best way to play the game," he replied, smiling. "I've been out here for awhile now. Bagged three already. You?" he asked Buffy.

"A couple," she replied, looking towards the ground.

"How many's a couple? Two?" At her silence, he continued. "Three?"

"Do we hear four?" The three turned around to see the owner of the new voice. Before he knew what happened, Spike's head came into blunt contact with a hard kick to the face. Surprised to now be on the ground, he glanced up only to see Buffy on the receiving end of another swift kick. She fell backwards ontop of him, holding her jaw and watching Xander as he tried to put up a fight against the young girl.

Not being any match, Xander was promptly thrown ontop of his two friends, knocking all three to the ground. The girl turned around, standing over top of them with piercing eyes. Finally able to get a good look at her, Spike pulled himself up. "You?" He nervously pointed with a shaky hand to the leather-clad girl. "Yeah," she finally spoke, grabbing him by his jacket. "...me."

She began punching away at a still-shocked Spike as Buffy made her way over to them. She managed to pull her off of him, spinning her around to deliver her own devastating kick. The girl's head was knocked off to the side a bit, but she quickly recovered, smiling with the fact that the blow had no effect on her. "Is that everything the all-mighty Slayer's got?" she began to laugh, grabbing Buffy by the throat, raising her in the air and slamming her against the nearby Mausoleum. Being face to face with her, Buffy finally realized that she recognized the now vicious face from earlier that day.

Buffy struggled for air, as the young girl's grip became tighter and she slipped into her vamp face. Not wanting to prolong the moment, the girl quickly raised her right arm, from which a small glowing dagger suddenly appeared. As she reached back, she found that her arm had been caught in mid-air. She glanced over her shoulder only to be punched and flipped backwards to the ground.

Finally free from the massive grip, Buffy slumped to the ground to find Angel standing before her, waiting for the girl to get up. Spike and Xander rushed over to help Buffy up, intently watching when the girl finally got up, dagger still in hand. Laughing to herself, she turned to face them. "Well, well, well...family reunion, eh you two? she asked the two vampires.

"Ashlan?" Spike asked, not willing to believe what he was seeing.

"Does the corpse have a familiar face? And here I thought you would've forgotten all about me," Ash said, a faint Irish accent to her voice. "What the hell did you do to your hair? Looks like a shredded cream puff, Spike," she laughed. She kicked Spike to the ground again, turning her attentions to Angel. "And aren't you a sight for sore eyes, Angelus. Now your hair isn't half bad...isn't half good either."

"They killed you, Ash," Angel blankly said. "You're dead."

"Sorry to disappoint you," she wickedly smiled. Ash stabs him in the stomach twice, leaving him hunched over, grabbing his stomach. She chokes Angel against the Mausoleum with her boot; Angel grabs her boot, trying to break free as Ash grits her teeth. She removes her boot from his throat, replacing it with her dagger. She finally releases her chokehold, knees him in his ribs, and slices him across his chest with the dagger. She picks his limp body up, hurling him against the marble wall. Tossing a last glance at the other three, she slowly walks off, but turns around as she sees Angel shakily get up. "Oh Angelus, a little something for you until next time-" and with that she threw the dagger, making direct contact with his chest.

"Angel!" Buffy yells, struggling over to his prone body. Xander makes his way over as well, helping Buffy to lift him up.

"Good god," Spike barely whispers, watching as Ash makes her retreat, literally disappearing into the air before his eyes.

******

"You're lucky she missed your heart," Giles said. Cordelia, Gunn, and Fred had headed straight to see Giles once they arrived to do more research as Angel went in search of Ashlan. Everyone made their retreat back to Buffy's house. Giles had taken the dagger out of Angel, and was now bandaging his deep wounds.

"She's always had bad aim," he chuckled softly, trying to make light of the situation.

"So I take it this was the 'grave, impending danger' you were talking about, Wes?" Buffy asked from her seat next to Angel on the couch.

"Unfortunately, I'm afraid so. We had hoped that they wouldn't have been able to bring her back, but now that they have, we've got a nightmare in the making," the former watcher said.

"Tell me about it. She almost took my head off with that kick. Tossed us all around like ragdolls. Angel," she turned to face him, "who was that?"

"It's a long story," he sighed.

"We're not going anywhere," she gently smiled.

"Her name is Ashlan O'Halloran...my sister."

Part Two

"Sister?? I never knew you had a sister." Buffy always knew that he hated talking about his past, especially his family.

"I told you before, some lies are necessary because the truth is more painful."

"And as of right now," Spike chimed in, "we're in for about as painful as it gets."

"Well wait," Tara said, "if she's your sister, than she'd have to be a vampire too, right? But then...how..., how was she out in daylight earlier this morning?"

"She's a hybrid- only half vampire," Angel explained.

"I'm assuming you were her sire?" Giles asked.

"In a roundabout way...I'm the one responsible." He braced himself for the painful memories he was about to dive into. "When I was first turned, my family...my family were the first people I... My mother-" he paused, trying to maintain his composure as he continued- "my mother was pregnant at the time when I was changed. I returned home that night, and she was the first person I attacked. I drained her... to the point of death, before feeding off of the rest of my family. It was a few days later that I learned that my Aunt had come by later that night and found my mother, barely alive, but the trauma had induced her labor. She finally died after giving birth."

"Man, there were some weird names back in your time," Xander exclaimed. " 'Angelus', 'Ashlan'. You never hear of any vampires named 'Tom' or 'John'." Rolling his eyes at him, Angel continued. "Somehow, when I fed off of my mother, it affected the child. She was born already turned, but not as a full vampire. She's half human, and does age, at a slow rate, but has most vampire tendencies- except exposure to the sun won't kill her."

"Just your everyday vamp with a tan, huh?" Xander chimed in again.

"Nowhere near it," Angel said. "You have no idea what she's capable of." Angel stood up, gently wincing at the pain in his chest, and walked over to Giles. "When I found out my Aunt had taken her, she was the next on my list. I took in the child and named her Ashlan-"

"The one with the face of innocence-" Giles finished for him. At Angel's nod, the vampire continued.

"I raised her...she was practically my protégé before I was cursed."

"Yes, we've been doing quite a lot of research on her. The only one of her kind, really. She has quite the resume of abilities stemming from her, uh- condition... being a hybrid and all," he began reading from one of the books that Wesley brought him. "Incredible strength and reflexes, remarkable speed and agility, possesses the power of self-healing which regenerates damaged tissue at great speed, is able to charge any object with kinetic energy. When a charged object impacts after being thrown, it explodes."

"From what I can tell, she was virtually indestructible," Wesley added.

"So what happened to her if she was so big and bad?" Dawn asked.

"The Brood."

"She belonged to the Brood?" Giles asked, slightly shocked by the revelation.

"All three of us did," Spike explained.

"Okay," Cordelia began, "now I'm even more confused than before. What was the Brood?"

"A group of vampires that wreaked havoc throughout Europe in the nineteenth century," said Spike. "Me, Peaches over there, Edge, Christian, and Ashlan."

"No remorse, no mercy- just the kill," Giles added. "I remember reading about some of their, umm...finer work when we first learned about you, Angel. But I had no idea you were part of them."

"There's one crime among all vampires. It's a crime that means death to any vampire- kill your own kind," explained Angel.

"After the poof here decided to sire lil' ol' me, as a sort of celebration, the three of us set out for a grand feast that night. Unfortunately, so did Edge and Christian's sister, Alaana- real bitch that girl was."

"Again with the big 'A' names," Xander said. "Ya know, maybe it wasn't the times, maybe it was just you guys and your families."

"Somehow Alaana found out that Ashlan was a hybrid…not the sort of thing we thought they would look too highly upon. She was set to tell her brothers about it when the three of us decided to stop her...there was a fight, lot of blood, in the end, Angel here sliced her gawky head off and the three of us were left standing over her."

"A week later was when I was cursed. That same night, the Brood was supposed to meet but I got...distracted, you know..."

"Always was the greedy pig, weren't you?" Spike chuckled. "By the time he actually did show up, all wobbly and confused with his brand new soul, Edge and Christian had already poisoned Ashlan. Tricked the poor girl into drinking a bunch of dead blood. Nasty way for a vampire to die." Seeing a few confused faces, Angel chimed in to explain. "Blood from the dead- a dead human, that is- is lethal to a vampire...even just a hybrid." Spike continued his story. "They tied up Ash, just waiting for Angel to see their revenge for Alaana."

"And where were you when all this was happening?" Buffy asked Spike. He turned to face the slayer, slightly lowering his eyes to the ground, now feeling remorse for some of the things he had done in life. "I wonder how Peaches managed to deal with this all these years," he thought to himself. "I was...uh...gathering knives…loading the pistol...ya know, that sort of thing," he smugly trailed off.

"And tying me up. Don't forget the tying me up part," Angel said with his trademark half-smile. "I let my guard down. Didn't know what was happening. For a minute, I thought they were going to kill me too. But that would've been too simple. Too meaningless." He looked up at his friends, listening with rapt attention to one of the most painful events of his life. "She was beaten...raped, finally shot...five or six times...and I had to watch the whole thing. As an added bonus, they didn't even leave her dead body behind for me to bury. They took it with them when they came over to America, threw it off the docks-" Buffy placed her hand across his back, trying to soothe him. "Well that explains why she was all wet," she said.

"But how-" Cordelia began, "what's she doing back? I mean, how is it possible?"

"Willow, you little troublemaker you," Xander poked his finger at her, "you couldn't have just stopped with bringing Buffy back, could ya. Had to go and show off, huh?"

"We're still trying to figure that part out," Fred answered, pushing past Xander with her books. "So far what we've got is the Ritual of Gangrel. Used to resurrect a tortured soul that could not pass into the realm of the dead because of unfinished business."

"Like a ghost?" asked Anya.

"But not the Casper-friendly kind," Giles added. "According to my research, Ashlan must've been brought back to avenge her own death. That's the only way her soul will be able to rest and cross over completely- by killing the one who killed her."

"But what does that have to do with you?" Cordelia asked Angel.

"I'm guessing she blames him for what happened," Fred answered. "Unless they're blaming you for her?"

"Who?" asked Giles.

"Edge and Christian," Angel answered. "They must've been able to do it. They must've gotten hold of the ankh."

"Wait…" Buffy began, "would that happen to be the same ankh she was wearing?" Noticing Angel's questioning look, she explained. "This morning when we ran into her, she was wearing this cross around her neck. Willow said it was an ankh."

"Well, I guess they didn't have any problem getting it," Wesley said, "considering she was wearing it. She must've had it on when they killed her."

"And she has no idea it was them," added Angel.

"So what's the game plan?" asked Gunn.

"As of right now, we have none. Right now, our first priority is drawing the three of them out of Sunnydale."

"Whoa, wait a minute here. Don't think I'm not getting involved with all of this." Buffy could already see Angel begin to argue.

"This isn't your fight, Buffy. That's why I hoped we would've been able to find the ankh before they did. I knew she was down below the docks and wanted to stop it before she could start stirring things up here."

"I'm sorry, but I think you're missing one itty-bitty thing here," she said, a slight annoyance in her voice, "I'm the slayer. I slay vampires remember? That's what I do, and at the risk of sounding cocky, I do it damn well."

"You have no idea what she's capable of, Buffy. I mean, just look at tonight. She's not even at full strength yet and look at what she did," he motioned to his bandages. "You said it yourself, she threw us around like ragdolls. And with Edge and Christian guiding her...no! I'm not putting you at this big a risk...I've already put you at too many over the years." His eyes locked with hers, desperately pleading with her to let him handle it. "She could kill you," he faintly whispered.

"Angel," she gently reached out to cover his hand with her own, "every freaky thing that I go up against could kill me. Hell, I've been dead twice already. Third time's a charm, right?" she nervously laughed as Angel's angry glance fell upon her. Seeing the scene transpiring before her eyes, Cordelia took it upon herself to break up the party.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm getting all funned-out. So-" she sat up, grabbing Wes, Fred, and Gunn and shoving them to the door. "-we're going to head over to Giles' house for the night and we'll all regroup here tomorrow morning to work on our game plan. Good? Good."

"Yeah," Angel said, sitting up from the couch to grab his jacket. "We'd better get going. Rest up. I don't think they'll try anything else toni- uggh!" He moaned in pain feeling Cordelia's hand on his chest as he went to follow her out Buffy's front door.

"Where do you think you're going? You're hurt, and you're staying here...I mean, if that's all right with you, Buffy?" Cordelia had never seen the slayer so eager. "Great! I mean, of course. Good idea. We can, uh, keep an eye on your wounds."

"I'm a fast healer," Angel said, turning around to once again start following his crew. Since seeing her a few weeks ago, Angel found it harder and harder to try and repress all the memories, all the feelings. It would kill him being under the same roof again with her. But still, he was feeling weak, and just being near her, breathing her in, hearing her voice would be-

"An inch or two to the right and you'd be a lovely pile of dust, boss" Cordelia pushed her three coworkers fully out the door. "We're taking your car. Spike!!"

"What?" he called from Buffy's kitchen.

"Come on, you were just leaving, weren't you?"

"But I'm busy," he came walking into the living room with an opened container of blood. "Got to keep up my strength now that the lil' sis is back."

"Brown bag it, and let's go." Cordelia pushed the gang out of Buffy's house, but waited for the slayer to approach her. "Buffy, just...just watch him- please."

"Oh Cordy, come off it. You don't have to worry about-"

"No, not the curse. I know you two know better than that. It's just that...well, he hasn't been too well," she said with a sigh.

"What do you mean?" Buffy asked, a naturally worried look across her face.

"He's just been really stressed out and depressed...and not just his usual brooding." Her eyes stared over the slayer's shoulders to give her boss a final glance. He was carefully sliding his jacket off again and was lifting his shirt to inspect one of his bandages. "I just worry a lot about him, that's all." Buffy could see a faint glimmering of unshed tears in Cordelia's eyes. "I didn't know you two had gotten so close?" Coming back to her senses, Cordy finally grasped what her friend was implying.

"What? Oh...no, no. Nothing like that, Buffy. But I do love him…like a brother. He's practically my best friend if I really think about it. That's entirely different from being in love with him."

"I know that Angel does love you, Cordelia. You've had to realize that over the years."

"I know that," she said, matter of factly, "and I also know that not only does he love you, but he's madly in love with you. Always will be." Cordelia noticed that Buffy's eyes averted to the window. "And you'll always be in love with him, right? So, what are you waiting for?" Buffy's eyes returned to her friend's face, recalling her mother's exact words from her dream the night before. "You and I both realize all of this, Buffy. It's Angel we have to convince. Why not take the opportunity tonight? Just talk. Maybe things will be different for a change." With that, Cordy gave her a reassuring hug, and Buffy and Angel were left alone in her living room. Willow, Tara, and Dawn all headed upstairs.

"I thought we were going to decorate tonight?" Dawn whined. The young girl had caught the Christmas spirit, and combined with the overwhelming joy of having her sister back to share it with, she was looking forward to celebrating with her family. "Do you think they'll be okay down there? You know…alone?" Dawn asked Will and Tara.

"They'll be fine. It might actually do them some good, ya know," said Tara. "Especially Buffy. We'll see you in the morning Dawnie." As they settled down into bed, Willow began discussing any spells they may be able to conjure up to help stop Ashlan.

Part Three

"You didn't kill them?!" Edge was now pacing the floor of the mansion in a frenzy, shocked that Ash had not disposed of Angel and the slayer when she had the chance.

"In due time." Ash laid herself out across the cold cement floor, staring aimlessly at the ceiling, a sick smile across her face.

"Our priority here isn't to play games, it's to put Angel and that slayer in the ground. We've had to put up with enough from him in LA; he's been nothing but trouble for us the minute he arrived. Haven't you been listening at all to us?!" Christian, following his brother's lead was now getting furious as well. "Do we have to remind you why we were gracious enough to bring you back?! Or maybe you've spent so many years underwater that your ears are still clogged, so let us tell you aga- aggh!" Christian's mouth met fist, as Ash could no longer hold back her rage, catching him with a fierce right punch, slamming him up against the wall.

"No, I don't think you quite understand, so let me put things into perspective," she tightened her grip a little more, "don't you two worry your lil' heads about Angelus, or the slayer for that matter. She's not as intense as you said, Edge," she motioned over towards him. "The two of them are only part of the smaller picture. Once we eliminate them, you'll have your run of things around here. We could pollute this town with vampires- the three of us, you know? Let me have at least a little fun before I get to be sent back. It would be the least I could do to leave a permanent mark on this century, since I never got the chance before," she snarled, still cursing Angel in her mind for killing her. "Besides..." she finally relinquished her hold on Christian, dropping him to the ground, "...my brother has already been weakened."

"The dagger?" Edge asked from his corner. "I take it you-"

"Poisoned it? You two should know my tricks by now. Smeared in a little dead blood as well, just for fun. Might as well give him the same treatment he gave me, right?" Edge and his brother nervously agreed, looking to each other to make sure they kept their heads about everything. They didn't wish to even fathom what she would do to them if she only knew they were the ones to...nevertheless, they considered it a risk worth taking. Bringing her back- the only one they could think of to eliminate the two pesky warriors. "It's only a matter of time before it kicks in," Ash continued. By tomorrow's light, if he's not totally keeled over and is stupid enough to fight us, he can look forward to a nasty death." Ash flipped herself up from the floor, slowly walking over to Edge. "Is everything set for tomorrow night? Manage to get a crew together, did you?"

"While you were out playing nice with your brother, we had the oh so difficult task of 'recruiting' a few members for the New Brood."

"How many?"

"Fifty or so. You'd be surprised at how many dimwitted humans walk these streets at night," Edge laughed. "And I thought all the saps came out to play in LA"

"Get more. This slayer and Angelus...they must be dealt with expediently. Plus we've got Spike to contend with."

"Whatever you want done...we can do," Christian replied.

"Good. That's very reassuring boys," Ash grabbed a leather jacket from the mantle, headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" asked Edge.

"Get a bite to eat," she snickered. "I'm hungry, and this pathetic town awaits. And for desert, well...I was thinking of leaving our little friends a special surprise before the big day tomorrow. You know…for old time's sake..."

"You realize that even when she does kill Angel, she still won't be able to cross over," Christian told his brother once Ash was out of hearing distance.

"I'm aware." He tossed his sibling one of the young girls he had taken back to the mansion for 'dinner'.

"Then you must also realize that she's going to go after us once she discovers this." Christian eagerly switched into his game face as he tilted the girl's neck to the side.

"We'll just have to take care of her like before. We killed her once...we can do it again." Edge began feeding from a second girl. "After all- history does have a way of repeating itself."

******

Oh I, I had to leave a little while Don't ask me why And I, I didn't mean to make you cry My love

There's a light shining bright In my eyes tonight But I still see your face Through the blinding light

I don't want to live without you Oh, no, I won't walk away I don't want to live without you No one could ever take your place

"So...umm," Angel was the first to try and break the silence in Buffy's living room. "Thanks. You know, for letting me stay here."

"You know you don't have to thank me," she said, inching closer to him. As they stood there staring at each other, both were hit once again with the painful realization of how much they missed and needed the other, now more than ever. Since seeing each other again not too long ago, it had just made everything harder and more painful. God knows how much Angel wanted to take her in his arms, just to reassure himself that she was in fact alive. He didn't think he would ever get over his initial reaction when he received Willow's phone call a few weeks ago, even after finding out that they were able to bring her back. A part of him had died with Buffy that night, and deep down he knew that he would ever get it back.

"No tree yet, huh?" he finally broke the silence, searching the house for any signs of the upcoming holiday.

"Uggh…if it was up to me we'd just decorate a pine cone. We'll probably get some mishapen pine-needle-shedding hideous excuse for a tree Christmas Eve. Say, I'm kinda hungry. How 'bout something to eat?" Not waiting for an answer, Buffy led him by the hand into the kitchen. She grabbed a muffin from the counter for herself, then opened the fridge to remove a fresh container of blood. She poured some into a mug and placed it into the microwave, aware of Angel's following eyes. "Didn't know you had taken up the habit," he joked, carefully sitting down at a stool.

"Coffee just doesn't do it for me anymore." She softly laughed, retrieving the mug and handing it to him. "Actually, we just keep some here for Spike."

"Didn't know he had taken up root here."

"He hasn't, trust me. He stops by maybe once a week and believe me, that's more than we'd all like."

"Can't say I blame you." He went to drink from the mug but upon tasting the warm fluid, he nearly spit it out.

"What's wrong?" a worried Buffy asked.

"It's got alcohol in it." He took a deeper smell of the concoction. "Smells like whiskey."

"Ohhh...Spike must've taken it upon himself to add a little kick to it." Buffy couldn't help but laugh at Angel's disgusted face.

"Ohhh...but, how do I know that you just didn't try to ply me with liquor to take advantage of me in my condition," he smiled.

"I never thought that I needed alcohol before to take advantage of you." She smiles a bit, reaching over the table to extend her hand to his shoulder. She knows that he used to tremble at the mere touch of her, and he displays the same feeling and shudders a bit as she gently rubs his back. "How are you feeling? How are your ribs?"

"Buffy," he began, gently grabbing her hand, "never mind about me. How have you been?" He can't begin to imagine what she's been going through since being brought back. "How've you been dealing?"

Buffy sighs, lowering her glance to the counter. As much as being brought back was eating her up inside, she still hadn't really talked about things with any of her friends. But at that moment, being with Angel seemed to lessen some of the pain. He had really been the only one who ever understood her. Both of them knew it. Without so much as a word or expression, Angel always knew what she was feeling. Finally, she rises out of her silent haven to answer his question. "It just...hurts. It hurts all the time now. I didn't want it to be like this, and I'm- I'm getting scared." Angel quickly moved over to sit next to her along the counter, surprised to see tears welling up in her eyes. "Buffy, it's okay." He casually slips an arm around her shoulders, and Buffy immediately pulls herself into his embrace, being careful of his bandages.

"It's not okay, Angel. It's never going to be okay again. I can't-" she leans further into his arms, "I can't feel anything anymore. It hurts to eat, it hurts to even breathe sometimes, and I don't understand any of it. I feel like I'm not myself, and I can't do anything about it." She rests against him, finally feeling a sense of warmth and safety for the first time since being back. Angel tried to soothe her, not really knowing what he could say or do to help her. He remembered how happy she said she was. How she had finally found peace. And to be snatched away from that...he couldn't understand how she was able to stand it. He continues to silently scold himself, as Buffy finally eases her grip from around him. "Sorry," she whispers, lifting her head up to face him.

"No need to apologize." He gently brushes away her faint tears, cupping the side of her face with his right hand. "It's good to get all of this out, you know. I mean, I'm sure it feels better after you've talked to Willow and Dawn-"

"I haven't." Angel's hand slowly slides down from her face, shocked that she hasn't talked about what she was going through with any of her friends- family really. "Buffy...why?"

"I can't. They were just...so happy to bring me back. I couldn't just tell them 'Thanks for nothing'. They can't understand anyway...what it's like."

"I guess nobody really can." Upon seeing his head lowering towards the floor, Buffy softly lifted his face up to her own. "Except you, Angel." She gently traces her fingers alongside his jaw. "No matter what happens, you're always the one who seems to understand everything about me." Angel gently leans his head forward against hers, closing his eyes as he breathes in her warm, comforting scent. In his mind, he knew that being this close again wouldn't do either one of them any good in the longrun. After they had stopped Ashlan, he would have to return to LA and she would go on in Sunnydale, trying to make sense of the world again. But what he was feeling at that moment outweighed all logic, and his barrier finally broke down. "It's kind of hard not to understand everything about you, when you're all I ever think about." Buffy, relieved and touched to hear this, slowly raised her eyes to meet his own. "Those eyes..." she began, gazing lovingly into his soft orbs. "I'll never see in anyone else's what I see in yours," she whispered. < How am I ever going to get up the courage to ask him? > she asked herself. < C'mon, what's the worst that could happen? > the optimist in her asked, but the pessimist was already ready with her answer- < he could say no, and most likely, he will. How am I ever going to be able to make him see? To make him finally see that the only way my life could ever be complete was if he was here with me, by my side. > She knew that he would be too noble, as usual, to make the first move to their mutual recovery- she was the one who had first taken his hand in hers. But she sensed that her desire to feel his soft lips against hers was matched by his own. As they sat, staring intently upon one another's face, Buffy shyly trailed her fingers along the side of his face, and nervously smiling up at him, said, in the softest whisper, "Angel...I love you." Now, completely ignoring the voice in the back of his mind screaming at him, Angel gently ran his hand through her hair as he bent his head down to softly press his lips to hers. As the kiss drew on, Buffy wrapped her arms around his neck, only pulling away once to smile up at him. "I love you," Angel sighed, looking down at her smiling face with longing eyes. He pulled Buffy closer against him, softly brushing his fingertips across her cheek as they embraced once more in a kiss. Both slightly timid, they began to deepen the kiss, Angel slowly sliding his tongue into Buffy's welcoming mouth. When their kiss finally ended a few minutes later, Angel recollected his thoughts and was the first to break the silence. "Buffy...what are we doing here?" < We can't do this. We can't do this knowing that we can never be together. I shouldn't have stayed here. I shouldn't have kissed you. I shouldn't have fallen in love with you- that way I couldn't have always hurt you. > But instead, he let her answer.

"Angel..." < God I've missed saying your name so much. > "I- I want you to stay. After we've taken care of Ashlan...I want you to stay. I need you to stay." Already seeing him tense up, she held a finger to his lips and continued. "I know, I know..." already hearing his lame arguments, "but I also know that it's getting so much harder to be apart from you with every passing day. Especially now, I need you...so much. Just- just say that you'll stay. At least long enough to talk."

"Buffy," he paused, trying with all his might to listen to the rational voice echoing in the back of his mind, "I'm not saying that I don't love you, because I love you more than life itself- you know that." Buffy automatically nodded, and he continued. "But...what do I really have to offer you? Nothing but a life of darkness...we've been through this before Buffy. You deserve a normal life." She reaches for him, and hugs him so tightly to herself that he winces in pain.

"I've never understood how you can even think that. If anything, I don't deserve such a sweet, caring, smart, and loving man as you. And as far as not having anything to offer me, you gave me the greatest gift of my life the day that you first said that you love me." Seeing him still harboring doubt, she pulled slightly away to face him. "Angel, I'm never going to have a normal life. Why can't you see that?? My life is so full of complications and terror. But the only thing that ever makes sense to me is you...us- together," she stressed. "How can you expect me to have a normal life when you keep taking away the only normal part of it by always leaving me?"

"But the curse-"

"Means nothing to me. I've told you that before. And sunlight...I spend more of my time in the darkness than I do in the sunlight and I'd rather spend my time in the darkness with you. And as far as having children goes...I don't want to have any children unless I have them with you. Angel, you are more than everything that any woman could ever want...I just happen to be the lucky one to have gotten to you first. Angel- all I want is you. All I've ever wanted is you. Just you- here with me. Forever." He gently traced the outline of her face with the back of his hand as he picked up her cue. "That's the whole point." They sat for a moment, simply enjoying one another's comfort when Buffy let out a yawn. "Well...we should probably get some sleep," she said, pulling him up by both arms, leading him up the stairs to her room. As they approach her the bedroom, Angel lets go of her hand and gently kisses her forehead good night. "Where are you going?"

"Downstairs on your couch." He turned, heading for the stairs when he felt her arms encircling his stomach. "Oh no you don't. You're sleeping in a bed tonight, and, no offense, but I don't think Tara and Will are willing to share theirs, and Dawn's a little too young for you. So you're stuck with me tonight." Buffy tried pulling him back into her room but he wouldn't budge.

"Buffy, the couch is fine. You know I'm a fast healer, and I've had worse."

"Look," she got behind him and started trying to push him forward, "whether you like it or not, you're sleeping in my bed tonight." Angel couldn't help but smile at her frustration in trying to move him. "And where are you going to sleep?" Buffy ceased in her pushing and walked back in front of him. "Oh, I don't know. I was thinking of giving the roof a try. Where else would I sleep but in my bed...next to you. Ya know," she walked into her room, turning down her sheets, "I don't even know why we're arguing here. Either you sleep in the bed, or neither one of us is getting any sleep. Sooo..." she patted the spot next to where she was sitting on the bed. Realizing that he was fighting a losing battle with both her and his own weariness, he walked over to her and sat down. "See. Now, was that so hard?" Buffy walked over to her closet and began to undress. Angel automatically turned his back and was staring out of her window when he heard her speak up.

"So…your sister, huh?"

"Yeah. Not exactly what you would've expected, right?"

"Well..." she finished buttoning her shirt over her head and approached him. "...I definitely see the family resemblance around the eyes...and teeth," she gently teased. "Come on, bedtime." She took his hand and led him over to the bed. They settled down beneath the covers, and Buffy instinctively pulled herself into Angel's welcoming arms. "Goodnight, Buffy" he softly murmured.

"'Night, Angel." Buffy snuggled more deeply against Angel. She could not remember being more comfortable in anyone's arms- not even her mother's. No, more than comfortable, it felt natural to be in Angel's arms, as if she was born for this moment. Born for this man. He was so amazingly wonderful. The point of hair that fell so engagingly over the side of his forehead, the breadth of his shoulders, even his strong, gentle hands...all of these and more were starting to make her shiver in breathless anticipation of trying to convince him to rethink his decision. "Angel?" she breathed in the dark. "Promise me you'll think about what I said?" For a minute she thought he was already asleep...or simply ignoring her, but he finally spoke up. "After everything...we'll have time to talk. Get some sleep, Buffy." Somewhat contented, Buffy laid her head against his chest. When Angel thought she had finally dozed off to sleep after a few minutes, he gently kissed her head. "I love you," he whispered, closing his own exhausted eyes. A second later, he heard Buffy sleepily mumble, "I love you more."

Part Four

"Buffy?? Angel??" Cordelia's voice echoed throughout the house, quickly awakening a perfectly relaxed Buffy. As she raised her head off of Angel, she noticed that he was still sound asleep. As she sat up, she gently ran her fingers through his mussed hair in an attempt to wake him. "Angel? Cordy and the guys are here." Slowly, his eyes fluttered open for a short second before he moaned and closed them again. "Angel?" Buffy was wide-awake now, sensing something was wrong. "Are you alright? You don't look too good." He pushed himself up on one arm, holding his head with the other as he finally sat up in bed. "Yeah...yeah, I think I'm okay. Just a little more sore than I thought." Seeing the apprehension in her eyes, he leaned forward to push a few strands of hair out of her eyes. "Hey- I'm okay. Don't worry. By the way, good morning." He crawled out of the bed, waiting for her to get up. "Good morning to you too." Without thinking she stood up on tiptoe to give him a short, but sweet kiss.

"You look rested," Angel said, pulling on one of the shirts he retrieved from his bag.

"Actually, that's the first good night's sleep I've had in a long, long time. But, no surprise there," she smiled.

As Angel raises his arms while attempting to put the shirt on over his head, the gashes in his stomach send a sharp pain radiating through his whole side. "A little help, Buffy?"

"Oh...I'm sorry Angel, I don't know where my head is. Come here." Angel approaches her, and as Buffy pulls his shirt down over his head, he captures her lips with a soft longing kiss.

"Buffy...I love you. You know that, right? I always have, I always will."

"I love you too, Angel", says Buffy as she answers with another kiss. Their kiss finally ends as they hear the door opening.

"Do you two plan on gracing us with your presence any time soon?" Cordelia had ascended the stairs and wasn't too surprised to see them in their loving embrace.

"Thank heavens you two are alright," said Wesley, watching Buffy coming down the staircase, Angel and Cordelia not far behind. "For a minute we thought that she would've gotten around to you two. Especially after last night's events."

"Why? What happened last night? The fight at the graveyard?" Angel pulled a stool up to the counter, nodding to Willow, Tara, and Dawn who were busy in the kitchen. Willow and Tara began making breakfast, while Dawn was making sure all the blinds were securely shut to keep out the sun's rays.

"Where have you two been?" asked a shocked Cordelia.

"Hmm...lemme think," Buffy sarcastically pondered. "Oh that's right- sleeping! I do have this crazy knack of doing that from time to time, ya know."

"Oh, sure. Leave us to stay up all night researching about this brand new evil- which really happens to be your problem, considering it's your sister, Angel," she emphasized, noticing that he was beginning to doze off on his chair, "while you two get to sleep, which I really doubt was the only thing that you two did last night, considering Angel can barely keep his eyes open." Cordy couldn't have really gotten mad at them though if they actually were up all night drooling over each other. She still had hope that they would make it work. But with Ash loose-

"Cord- you're babbling," Angel interrupted. "What happened last night?" Cordelia handed him the morning's newspaper. "Read for yourself. Your little sister's made the front page." Buffy moved over to Angel and began reading the headline aloud over his shoulder. " 'Thirteen Bodies Found Dead on the Docks.' This happened last night??" Buffy sat in shock at Cordelia's nod and read through the article. "It says only a few of the bodies were drained completely. The others were drenched in blood and appeared to be...eaten. The police think it happened around dawn."

"My god," breathed an astonished Willow. She had heard some of the stories about Angelus from Buffy, but this act seemed to surpass all others. She placed some pancakes on the dining room table and stole a glance at the picture on the front page. She'd never expected some of them, actually a good number of them, to be children.

"Bloodbath." Buffy and the others gazed up at Angel, who was now holding his stomach with one hand.

"What's a bloodbath?...some sort of relaxation therapy for vampires?" asked Cordelia

"What Ash did…last night..." At their questioning glances, he explained. "It wasn't such a rarity for the Brood to go out hunting together. One night, after a party in London, Ash had thought up a new, uh… feeding ritual." Angel's eyes averted to the counter, wincing from not only his sudden pains, but from the haunting memories of his past. "There were ten or so humans with us...Ash took a few off to the side with her...slit their throats, while the rest of us would 'busy' ourselves with the others. Ash would pour the blood of her few on our set and we'd proceed to make our meal..." his words trailed off as he breathed in a sharp pain.

"One of the Brood's more cre- creative methods of killing," Giles shakily spoke up.

"You know, I think I just lost my appetite," said Willow. Most everyone else had lost their appetites. However, Xander, not wanting good pancakes to go to waste, sat down with his plate as the others began more research in the living room. "You coming, Angel?" she asked, noticing him starting to slump over the counter. "I just need to sit down for a minute. That's all. Still a little achy."

"You sure, you're okay? You look a little pale...even for you." Angel nodded, holding his head up with his left arm.

"Find anything useful last night?" Buffy asked upon joining the others.

"Well, there was one thing useful," answered Fred. "There's really no point in us trying to kill Ashlan. She can't be killed. The only way she can cross over into death is if she can kill the ones who killed her."

"That's Edge and Christian, correct?" Giles looked up from his own book.

"Yeah, now if we can only tell her that-" *Wham!*

"Angel!" Buffy screamed before racing over to him on the kitchen floor. "Oh god, are you alright?! What's wrong?!" She noticed a few beads of sweat clinging to his forehead and his eyes held a glazed look.

"Let's get him upstairs to a bed," said Giles, helping her to try and lift him up.

"No," Angel struggled to argue. "I'm fine. I'll be fine. I just need to sit down…"

"You just collapsed, Angel. We're putting you to bed. I knew something was wrong this morning. You are so stubborn when you want to be. And then you complain when I-"

"Buffy," Wes chimed in, "let's just get him over to the couch." Angel agreed to be led to the couch but was still insisting that he was alright.

"Where's that dagger I pulled out of you." Giles went in search of the weapon, finally finding it among the books scattered ontop of a desk. He gave it a closer inspection, holding it up to his nose. "Does it feel like poison again, Angel?"

"I- " he suddenly had a sharp pain in his head. "Aggh- I'm not sure. I just...I don't feel...right. And I've got the chills."

"Well, what do we do, Giles?" Buffy's fear and worry was painstakingly evident in her eyes.

"The hospital?" Xander suggested with a mouth full of pancake.

"Great idea," laughed Cordelia. "We'll just throw a dead body up on an examination table. That'll give the doctors a good wake up call, genius. Plus, in case you haven't noticed, it's 8 in the morning, brainchild. Not exactly the most vampire-friendly time of day."

"Hey, I don't function so well so early, okay. I don't see you coming up with any suggestions."

"You guys!" Buffy yelled. "Can we please skip the sixteen rounds and focus. Giles, what's wrong with him?"

"I don't know, Buffy. I'll have to run a few tests. Willow, Tara? You two could perhaps help?"

"Of course," Tara answered for the both of them, grabbing her bag. "Don't worry," she placed a reassuring hand on Buffy's shoulder. "He'll be okay. We'll find something to help." Giles, Willow, and Tara left for the magic shop. Meanwhile, Gunn, Fred, and Wes continued their research through some of Giles books and records.

"Xander?" Angel called out, hating to interrupt his breakfast. "Do you think you could hand me my bag? It's by the stairs."

"Yeah, sure." Dropping his fork on his plate, he marched over to the edge of the staircase and picked up Angel's black duffel bag. Heading for the couch, he saw that the bag was already open. He reached for the zipper, noticing a bottle of fruit punch Gatorade ontop of some clothes. "Mmm...punchy goodness." He quickly twisted off the cap. "Hey, you don't mind if I steal some of your drink, do ya? Wash the pancakes down?" Not waiting for an answer, he lifted the bottle to his lips.

"Xander, that's not gatorade, it's-" The red liquid came spewing out of Xander's mouth as he yelped.

"-blood," Angel finished, a bemused smile upon his face.

"Who the HELL puts blood in a Gatorade bottle???" Xander rushed over to the sink to rinse his mouth out as best he could.

"A vampire who likes to stay inconspicuous?" Angel answered.

"Or one who's really big on recycling," Anya offered.

"Aww man! I think the pancakes are coming up."

"Come on, honey. Let's get you home. We'll have some fun…with ice cream. That oughta cheer you up."

"So long as it's not from Dead Boy's freezer," he remarked as they headed out the door. "I'd be afraid to ask just what he's got in his container of Strawberry Swirl."

"Here Angel." Dawn handed him a glass of water and knelt down next to the couch where he was laying. "Is there anything I can get you?" Despite his pain, Angel smiled at the young girl's compassion. "I'm good, Dawn. Thanks." She pulled herself up and gently kissed his sweaty forehead. "Angel- you're burning up! Are you guys sure you'll be fine with him?"

"Yeah. Thanks Dawn. You'd better get going though."

"Are you sure? I mean, something could happen. You might need me for-"

"Nice try, but you're not weaseling out of going to school." Buffy mused to herself. "We'll be fine...I've got him." Dawn grabbed her bag and headed out the front door, leaving Cordelia and Buffy with Angel.

"Angel, what do you think you're doing? Lie back down." Cordelia's hands, as well as Buffy's, began to gently shove his shaky frame back down on the couch.

"I'm fine- really. I was probably just dizzy or something. I feel a lot-" he slumped back down as quickly as he had managed to get up. He moaned as Buffy and Cordy caught him on both sides, lowering him back down to the couch to rest until Giles had found something.

"You're staying right here until we know more." Seeing his glance turn a bit angry, Cordelia threw her arms in the air. "Uggh! You try dealing with him, Buffy. I'll go get him a blanket." She raced off towards the stairs, leaving the slayer and her love alone.

Buffy looks down at him as he grabs her hand, squeezing it tightly. He cringes as he tries to move, he manages to choke out, "I'll be fine...it's not that bad. Ash probably just put something on the blade, that's all. She hasn't exactly been around to know much about poisons. And I doubt Edge and Christian have that vast of a knowledge, so I wouldn't worry." Buffy smiles at his optimism, knowing that he was probably only saying all this to humor her, but she still smiled at his sweetness. "Do the guys have any new info yet?" Disappointed, she gently shook her head. "She's not going to stop, Buffy. You realize this, right? She's going to keep coming until she gets to me, and until I'm dead."

"But even if she does kill you, which she won't if I have anything to say about it," she stressed, gripping his hand a little tighter, "she won't cross over."

"But she doesn't know that. If we could just explain that to her- though I doubt she'd stop to listen." They sat in silence for a moment before Angel noticed a single tear flowing down Buffy's cheek. "Buffy? What's wrong?"

"I'm just- I couldn't bear it again, Angel…seeing you suffer again...almost losing you," she confesses as he softly strokes the back of her hand. He silently thinks back to the last time he was poisoned- graduation. He remembers how much strength and selflessness it must've taken Buffy to risk her own life for his. He also begins to remember just how hard it was that night after the mayor's ascension. Staring at her from the distance, trying to memorize every contour of her body- engraving it into his mind before he had to leave her. < After all this time...I still find something new in her face everytime I see her. > "I'm right here." He extends his arm to gently cup the side of her face with his free hand. He tries to explain how much he wants to just get up and touch her--just to hold her in his arms, but he can't... < Not now. Not until we've stopped Ash. Then we'll talk. > But he can still hold her hand and express all he can through the touch.

The afternoon passes slowly for everyone. Angel managed to sleep for most of the day, only waking up a few times to check on Buffy, who had stayed curled up next to him on a chair.

"Buffy?" Cordy carefully approaches her from behind, craning her head towards the kitchen. Buffy picks up the hint and follows her. "I thought maybe you'd be hungry." She placed one of the sandwiches she made in front of her as she took her own seat behind the counter. "How is he?"

"His fever seems to be going down, but he's still shaking. Still pretty pale, too. Thanks," she says, taking a bite of her sandwich.

"He'll be okay, Buffy. He's been through worse...you and I both know that."

"Cordelia?...about what you had said earlier. About Angel being really stressed out and depressed as of late." She had been wondering just what exactly she had been talking about when they first arrived.

After taking a few sips of her drink, Cordelia let out a sigh before proceeding to explain things to Buffy. "I watch him a lot. Sometimes I think he knows...sometimes I think he's so preoccupied with everything else to even notice. It's just been a rough couple of weeks, ya know? First with returning from the other dimension. That really threw him out of it. He started losing his grip on the demon. As usual though, through much brooding and isolation, he forced it down again. she made a mental note, knowing how Buffy would react if she knew he had tried to kill himself again. "Then this not-so-lawful law firm, Wolfram and Hart, starts giving us problems. Then we find out that Edge and Christian were planning some big feeding frenzy in the city. Then my visions took a turn for the worse," she says with a shutter. "Overall, more than just your typical days at Angel Investigations. Plus..." she hesitated for a moment whether to tell Buffy about how much she knew Angel was missing her. Now especially, after getting the news that she was dead- then to hear they brought her back.

"Plus what?"

"He can't take much more of this on his own, Buffy. I mean sure, Gunn and Wesley and Fred and I, we're always there for him. I mean, he's the only sense of family I really have. But...he needs to be with you, Buffy." Now focusing directly on the slayer's weary eyes, she made the confession, for both her and Angel- "He needs you."

Looking up at her on the verge of tears, Buffy said, barely above a whisper, "I need him. More than anything. He's still the first thing I think about when I wake up...and the last thing I think about before I go to sleep at night," she admitted, a quiver in her voice. Cordelia reached across the counter, placing a warm, comforting hand over her friend's. "Did you two get a chance to talk last night?"

"Yeah," she solemnly replied. "Not that it's going to do much good if he's poisoned again-"

"He's going to be fine," Cordelia assured her once again. "So...what's the verdict? Did he finally come to his senses, or do we have to chain him up and both knock some sense into him?" she asked, trying to make light of things.

"The chaining him up part definitely has possibilities," Buffy's sudden smile radiated throughout the kitchen.

"I so do NOT need that mental picture of you two and your escapades," Cordy laughed. "But I am glad to hear things went well last night. So, it's safe to say you guys are back to a permanent basis?" she hopefully asked. "I mean, what's up? What else was there last night?"

"A lot of holding…some crying…some kissing," she blushed slightly.

"Some kissing? There's never just some kissing with you two."

"I know," she smiled, staring off into the living room, her eyes fixated on her love, resting soundly, at last, on the couch.

******

"Hey Dawn, wait up! You doin' anything tonight? Maybe we could catch a movie or somethin'."

"Actually, I've got family visiting, Jeff. And for once, I actually get along with them." Dawn slowed in her pace to wait for the teenager to catch up with her. "I'll definitely take a rain check, though."

"You bet," he smiled. "Can I give you a call? Maybe tomorrow night if you can manage to sneak away from the family for awhile?"

"Sure." Dawn finished at her locker, anxious to get home to check on Angel and the others. As she watched Jeff trot down along the hall to his locker, she caught a glimpse of a face she swore she recognized slowly walking in the opposite direction. "It can't be," she said aloud. Not taking time to ponder her options, Dawn followed the figure down the hall from a short distance behind. After turning the corner to the empty, dead end corridor of lockers, the figure seemed to have vanished into thin air. "Either that or she can walk through walls-"

"You know, I never did try-" Ash grabs Dawn from behind and locks her arms around her head "-but I've always found that a person can do anything once they put their mind to it."

Part Five

"She should have been back by now." Buffy, as well as the rest of the gang, was now in severe worry mode. < If I find out that she stopped off at a friend's house or went shopping, I swear...She should know better than this...especially with everything that's going on! > 4:45pm. It was only an hour before sundown, and neither Dawn, nor Giles, Willow, and Tara had returned. Angel was now up and about, albeit relatively slower than usual with the occasional pain, and was discussing where they would go searching that night for Ash.

"I'm willing to bet that they've stationed themselves at the mansion."

"But what about the docks?" Wes asked. "Most of her activities seem to be emanating from that area. A sort of safe haven, perhaps?"

"So what's the biggie?" asked Gunn. "We split up, find her, and dust her. Plain and simple."

"It's not that simple," Angel said. "Even if we do find her, she can't be killed until she kills Edge and Christian. So we've got to get to them first."

"Well wherever she is," uttered Fred, "they're bound to be. I mean, there's no way they're going to let her out of their si-" the swinging open of the front door interrupted her.

"Guys! Did you find anything?" asked Buffy, standing up to greet her friends. "Wait...is Dawn with you?"

"No," answered Willow, "we haven't seen her since this morning. Why?"

"She never came home from school," said Angel, approaching the three from behind Buffy.

"Maybe she's at one of her friend's houses?" asked Tara.

"We called a few," said Anya form her seat next to Xander. "Nobody's seen her since this afternoon at school."

"Ugh! This isn't like her. Well...actually, it is, but- I mean, you'd think with everything going on..." Buffy paused for a moment, trying to collect her thoughts. "Giles, did you guys find anything about the poison?"

"Actually, we did. The poison Ashlan used is rarely lethal…"

"That's great!"

"Um...yes, but uh- it was mixed with what appears to be dead blood, which is um…ve- very lethal to a vampire," Giles stuttered.

"This day just keeps getting better and better," Angel mumbled, suddenly clutching his side as he slumped over the table. Buffy rushed to his side in an instant, steadying him before Giles continued.

"Angel was exposed to it in such a small dosage that I really don't think it will turn out to be lethal in his case, but still- you need to rest, Angel."

"Yeah man," Gunn reaffirmed. "You're staying here while we all split up. Wes- grab some gear and let's go."

"Where are you two headed?" asked Cordelia.

"The mansion. We'll check it out first, then head over to the docks. With any luck, we might be able to-"

"I'm not letting the two of you go out there all alone," Angel said. He quickly loosened himself from Buffy's grip and grabbed his leather jacket from the couch. "I'll check out the docks. You two stick to the mansion."

"Angel-" Wes knew in the back of his mind that there was no point in trying to reason with the vampire, but still made an honest attempt.

"For the last time, I'm fine. Just stake out the mansion. You find anything, you call me on my cell. Don't move in until I get there."

"Correction-" Angel turned to see Buffy standing behind him, jacket on, and stake in hand. "Don't move in until we get there." Seeing his aggravated face, Buffy didn't even give him the chance to argue. "The two of us will take the docks. The rest of you stay here in case Dawn shows up or calls. And if she does, tell her I'm going to kill her when we get back." The four of them headed out the door in opposite directions, all the while unable to shake the feeling of dread that was filling all their minds.

"Great. So while they're all out playing wargames, we're stuck here."

"Xander, come off it," Cordelia spoke up. "Why don't you eat something...at least that way you'll have your mouth gagged to keep any more mindless dribble from spilling out."

"Man, the hell with this! Just cause Dead Boy's back with his boy scout troop, all of a sudden Buffy doesn't need us? I'm gone." He got up from the couch headed straight for the back door.

"Where are you going?" Cordelia asked, grabbing him by the arm before he could reach the door.

"Down to the docks to help-"

"Ooooo...that would be very low on the idea meter," came a voice from the now flung open door.

Cordelia yelled for Giles as Xander raced to the living room in search of a cross...or a stake- whichever he saw first.

"Ashlan," Cordy managed to get out, taking in a good look of her. Her black hair was still as wet as Buffy's earlier description. The knee length leather jacket she wore blended perfectly with her leather pants and black long-sleeved crew shirt.

"You know, you really shouldn't leave doors unlocked like this. Just about anyone can walk right in."

"You weren't invited in." Cordelia tried to inch her way backwards into the living room. From the proximity, she could hear glass breaking and the others screaming. She could only assume that Ashlan had brought others with her.

"Oh yeah- that whole thing. Being half-human and all, I get immunity. Lucky me, eh?" Just then, Xander raced over to Cordy, shielding her behind him as he held a cross before him. "Get back!" In his other hand he held a small bottle of holy water and began to splash some on her. Ash, for amusement, played along with the game, wincing away from the holy object.

"Yeah...how ya like me now you little...punk," Xander boasted. Before he knew it, Ash's hand was wrapped around his throat, lifting him in the air. Still managing to hold onto the cross, Xander tried to shove it in front of her again, but was shocked to see her hand clasped around it's center. Suddenly, the cross began to glow with it's newly acquired kinetic energy.

"It doesn't work on me, kid," Ashlan laughed. She took the glowing cross from him, staring off into the living room where a group of her vampires had already knocked out Giles, Anya, Fred, Willow, and Tara. Their limp bodies laid lifeless over their shoulders as they were carried out of Buffy's house. Slamming him as hard as she could against the wall, Ashlan proceeded to knock out Xander before using the charged cross to do the same to Cordelia.

"Now comes the fun part," she laughed into the darkness of night.

******

"Looks pretty empty." Buffy, stake in hand, stared off into the distance, observing Angel walking towards one of the abandoned warehouses on the pier. "What? What do you see?"

"Look here," he pointed to the side of the warehouse, waiting for her to catch up to him. Buffy neared the building and, walking off to the side entrance, caught a glimpse of what Angel had seen.

"What the hell?" Buffy gasped. The entire wall was plastered in blood with a huge image of Ashlan's ankh. "Okay, what is so important about that damn thing anayway?"

"It- it was our mother's," Angel muttered. "It was the only thing I had left of her after..." his voice trailed off, his mind pushing back down the memories of his family. "I don't even know why he kept it," he said, referring to his darker side, "...but, it was the last thing he gave Ashlan before being cursed…"

Lambeth Palace, London: 1890

~~~"What a joke." Angelus led his sister out the door of the grand hall. "To think we wasted a perfectly good night hunting after those those- those- "

"Rich bitches?" Ashlan offered him.

"Not exactly what I was going for. More like, moronic simpering snobs. I tell you, I've had it with London."

"Well, it beats running around through the bourgeoise life in Paris."

"You can say that again, Ash" he smiled at her. "You can say that again," he laughed, nudging her shoulder as they sat down on a nearby stone bench. "I've got a lil' present for you," he said, handing her a small box. As she took the gift in her hand, she leaned over to kiss him on the cheek. "Thank you." Ashlan lifted the lid to reveal a small silver cross on a chain. Seeing the holy symbol, she automatically flinched away, averting her eyes. Quickly replacing the lid, she turned to her brother.

"You know, if you wanted to be rid of me, you could have just said something. A cross! What kind of a gift is this?" Angel couldn't help but laugh.

"First of all, it's not a cross- it's an ankh. And second of all- just look." Angel lifted the box's lid once more, picking up the charm by it's silver chain and dangled it before her eyes. "Even if it was a cross, it wouldn't hurt you because you're only half-vampire. Here-" He hooked the necklace around her neck. "I think it adds a certain something."

"Where did you swipe this from," she chuckled.

"It was our mother's," he replied. "I think she'd want you to have it."~~~

Buffy casually slipped her arm around Angel's and clasped her hand into his as they walked closer toward the warehouse in silence. Their footsteps and the water lapping at the pylons beneath them were the only sounds heard until...

"Bloody hell! What do you call that?" Spike chuckled to himself, descending from the stack of crates he was perched upon high above the two.

"I'd call it blood, Spike" answered Angel with sigh. "I suppose you'd write it off as 'grafitti'?"

"Lil' sis been busy, I take it?" He approached the two, and the three continued to search the rest of the pier. "Heard about the Bloodbath here last night?" At Angel's nod, he continued. "Brings back memories. Reminds me of the good old days. It was such an art in those days, ya know? You know what I'm talking about, man" he nodded towards his sire.

"Actually, no Spike. But you can't really go by me- I have morals."

"No worries. I won't hold that against you. All I'm saying is that in those days, a vampire had to be clever for many reasons." Both Angel and Buffy couldn't help but roll their eyes at his eccentric nature. "Now all one needs is a pair of fangs to get by-"

"Spike," Buffy interrupted him, "you wouldn't happen to know where Dawn is, would you?"

"No, haven't seen her since last night. Why?"

"She never came home from school," answered Angel, retrieving his cell phone from the inner pocket of his jacket. "I'm gonna call Wes. He and Gunn should've been at the mansion by now. It's been over an hour." He began to dial, but was suddenly overcome with a fierce chill. As she watched him place his phone back into his pocket, Buffy sensed something was wrong. "Angel?"

"Just...stay on your guard." Buffy quickly turned at the sound coming from another stack of crates by the pier's edge. "Over there," she whispered. The three cautiously made their way over, only to be caught from behind by a group of vamps.

"You three really shouldn't be out this time of night," said one, knocking Spike to the ground first with a kick to the back of his head.

"Don't you know the freaks come out to play around this time," another spoke up, delivering a sharp blow to Buffy.

"Playtime's over." Buffy quickly recovered, plunging her stake through the first vamp. The three continued trying to fight them all off, but soon found that they were pretty well outnumbered. As he mangaed to dust another, Spike took notice of the five vamps headed in Angel's direction, attempting to sneak up behind him. "Angel!" he called out, but it was too late. Angel knocked down the vamp he was currently fighting, finally turning around at Spike's shout. As he turned, one of the larger vamps caught him with a massive kick- sending him into the wall of the warehouse. Before he can think, the other four vamps grab him, pulling him away from the wall to come face to face with Ashlan. "Angel!" Buffy called out to him, helplessly watching as Edge and Christian had now emerged and, along with the rest of their crew, held her and Spike back. "Easy now, slayer," grinned Edge. "Wouldn't want to ruin the show, would you?"

"You goons have no idea who you're messing with," Buffy sternly said.

"On the contrary. You've got a very important role to play in this little drama of ours," said Christian.

"We intend on punishing Angel for what happened to Ashlan-" Edge began.

"Don't you mean what you two did to her-" Buffy's face was knocked to one side with a hard punch from Edge as he tried to silence her. "And you my dear, would not want to miss this for the world." Buffy's head slowly rolled up to see Christian plunge the needle he held into both her and Spike. "It's only after we've lost everything-" Edge smirked, "-that we're free to do anything," his sibling finished for him, withdrawing the needle from Buffy. Wincing, she heard Angel call out to her. Ashlan neared her brother, drawing her arm back, a wrench in hand. "Angel," Buffy whispered before the effects of the drug took over.

"It's judgement day." With Ash's three words, Angel's world went dark...

Part Six

Be what you wanna be
See what you wanna see
You're going to anyway
Take what you need from me
All that you'll ever be
Is something so crazy
And you can find another side to be on
If you wish you can
Or you can choose the other way
Cause it is right there in your hands

What you're wasting is what you're chasing
And its right there in your hands

Angel heard a loud noise in the corridor of the mansion. Struggling to open his eyes, he could barely make out a black cage through the blurriness. "Angel? Angel, can you hear me?" Instantly recognizing Giles' voice, Angel, trembling all over and leaning on his right arm, tried to push himself off of the cold cement. "Giles?" He was unable to utter another word. Giles could not elicit any coherent response from him after that. Angel was afraid he would collapse if he tried to get up any further, but he pressed on, dragging himself over to the bars of the cage. As he neared it, he noticed the rest of his friends all enclosed within the steel, Buffy seemingly knocked out. With a final attempt, he collapsed to the ground, at the foot of his sister, now positioned between himself and his imprisoned friends. His eyes fully open and adjusted, Angel looked up at her. Fully taking her presence in, she struck him as a shadow of his former self. This apparition left Angel plunged in cruel suffering which kept tears at bay. Everything seemed irreparably gloomy to him. This was the cruelest moment he had experienced since the crime he witnessed against her. He had just laid eyes upon his sister, now doing the bidding of her own murderers.

"Feeling any better?" Ash asked him, laughing at his attempts to get up. Mustering up some remnants of strength, Angel reached out to grab her but failed in his attempt. "What do you think?" he groaned.

"I think perhaps you got what you deserved."

"Ash...you need help. I don't know...what these clowns, ugh-" he managed to finally pull himself up "told you, but-"

"I've got all the help I need, brother. Come this time tomorrow night, these guys are gonna have their run of this disgusting city, and I'll finally know peace." She carelessly walked over to the lit fireplace as Angel took notice of the situation. < Friends all in a cage; most importantly, Buffy is in the cage; twenty or so vamps that I can see- oh yeah, no pressure here. > Ashlan's voice broke him from his thoughts. "Do you know...how completely tormenting it's been these past hundred years underwater? Nothing to do; this might come as a surprise, but fish aren't much on talking. Not that I could've heard them anyway, considering I've been DEAD!!" she yelled, turning around to face him.

"Ash… let them go," he pleaded, motioning towards the cage.

"I wouldn't be too concerned about them. They're well, and alive, for the time being."

"I'm warning you-"

"Your threats hold no power here."

"You have no idea what you're doing."

"What would you know of that?" she laughed.

"I know you. I know the things you've done...the people you've killed, and not just years ago."

"And who are you, of all people to judge? Now...it's your turn to listen. To know my pain, my grief, my torment at being torn away. But it wasn't only me...there were others. You- you've been betrayed, brother. You call them your family," she walked over to the cage. "But it was really us who were your real family. The only ones you could trust. We are the ones who care for you. I loved you...I worshiped you. You were the only father I ever knew." Angel passed her a blank stare. "You don't believe me, do you?"

"What would you have me believe? That you once loved, and are now capable of this?"

"It really makes little difference to me. Now is the time for retribution." At that moment, the drug finally lost it's effect and Buffy slowly roused. Her senses and the memories of the past few hours rushed through her mind, along with a single thought, "Angel?" she moaned.

"Ahh. Just in time, slayer. Wouldn't want you to miss all the excitement." At her command, Edge and Christian grabbed a still weakened Angel from behind, holding him by both arms down on his knees as Ash approached him. "The guys here filled me in on a lot of things that I've missed out on...you know, from being dead and all." She glanced in Buffy's direction before turning her attentions back to him. "A vampire and a slayer in love- how touching." Pulling herself up, Buffy's hands wrapped around the bars of the cage, trying to force the door open. "I wouldn't do that if I were you" Ash warned her, walking over and placing one of her own hands on the bars.

"Oooo...notice me tremble." Buffy was too focused on pushing against the door with as much strength as she had regained she didn't notice when the bars began to glow a bright orange. She flinched back as the heat seared both her hands, as well as Xander's back.

"Hey! That really burns! And this is my favorite shirt, too." Xander cuddled up to Anya and the rest of the gang as Buffy, still wringing out her hands approached the front of the cage, watching as Ash simply smirked at them and paced back over to a helpless Angel.

"Welcome to our nightmare, slayer," Edge laughed alongside his younger brother.

"Edge and Christian also filled me in on why you're so goody-goody all of a sudden. Cursed with a nice little soul, are we? You- the Scourge of Europe. Hmm...I'm guessing having a soul doesn't help much in the killing department, does it? Now…let's see. We have before us a plethora of oportunities...none of them however are benefitial to you." The two brothers laughed, tightening their grip on Angel. "Do we fight, and I kill you? Do I simply serve both you and your friends to my gang here as a full course meal by means of a bloodbath? Do I kill you first as an appetizer and then...stop me if you're sensing a pattern here," she smiled, slipping into her game face.

"Let them go, and you can have just me. That's what you really want." < Just buy some time. Get the rest of them out of here before anything happens. >

She couldn't help but laugh at his proposition. "Now that is something. Who are you trying to fool- me or yourself. Do you think I believe for a moment that you're actually happy with this thing you call a life? I mean, from what the guys here have been telling me, you're a demon on the edge, brother. Attempted suicide usually isn't the clearest indication of a happy life." Angel's head lowered at the revelation. Ash circled her brother, leaning over his shoulder, smiling at Buffy's reaction to the news.

< No...Angel...why? > Buffy's mind raced trying to make sense out of what Ashlan just said. < Why didn't he tell me? Why didn't Cordelia tell me?? > her mind groaned. < I swear, if I'm alive tomorrow, she won't be. >

"Take a good look at them, Angelus," she nodded towards the cage. "Don't think for a solitary minute that any of them actually care about you. To them, you're just a whining coward of a vampire who was dealt an unlucky hand. You don't even count to them. You could disappear off the face of this earth, and it would make no difference to any of them." She circled him again so that they were face to face once more. "Still willing to sacrifice yourself for them? Why don't you give me a minute to think about that, hmm?" She turned her back to him, taking a few steps towards where Buffy and the others were staring on in the cage. "Aww hell...I've never been very patient-" she snapped around, grabbed Angel by the throat and proceeded to drink from him.

"Angel!!" Buffy screamed, almost breaking her arm alongside the rest of her friends who were all trying to burst the door open. As Angel's head was pulled back further by Edge and Christian, giving Ashlan better access, he could feel more of his strength being drained along with his blood. Pausing for a moment, Ash lifted her head from his neck and motioned for Edge and Christian to release their holds. Before Angel could collapse on the floor, she grabbed him by the hair, staring purposefully into his eyes. "The only clear memory that I have of you dear brother is the look you had on your face watching me die. Such agony in those cold eyes of yours. I suppose it wasn't painful enough, was it? Your chosen form of execution?"

"Them," Angel barely breathed out. "They were the ones...killed you," his eyes trailed over to the two brothers, now pacing in front of the cage, making sure there was no means of escape.

"After all these years," she said, ignoring his revelation, "I still long to see that look of pure agony frozen upon your face-" she reached down to drain him completely but Angel managed to avert her and gets in a good left hand, sending her dropping to the ground. Surprised by his sudden burst of strength, Ash allows her anger to take over and she hops up off the floor. "Oh, that was good-" Ashlan kicks Angel in the side with a hard kick to the ribs, and he groans from pain, his ribs were soft already from the beating he took at the hands of the remaining Brood. "-not good enough, though." Ashlan laughs again, knowing that she's found her brother's soft spot. Ashlan picks Angel up and, without really thinking, throws him into the cage. The force of the impact was just enough to finally bust the lock on the door, freeing the slayer and their friends.

"Welcome to my nightmare, boys." Buffy dives for Edge, knocking him into Christian as the others all spread out to take care of the rest of the Brood's minions. Buffy quickly rushes to Angel's side, pulling him up as carefully as possible. "Are you alright?"

"Get Edge and Christian," he whimpers. "I'll get Ash." Buffy reluctantly agrees, not wanting to leave his side after having been forced to watch his small form of torture. She heads for the other two while Angel turns, only to find Ash right behind him. She knees Angel in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him, and drives right hands to his eye. The two exchange a few blows until Angel manages to catch her with a quick roundhouse. From her position on the floor, Ashlan finds a wrench and smashes the tool into the side of Angel's rib cage, his ribs cracking as he collapses to the cold floor, in immense pain. Ashlan grins and continues to ram the tool into his side as Angel groans from the sudden pain. As he doubles over, Ash takes a moment to look up at Edge and Christian getting the better of Buffy. She smiles with pride as she sees Christian hand his brother a rope and the two begin trying to tie the young slayer up. Without warning though, Ash keels over, a massive pain surging through her head. The memories of that night begin replaying in her mind.....

Coramsfield, London: 1898

~~~"It's time for justice, little one." Edge and Spike began to tighten the rope around her.

"What are you doing? Angelus!! Angelus!!"

"He's not going to be much help, Ashlan." Christian appeared alongside his brother, holding back Angel on the ground...~~~

Ash winces on the ground, her body trembling from the images flashing before her eyes. Averting his eyes from Ash's struggling on the floor, Angel rushed over to help Buffy fend off Edge and Christian. Catching him from behind, Angel pulls Christian off of Buffy, and throws him directly into the wall. Quickly recovering, a frustrated Christian charged directly for Angel but was met with a stake to the heart. Hearing his only brother scream in pain, Edge relinquished his hold on Buffy, turning around just in time to see him crumble to a pile of dust.....

~~~"Angelus!" she yelled, finally seeing her brother. "Oh god! What's going on!" she whimpered.

"Edge! Leave her alone! Leave her alone...she's just a child."

"So was our sister!" he yelled. "And at least poor Alaana wasn't tainted like this hybrid!"

"How did you know that she-"

"Oh, I'll take credit for that," Spike smiled, tightening another rope around his sire.

"Spike!" Angel growled, trying to reach the traitor.

"Let's just say…you've both outgrown your usefulness..."~~~

"No!" Ash let out an earth shattering scream, tears pouring from her eyes as she felt the sensation of the rope being tightened around her body. Her body wreathed violently as she was experiencing death all over again. Seeing Edge distracted by his brother's demise, Buffy managed to loosen her ropes and scrambled to find another stake. Edge quickly lunges for Angel, spearing him to the ground and plunging his fist against his face. Not wasting a minute, Edge drags him up off the cement and slams Angel, face-first through the nearby wooden table, cracking it into planks surrounding the carcass of the bruised and bloodied vampire. Angel rolls over and grabs the side of his ribs in utter pain. "This is it, Angel," laughs Edge, kicking away some of the debris as he nears him. "How does it feel..." he picks up one of the splintered ready-made stakes, "...to know you're going to die?" He lifts the stake above his head with both arms-

"He wouldn't know, blondie." As he feels the sudden impact from behind, Edge drops his stake, looking down to see the wooden handle protruding through his chest. Shifting slightly, he looks down at Angel as he tries jiggling the object. "Oh...it's- it's not that bad really," he shrugged. Upon closer examination, he finally noticed that the handle had pierced his heart. "I was wrong..." he trailed off, finally turning into dust.

"Angel," Buffy kneeled down, lifting his head into her arms. "Are you alright? God…you're head." She traced a hand alongside the gash on his forehead. Forcing himself into a sitting position, Angel pulls her into his arms. When they finally pull away from each other, he sees her bruised forehead and cuts. "I'm sorry, Buffy," he whispers. She looks up at him, softly staring into his sorrowfilled eyes, and carefully grabs his face in her hands. She softly kisses his forehead, and then his lips. "I love you," she says, pulling him into another strong hug. He winces a bit before Buffy helps him stand, supporting him on her shoulders.

"Are you two alright?" Giles rushed over to them after staking the last of the Brood's members. The rest of the gang had sustained only a few minor injuries. Buffy nodded. "No fuss, no muss. What about you guys?" The others circled around the two to check on them.

"Angel!" Cordelia yelled, shocked by her boss's seriously wounded condition. "Are you alright?"

"I'll…be fine, Cordy," he moaned, wrapping his free arm around her as she embraced him. Looking over her shoulder, he saw that Ashlan was still lying on the ground. "Ash..." he watches his sister, still writhing on the floor in pain, her eyes shut trying to block the searing images. "She's remembering..." he says aloud. Angel slips from Buffy's and Cordy's grasp, carefully bending over Ashlan, placing a tentative hand on her shoulder. "Ashlan?" The young girl looks up at him with teary eyes. "Angelus?" As he kneels down, grabbing his stomach in pain, he's taken aback when Ash, zeroing in on his eyes, grabs his head on both sides with her hands. In an instant, Angel's mind, along with Ash, begins to replay the final moments of that dreadful night.....

~~~"I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm so-" she pleaded to her brother.

"It's not your fault. Look at me- it's not your fault. Do you understand?"

"What about Angelus?" asked Christian.

"Pain is our power" replied Edge. "Leave him. Now that he has his precious soul back, this will just be another memory he'll have to carry with him for the rest of his eternity." Edge laughed as he moved in closer to the young girl with his knife.

"No, no...me first" Christian switched places with his brother and quickly dug into Ash with his own dagger. Edge took his turn having his way with the now almost unconscious girl. As he saw the brothers raise their guns, Angel began thrashing against his ropes, screaming as tears sprang to his eyes seeing the only surviving member of his family being forced to endure so much pain.

"Don't!...No!!!...Aaahhh!" Angel sobbed hearing the two guns being fired. Ashlan breathes her last breathe as a trickle of blood slides down her cheek and even more pours from her stomach and chest. Knocking Angel out with a brick to the back of his head, the brothers departed from Spike, carrying the blood soaked, lifeless body with them...~~~

Ash's hands came flying off of her brother's head as she flinched backwards, feeling the bullets piercing her chest. With a final yell, Ashlan collapsed onto the floor beside her already unconscious brother.

Part Seven

"How do we know he's alive?" Xander asked. "Well, I mean- as alive as Angel gets?" Since it was still night, the friends had moved both Angel's and Ashlan's unconscious bodies to Buffy's house. Giles, Buffy, and Cordelia had attended to their wounds and both were laid out in the living room- Angel on the more comfortable couch, Ashlan lay prone on the floor.

"Xander!" Anya snapped.

"What? I mean look at him- he looks like a tumor lying over there. He doesn't breathe, so no help there. We can't exactly check for a heartbeat. In all practical sense, he's-" Anya silenced him with a jab to his stomach. "-going to be fine," she finished for her fiancee.

"Ya know, as much as I hate to admit it, Angel's the one person who's always been there for each of us whenever we really needed him," Xander conceded. "Even me. And I always took him for granted." Cordelia couldn't help but smile at her former boyfriend's sincerity.

"Xander, don't do this to yourself- you take everybody for granted," she consoled him.

"What about her?" Dawn asked, motioning towards Ashlan. "We're not just gonna leave her here are we?"

"What else are we supposed to do with her?" Wesley asked. "Call the police, send her to jail?"

"It seems like a viable option," Fred chimed in.

"Well, for starters, we could tie her up and give me twenty minutes alone with her in the basement once she wakes up," said Dawn.

"Yeah. At least we know she's alive cause she's breathin'. Now Dead Boy on the other hand-"

"Dawn," Buffy interrupted Xander's rant, "if anybody gets first crack at her, it's me."

"Get in line, slayer," Spike added. "That lil' twerp's got a death wish and she chose the right guy to answer it for her, and fast!"

"Spike- spare us the Steven Segal revenge getup."

"Besides," Wes spoke up, "how exactly would you be able to attack her, with having your chip and all? She's half-human, remember?"

"Oh…right. Well…the pain'll be worth it."

"Look, none of us are going to do anything before we get the go ahead from Angel. Got it, Dawn?"

"After she kidnapped me from school!" Buffy sat up from her chair, passing her little sister a weary smile as she made her way over to Cordelia. "Cordy, can I talk to you for a minute...in the kitchen."

"Sure." Cordelia and Buffy left for the kitchen.

"Would you like something to drink? Ya know, maybe a final diet soda before I kill you!" Buffy was on the verge of a rant, and Cordy knew not to even bother trying to interrupt. "Why? Why didn't you tell me? What, you didn't think I was important enough to tell? It doesn't matter if I'm told that the man that I love more than life itself has lost his will to live??"

"Technically, Angel doesn't really live. To live, he'd have to be alive, and you and I both know tha-" Cordy glanced up to see a very pissed slayer. "Okay, I'm shutting up now."

"That's one of the smartest moves you've made since you got here." Buffy began pacing in her kitchen, glancing every so often into the living room to see if Angel had awoken yet. "Just because I'm not in his life on a daily basis doesn't mean that I shouldn't know about..." she trailed off, her emotions rushing throughout her.

"Buffy," Cordy began, hoping Buffy wouldn't interrupt her, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I didn't tell you earlier, but I had good reason not to. I knew how you would react, and with everything happening, it didn't think it would be best for either of you right now." She walked over to her friend, placing an unsure hand on her shoulder. "I know how much you love him. And you're right, I should've told you. But- I just couldn't bring myself to do it- to cause you two any more pain." At Buffy's somewhat confused face, Cordelia explained.

"Buffy, I've seen what you and Angel have gone through. All the heartache, all the sacrifices. No matter how deeply you two have always and will always love each other, there always seems to be something trying to rip you two apart for good. I just didn't want to be one of the things inflicting any more pain on either one of you by bringing this up. I love you both too much."

"Cordy..." she was at a loss for words. "No matter how much pain is involved, no matter how much heartache, I need to know when something huge is happening in Angel's life. Angel...he is my life."

"I know that. But- Buffy you should've see him. On top of the roof of the hotel just before dawn. He even had a stake with him, just in case something somehow prevented sunrise again like the last time." Buffy gently nodded, remembering that Christmas morning that seemed so long ago.

"Why?" she asked through her tearing eyes. "Why did he get so bad? How?"

"Because of you. Buffy, since he arrived in LA, you were the one thing that kept him going, but you were also the one thing that dragged him down. You know, I I finally realized something after watching him when he gets in full brood mode so many times." As Cordy pauses for the words, Buffy can't help but notice the sincerity in her eyes. "You two are a part of each other, and no matter what anybody does, nothing's going to change that truth, and I've always believed that you shouldn't mess with something as strong as that, because it's a losing battle. Unfortuntely, Angel tried to mess with that when he left you for 'your own good' " she accented her final words with quotations in the air. "It's been hell for him Buffy. Especially after Thanksgi-" Cordy stopped herself, not knowing whether to press on.

"After what? Cordelia, tell me," she demanded. With a heavy sigh, Cordelia began to tell Buffy what she was told by Doyle about the day that wasn't. Everything about the Mohra demon, the Oracles, Angel's short-lived humanity. She didn't even skimp on the details of Buffy's and Angel's day together in bed- and on the kitchen table, despite the accompanying mental pictures which she was still trying to block out. She even told Buffy about her fears of being fired knowing that once he was human, he and Buffy would be able to have a life together, and she and Doyle would've gotten the boot. Then came the hardest part- telling her how Angel had given up his chance at humanity to save her life. When she had finally finished, Buffy sat in awe for a few moments before words came to her again.

"Ever since I came back from that first visit…I've had dreams about it. Falling asleep in his arms…kissing him in the sunlight…even the kitchen table rings a bell or two." She noticed the brunette flinch at the image. "I can't believe he gave up...oh god, Angel," a tear escaped her eye. "Why didn't he tell me any of this?"

"He wanted you to move on. He was the only one to keep the memories. I think that whole deal didn't help his depression level much."

"Move on?" she laughed. "Why can't he understand that I can't move on? I'm not supposed to move on. Out of the few dates I've had since he left, none of them even come close to him. No one ever will."

"I know. Buffy, like I said, I'm sorry. But I hope that you two take advantage of everything now that it's all been put pretty well into perspective."

"Thanks Cordelia." The two embraced in a warm hug until Gile's voice came streaming through the living room. "Buffy! Cordelia! Angel's waking up." The girls rushed into the living room, Buffy taking a seat next to him.

As Angel opens his eyes, he sees Buffy in the chair next to him feeling her hand in his. He gathers up enough strength to speak, "Buffy? What happened?" he asks as his voice begins to crack. Buffy grasps Angel's hand and leans over him to gently kiss his tender lips. "You'll be alright. Everybody's here...the Brood's all been dusted, and Ashlan is here."

"She's here?" He sits up on the couch, tossing the blanket covering him to the floor. He buries his head in his hands as he leans over to see Ash lying on Buffy's floor. "Are you okay, Buffy?" he asks her, leaning his forehead against hers.

"Yeah…" she whispers, taking his hands into her own. Their peaceful moment is broken as Buffy begins to hear movement from below her. The two separate as they watch Ash slowly push herself up off the floor, groaning in pain. When she finally remembers what happened and realizes where she is, she crawls back against the nearest wall, using it as a base to stand up completely. "Where- where are they?" she growls.

"Who?" Cordelia asks.

"Edge. Christian...where are they? Still at the mansion?"

"Well...technically they are. They may just be a step up from soot right now, but their ashes are still at the mansion," Xander answered her.

"They've been killed?" she asked, not wanting to believe it.

"Yeah...slow much?" Xander spoke again. "I'll tell you this much, Dead Boy," he said, walking past Ashlan towards Angel, "you definitely got the brains in your family." Ash slid down against the wall, dazed by what she had just been told. "How did it happen?" she asked, looking at Xander.

"I believe the credit goes to our resident slayer...and of course, everybody's favorite vampire," he added, nodding his head up at Angel. Ashlan's eyes wandered around the spacious room, from person to person, before she finally laid eyes on her brother and the slayer. "I'm stuck here," she whispered.

"Come again?" Willow asked.

"I'm trapped…here. I can never go back now," she spoke up a bit louder. "You," she pointed to Angel and Buffy. "The both of you..." she stood up, holding her stomach as she walked directly over to Angel, who had now placed Buffy behind him, shielding her from whatever he expected to unfold between him and Ash. Ash peered fiercely into her brother's eyes, unable to hold back her anger and frustrations any longer.

"Bastard!" she shouted, throwing a series of right punches at him, which Angel easily blocked merely holding up his left arm. "It should've been you!! It's your fault! If you hadn't killed them…" she began punching harder, "...I'd be able to be sent back! If you had tried saving me...if you'd never killed Alaana...I'd still be alive!" After a few more punches, Ash finally tired and Angel grabbed her arm. "If I could have given my life for yours, I would have," he told her. She was taking a few deep gulps of breath to steady herself as Angel finally released his grip on her.

As the others looked on at the current situation, Angel waved an arm, signaling them to just let things play out, but be on guard. Buffy made an attempt to approach her, but ceased in her tracks when she felt Angel's arm circle around her, holding her back. It was Tara who finally broke the group's silence.

"Are you some kind of...of a ghost?" she timidly asked. Ash, turning around, slowly walked up to Tara sitting on the couch with Willow and Dawn. Moving close enough to her so that she was right in Tara's face, Ash simply leaned over, switched into her game face, and growled "Boo." Tara flinched back for a second, all the while, her eyes fixed on the young girl as her face returned to normal and she walked over to stare out the window.

"I don't know what I am," Ashlan finally answered her earlier question. "All I have left now are my memories...places I've seen...things I've done...what I was...what I could've been," she turned to face Angel who she saw approaching her, Buffy by his side, "...if it wasn't for my dear brother here. Why didn't you do anything about it? Why didn't you stop them that night? Why didn't you kill them right then and there. Then at least I wouldn't be stuck here...between life and death." Angel stared at her, at a loss for words. "Ash...I- I couldn't," he finally stammered out.

"Yet you could do it to me?" she almost laughed. "Snatch me from our poor mother's womb after you drained her, like some monster in a fairy tale? And now you weep!" she shouted, tears glistening in her eyes. "I haven't tears enough for what you've done to me," she whimpered. "This isn't real." The tears were now streaming down her face as she continued in disbelief. "None of this is real. I don't know this world…everything's changed. I can't think, I can't feel...I can't...do this...I can't exist like this." She fell to her knees, pulling her head down to the floor.

The friends sat around, not really knowing what to say or do for her. As he stood watching with his arm around Buffy, Angel thought back over the things he'd done over the course of his life. And where, in that violent time, it had gone. The lives he had affected. The pain and suffering he instilled in so many. The only bright spot of his existence was the slayer standing beside him. "Ashlan," he kneeled down to place a hand on her back, "I want to show you something." He extended his hand to her, hoping she would give him the chance to help her. "Please." She tentatively took his hand as he pulled her up off the floor. He and Buffy stood by the open front door, waiting for her to follow them.

"Wait," Cordelia spoke up, "Angel, it's almost sunrise. Where are you taking her?"

"This isn't going to be long. It's close by. We'll be back in a little while."

"Still, we're coming with you," said Gunn.

"Speak for yourselves," Spike grumbled. "I've had enough of the family-hour to last me another few lifetimes. You guys are on your own...but, uh- I'll be back tonight to check up on things. Ya know...who's alive and what have ya." Spike left, rushing past Gunn as he grabbed his jacket and, along with the others, headed for the door.

Part Eight

Caught out alone and I'm trying to be free
Caught up in things that are inside of me
Lookin for something that I cannot see
Losin my faith but I'm tryin to believe

Feels like I'm caught in the ocean
There's always someone to help me drown
The twisted tangled emotions
There's always someone to help me drown

"It's here." The group had reached the familiar hillside within minutes, silent as they walked through the sleeping Sunnydale streets. Along the way they had encountered only three lone vamps, which Buffy made short work of. With each slaying, Ash looked on at the slayer in astonishment at such strength for a young woman. In her years growing up, Angel had told her of the slayers, how many he had killed himself, but she had never come across one.

"What's here?" Ashlan asked her brother, highly annoyed at his insistence of coming to the uninspiring hill.

"It's here that I gained a piece of humanity back."

"How wonderful for you," she sneered. "What's any of this have to do with me?"

"It has everything to do with you. Ashlan…this isn't you. The blind rage isn't you. You let it control you, but you have the chance to regain your control.

"What can I say- being dead really takes a lot out of you." She walks closer towards the edge of the hill, staring down at the houses below. "Don't you understand? I can't feel anything!" she shouted, turning back around to face him and the others. "And I can't understand for the life of me why they even bothered bringing me back in the first place."

"I know the feeling." At Ash's confused look, he began telling her of a time when he couldn't understand the reasoning behind an action. "When I was brought back from Hell-"

"You were in Hell?? Well…no real surprise there." Her admission cut Angel deep, but he quickly pushed it to the back of his mind. "I have been out of the loop for awhile."

"When I was brought back, I wanted to know why. I couldn't understand why, after finally being sent where I belonged, anyone or any power would want to bring me back to this world. Ash, you can't understand or feel anything because you won't let yourself. I know that you can't go back now, but now that you're here, you have a chance to do something useful. You have a chance to-"

"I don't want a chance to do anything! I didn't ask for a second chance! All I want...all I want is to know peace."

"We're not in this life for peace, Ash," Buffy said.

"Oh, coming from the slayer- I'll take that to heart," Ash scoffed at her.

"I know what you went through being dead because I went through it too. Twice, actually. I know what it's like- the peace...the end of the constant struggle. Once you've known that, you long to be released from the pain of living. Unless you have something worth living for," her last comment was aimed at both Ash and Angel. "Family...friends...they make things more bearable."

"And I suppose the lot of you are such cheery chums that you all live blissful lives?"

"Far from it..." Xander almost tumbled over laughing at her last remark. "But at least we all care about each other and we're happy that all of us are alive."

"How fortunate for all of you," Ash laughed. "Unfortunately, I can't share your sentiments. To be stuck in limbo for one hundred years, only to be brought back to life, knowing that I'll never know real peace…I can't do it. I can't face that pain. It hurts too much…" she trailed off as Angel neared her.

"Angel…uh- it's almost daybreak. Perhaps we should, umm…"

"I know, Ash..." Angel ignored Giles' warning, "...better than you could imagine. The pain is unbearable...and you don't want it to go on." Ashlan slowly nodded as her brother continued. "I wish that I could just stop feeling because I never knew that it could hurt this much. I wish that I didn't need anybody. But once you love and need somebody, you can never stop. It doesn't just go away. It stays with you forever."

"That's the whole point," Buffy finishes for him, grasping his hand in her own.

"So Ash, if you can tell me that you've never felt anything- any love, any deep need for something or someone- then that's the waste of you. But I've learned, and I'm done turning my back and trying to ignore what I feel," he admitted, looking down at the slayer standing beside him. "And I'm not leaving here until you realize that."

"Are you kidding? In case you've forgotten, you weren't lucky enough to have a big brother turn you into a hybrid, protecting you from daylight," Ash jeered. "Just go home with your little family."

"I'm not leaving, Ash."

"Angel, come on! The sun is coming up!" Cordy pleaded with him.

"Listen to the princess over there and just go," Ash neared him, feeling the sun's rays breaking through the horizon. "Go!"

"No." Angel wouldn't budge, even as Buffy began to pull on his arm to move him. Finally, Ash leaped at him, knocking him over, tumbling backwards down the hill with him until finally reaching the bottom under a nearby tree. "What are you- crazy! What are you trying to do- get yourself roasted!"

"No...I'm trying to get my sister back," he replied as Ash encircled him in a hug. The others had ran down the hillside, reaching the bottom in time to see Angel's arm stretched out in the sunlight, seemingly unaffected by the bright rays.

"Angel- you're arm," Buffy noticed. "Why isn't it...?" Ashlan pulled herself out of their hug to see what the slayer was talking about.

"Well...isn't this a kodak moment...it's like the freakin' Brady Bunch." The group of friends turned to see the owner of the new voice. "Whistler." In his worn leather jacket and black fedora, Angel recognized him immediately. "What do you want?"

"Ease up tall, dark, and broody. I come bearing gifts." He walked past the others, mumbling a few "hellos" and "hiyas" before coming face to face with Buffy, Angel, and Ash. "Slayer- long time no see. Heard you were dead. What happened- the afterlife just wasn't what you thought it would be?" he chuckled.

"No- I just couldn't spend eternity without seeing your smiling face," she replied, annoyed already at the demon's presence. "So what do you want now?"

"Not me- the powers," he answered, pointing up at the sky. "Looks like you were a good boy in a previous life, Angel. You've got it made now."

"As usual, I have no idea what you're talking about, so just spit it out, Whistler."

"Geez...a guy tries to add a little more drama and excitement to a touching moment and he gets his head chewed off. Actually- I've seen that happen a few times. There was this one guy, fella by the name of Nello, whose wife actually-"

"Whistler!" Buffy shouted. "We don't care! Now what is going on?"

"Your boy-toy is human" he blurted out. He watched as Buffy stood gazing at Angel in both disbelief and hope. "Uhh, you might want to pick your jaw up off the ground there girlie...not the most attractive look."

"Angel's human?" she whispered.

"Dead Boy is now Un-Dead Boy?" Xander asked in his typical fashion. At Whistler's nod, all Xander could muster up was "Damn!"

"How?" Angel finally spoke up, picking himself and Ash off the ground to face everyone.

"Her." Whistler pointed to Ashlan. "She's the second half of your redemption."

"What was the first half?"

"Her." This time, Whistler nodded his head up at Buffy. "Earning her love and loving her in return- that was the first step to redeeming yourself in the eyes of the Powers That Be. This time your humanity is permanent, but-" before he could continue, Buffy launched herself into Angel's arms, almost knocking him to the ground again.

"Whoa! Whoa! Cool it you damn bunnies...do I need to get the hose already? You're not completely off the hook, my man. You're still working for the Powers- both of you are- so you've still got your strength and healing abilities. Consider yourself the first, and hopefully only, male slayer. Now as for you, kid," his gaze fell upon Ash, "the Powers haven't exactly decided what to do about you yet. So if I were you, I'd stick around. Things are always pretty interesting around here anyway."

"What do you mean, they haven't decided what to do with me yet? And who are the Powers?"

"The Powers That Be. They sorta run things. Ya know...destiny, fate...the whole deal. Your brother and the slayer here are working for 'em- they're their chosen warriors in this thing called life, but they haven't exactly figured out where you stand in the grand scheme of things...so you're going to be given the chance to prove yourself worthy. You're not being returned to your watery grave just yet-"

"Damn, and I just put in new curtains and a couple throw pillows," Ash scoffed.

"Cute. Now I see the family resemblence between you and my man Angel over th- Angel? Angel? Oh well, those two will have to come up for air sometime." He couldn't help but smile at Buffy and Angel, almost toppling over one another, enveloped in a long, passionate kiss.

"Anyway, here's the deal- you're staying until the Powers deem you worthy of your ultimate choice- life or death. If, after you've earned your redemption, you decide life is more enjoyable than chillin at the bottom of an oversized murky fishtank, you'll be granted humanity. But, if you want to put up some wallpaper to match your new curtains, you'll be sent back. That's the deal, and whether you like it or not, it's the only one you've got, kid."

Whistler gave her a light pat on the back as Ash let his words totally sink in. < So this is it- this is my new life. Well, it can't be all that bad, can it? > She looked around her at Xander making faces at her brother and Buffy making out, Anya slapping him across the chest, and Dawn and Cordelia whining about the cold. < On second thought, being dead is looking better and better, > she sighed to herself.

"You two," Whistler approached a finally separated slayer and ex-vampire, "had better take advantage of this. It's not everyday the Powers do something like this. Apparently, they decided that you two are better off together than apart- though personally, I think they just realized that no one else would be able to stand either one of you, so you're stuck together for all of eternity. You kiddies enjoy..." he began heading towards the street, but turned suddenly when he remebered the other thing he wanted to ask them. "Oh yeah...do any of you know where to get some decent Chinese around here?" At their surprised looks, he started walking again. "Ah, that's alright. I'll ask around."

"Well...I think I speak for eveyone when I say, let's get some pancakes," Xander smiled, "...and some sleep. I guess sleeping during the day has gotta be old hat for you, huh Angel? Angel?" He looked up to see Angel and Buffy walking back up to the top of the hill. "There they go again. It'll be a few good hours before we see them again."

"Try a good few days, Xander," Cordy said. "Come on, let's leave them. They'll be home...eventually."

"Yes, but will they be fully clothed?- that's the
64,000 question." The others, including Ash, headed back for Buffy's home, leaving the slayer and her now-human beloved alone.

Part Nine

"Will you stay here with me?" Angel asked, locking eyes with the beauty sitting beside him on the grassy hill.

"Always." She leaned her head against his shoulder as he wrapped an arm around her. Together they sat, watching the whole magnificence of the sunrise as if for the first time. Neither could remember any sunrise before it.

"I can't stand Christmas."

"Angel, here we are, you human, watching the beautiful sunrise together, and all you can say is 'I can't stand Christmas'?" He turned to look at her, gently nodding his head. "Well, you may be Scrooge, but at least you're my Scrooge," she admitted, cuddling up closer to him.

"I didn't say that I hate Christmas, it's just...well, it was around Christmas that I was turned."

"Oh, Angel...I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"

"You don't have to apologize," he softly kissed the top of her head. "You didn't know. I lost everything at Christmas...my family, my humanity...things I never thought I could have again...until you. Buffy," he pulled them both up, brushing off some grass as she did the same. "I stopped believing in Christmas. I stopped wishing for anything. But then you came along, and I finally had a wish. This is it-" he nodded towards the rising sun. "Being able to watch the sunrise again and having you to share it with."

Buffy tries to hold back her tears as she feels his hand gently caress the side of her face. "That day, when Willow called...what I felt was deeper and more terrifying than anything I've ever felt. Loss. A terrible feeling of loss. A part of my life- safety, simplicity. Things that I'd never known before you. The only thing that I've ever wanted, even before I was turned, was to be whole. To be needed by someone as much as I need them. I've only known that feeling with you."

"I feel the same way. I don't know how to feel, how to exist without you, Angel. Even when we weren't together, I still carried you with me. I need you, Angel. I love you so much."

"I love you. For awhile, I tried to convince myself that I couldn't love you. That it wasn't fair to you. But all that did was make it worse because it killed me that we couldn't be together-"

"Angel, we could've been together. I told you that time and time again. Even if you weren't human now, the only thing I've ever wanted was to be with you- no matter what."

"As much as it hurt being away from you, it hurt more being with you- taking away your chance at a normal life."

"I was the one thing that kept you going, but I was also the one thing that dragged you down." Angel began to respond, but was silenced as Buffy's finger fell upon his lips. "I heard what Ashlan said, back at the mansion. What she left out, Cordelia filled me in with all the details."

Angel's eyes avoided her own, filled with guilt and shame at his recent actions. Angel gently grabs her hand. "I'm sorry, Buffy," he whispers. She looks up at him, softly staring into his sorrowfilled eyes, and carefully grabs his face in her hands. She softly kisses his forehead, and then his lips, pulling him into a strong hug. "I know...I know. But why didn't you tell me?" He shrugs his shoulders as she pulls out of their embrace to face him.

"I didn't want to worry you."

"Fat chance of that ever happening," she softly laughed.

"I know. I should've told you. I just hate-"

"Being taken care of instead of being the one who always takes care of everyone else?" As he nods his head, she takes his hand and leads him back down the hill. They walk the waking streets back to Buffy's house, and as Angel pulls her into a strong embrace, Buffy continues. "I know. That's one of the many things I've always loved about you. Angel, what finally knocked some sense into you?"

"Believe it or not, Cordelia."

"I believe it. Cordelia's really changed...matured. I'm sure she's been a great friend."

"She is. They're all wonderful- but they're not you. That night, I should've known that Cordy knew what I was up to…she had been watching me for a few hours after everyone else had gone to bed. The next morning.....

1 week ago:

Been around this world so many times
If you could only see my mind
I watch my secret heaven turn to hell
Love alone has guided me
The ghost of my own destiny
I wish I never had a soul to sell

All the things I put me through
I wouldn't wish my hell on you
You'll never know what's going on inside

~~~"Angel? What do you think you're doing?!" Cordelia had followed her boss to the roof of the hotel just minutes before daybreak. "Come back down. We'll have some breakfast, and talk- just you and me, ok?"

"Leave me alone...just go Cordelia...now."

"Angel- Angel, I know it's hard. I know-"

"You don't know!" he turned around to face her. "You don't know how hard it is- how painful it is. I can't do this. I can't keep fighting with nothing to fight for. I've dedicated myself to helping strangers I've never met, faces I've never seen. Well, the innocent aren't faceless anymore."

"And what about Buffy?" Cordy inched closer towards him, hoping to be able to snatch the stake out of his hands.

Just another lonely, broken hero
Picking up the pieces of my mind
Running out of faith and hope and reasons
I'm running out of time

"It's easier to just let go like this."

"So that's it! You're just giving up on her?! You're just giving up on all of us?!" His only response was to turn his back to her, staring off into the horizon, waiting for the sun's first rays to hit him. "Believe it or not, Angel, people depend on you more than you realize. I don't know what I would've done without you these past few years. The same goes for the others. And Buffy-"

"-deserves a normal life" he cut in.

"Which means that she deserves you! Why is it so hard for you to realize that you are the one person she depends on for everything?"

Trouble always seems to find
A way to live inside my mind
My haunted hell and me remain alone
Underneath my masquerade
A simple man who's so afraid
I tried to find the light to guide me home

My love, please just hold me tight
I'm feeling so afraid tonight
Cause you're the only one who really knows

"We can never be together, Cordelia. You know that-"

"All I know is that even when you two are not together, she still depends on you. She carries you with her. She carries your soul with her everyday. To tell you the truth, I think the idea of you is what's keeping her going now, according to Willow." Angel looked up at her, searching her eyes for an explanation as she walked closer towards him. "It's killing her to be alive again, Angel. She is so alone...empty and lost. But just knowing that you're here is enough to keep her sane." Cordy was now standing by his side, holding the stake in her hand. Gently reaching out to hold his hand, she pulled Angel into a strong hug, which he more than welcomed. She could hear him softly crying as he rested his head over her shoulder.

Just another lonely, broken hero
Picking up the pieces of my mind
Running out of faith and hope and reasons
I'm running out of time

"I tried. I tried so hard. I gave it all I had, I just don't have any more without Buffy. I can't help how I feel about her. It's like I tried to put her and the memories we shared into this dark abyss, but the feelings just keep resurfacing..."

"Than go to her. Tell her. Angel," she pulled out of their embrace to face him, "this isn't doing either one of you any good." He nodded, letting her lead him back down through the hotel. They reached his room and upong entering, Cordy picked up his phone. "Call her." Angel began dialing the familiar number but was interrupted by Wesley's shouting as he saw the former watcher racing into his room.

"Angel! We've got a problem on our hands-"

"Correction-" Gunn interrupted him as he entered the bedroom, "-several problems. They found the scrolls for the ritual."

"Who? And what ritual?" Angel placed the phone back on it's receiver. < I'm sorry love. Not tonight- but soon. I promise... >

"Edge and Christian," Wes answered. "They're planning something. Something big....."~~~

"Remind me to thank Cordelia when we get home." Buffy hugged Angel tighter as they continued their walk back to her house, taking the time to enjoy their first sunrise together. "Angel, no matter what happens, I'm always going to love you and take care of you. So just promise me one thing- that no matter what happens or what comes, you'll always share it with me." She wraps her arms around his waist, being careful of his still sore ribs, as he lovingly gazes into her hazel eyes, and sweetly nods his head in agreement, responding to her promise with one of his own. "Whatever happens, whatever comes, always know that I love you."

******

Angel was careful to close Buffy's front door as quietly as possible. Seeing the empty living room, they figured everyone was trying to catch some sleep, either at their own homes or somewhere in Buffy's house.

"Since food will now be part of your daily routine, do you want some breakfast?" Buffy asked him, stifling a yawn.

"Buffy...you're exhausted. You've got to get some sleep, even if it's only for a few hours."

"Oh...do you have plans after that," she beamed up at him.

"Wouldn't you like to know. Sleep now, play later. Come on...you're going to bed." He grabbed her hand, leading her up the stairs to her bedroom. As they opened her door, they took notice of the small frame curled up among Buffy's pillows.

"Why does this girl love my bed so much...she's gonna drool all over Mr. Gordo."

"I'm sure he's had worse over the years." At Buffy's unamused look, Angel walked over to her bed and gently picked up Dawn. "Come on, Dawnie. Big sister Buffy is kicking you to the curb." Dawn, half-awake, curled up closer to his chest. "She always does," she groggily murmured.

Returning from tucking Dawn into her own bed, Angel found Buffy already dozing off under her covers, Mr. Gordo snuggled under her right arm. Unable to resist and feeling exhausted himself, he snuggled down next to her. Sensing him near her, Buffy rolled over onto her side, slinging an arm across his waist and resting her head ontop of his chest. "Don't move," she whispers. "I just want to hear your heartbeat." Angel kisses the top of her head and within minutes the two are fast asleep.

******

Six hours later, Angel, in an attempt to stay warm, went to snuggle up to Buffy, but instead he found himself snuggling with her still-warm pillow. "Buffy?"

"Over here, Angel," she called from the large window across from her bed. Angel slips out from under the covers and goes to join her by the windowsill. "What are you doing?"

"Huh? Oh, nothing," she quickly places the sketch pad she held onto her floor along side her bureau. "Late sleeper, huh?"

"It's only..." he glanced to her nightstand, "twelve. I would think for you, that's still too early.

"Mmm..." she wraps her arms around him, "it's late when I want to spend the whole day with you."

"Cordelia! Dawn! Will, Tara! Get your stuff!" Buffy slipped on her jacket as she and Angel reached the bottom of the stairs. "I managed to convince Angel to take us shopping, and-" they entered her kitchen where she expected them all to be, but was met with an empty counter and empty chairs, "-and I'm talking to myself," she finished. "Where is everyone?"

"I guess they're all still asleep," Angel said.

"Well some people are trying to sleep upstairs," Cordy appeared behind them, "but it's really hard with someone yelling down here. Gunn, Wes, and Fred already left for LA- and no, they did not take your car," she answered Angel's question before he could ask it, watching him race to the window to see his new Benz still in the driveway, "-Giles drove them. Xander and Anya went home, said they'd see you at the Christmas party at the Bronze tonight. Dawn's out like a light, and Tara and Willow left to go buy you a Christmas tree. It is Christmas Eve- though you wouldn't know it looking at this place. I think even Scrooge had at least a wreath or something."

"Where's Ash?" Angel inquired.

"Oh, she was asleep with me in Willow and Tara's room when I heard you two down here. Hope you don't mind. She's really a sweet girl, Angel. Takes after her brother," she smiled up at him. "What are you two doing back so soon?"

"We've been back. Caught up on a little thing called sleep. Get dressed. Angel's taking us out."

"No…no, no, no. If I don't get at least six hours of sleep, I go psycho. Just ask him," she nodded up at a still smiling Angel. "On second hand, don't ask him. I do not need him telling stories."

"You know I'm going to hear them eventually, Cordy."

"Mmm. Cordelia- bed. That's all I'm comprehending right now. Besides, it's a much better alternative to seeing you two making with the smoochies the whole time we'd be at...where'd you say Angel wanted to take us?"

"Shopping." Before she knew it, Cordelia was heading back up the stairs to grab her purse. "Gimme two minutes. I can sleep when we get back. You two-" she pointed at them as she came bouncing back down the stairs after fixing her hair, "-had better get all your kissing out of your systems before we get to the mall, cause I refuse to be seen with the both of you when you're like that- which, by the way, is almost all the time. I will fully deny that I even know you two-"

"Cordelia- chill. We'll behave." Angel kissed Cordy on the forehead, then leaned in to place a kiss on Buffy's soft lips. As he was grabbing his jacket and keys, Buffy took Cordelia by the arm, leading her out the front door. "Cordelia…I wanted to thank you."

"For what?"

"For bringing my Angel back to me. For being such a great friend...to the both of us." The brunette sweetly smiled at the slayer. "You don't have to thank me, Buffy. Seeing the both of you finally happy together is thanks enough." The two were embraced in a sweet hug when Angel came out the front door. He opened the door for both of them then made his way around to his side to head off for the mall.

******

While driving to the mall, Buffy keeps her hand entwined in Angel's, he smiles at her and then looks back out at the road. Angel looks out at the gray pavement and the yellow strips passing the car as he speeds down the highway, he thinks about how much he wished and waited for this moment to be with Buffy. To be human.

"Angel??", Buffy gently grasps his hand tighter to break him our of his thinking state. He jerks out of it and glances at her quickly, "What?? What's wrong??", she laughs "Well, I said the mall was two exits back...you passed it," he smiles, still thinking a little, "Sorry...I didn't hear you...I was thinking about something", he takes the U-turn at exit 3 to turn around and head back the other way.

"About what??", he looks both ways and heads out back onto the highway, "About you and life in general...", she smiles and turns to look out the window, "Yeah...I get like that too."

"Umm...excuse me," Cordelia popped her head up from the backseat, "another person in the car people. Could you please refrain from any more dirty thoughts about one another until we get home?" she jokes with them, still reeling from the happiness of seeing them together.

Twenty minutes in the mall with both Buffy and Cordelia was enough to drive Angel crazy. When they weren't both racing from rack to rack trying on every piece of clothing they could find, they were dragging him into store after store making him buy a new wardrobe- more clothes that were less "broody" as Cordy put it. But it did his newly beating heart good to see the two most important women in his life so happy.

"So…where to next?" Buffy asked, three bags of clothes in each hand.

"Actually," Angel stopped in front of the huge fountain in the center of the mall, "why don't you two finish up whatever shopping you've got left to do, and we'll all meet up here in an hour."

"Where are you going?" Buffy leaned against him, not wanting him out of her site for a minute. "We promise, we won't make you try on anything else," she gave him her sweetest smile.

"Tempting...but no," he laughed, kissing her forehead. "I have some Christmas shopping of my own to do and I'd like to keep your gifts as surprises."

"Hey, if he's buying us presents, let the man go, Buffy. When you get to my name on the list Santa, just remember two words- sparkly diamonds."

"I've got two words for you too- pay cut?"

"Haha...come on, Buffy. I think you can bare to be apart from Mr. Jolly for sixty minutes."

"Think again…but, I'll be good. Love you," she leaned in to kiss Angel and was dragged off in the opposite direction by Cordy.

"So what are you getting Angel for Christmas?" Cordelia asked her once they stepped into Capo's.

"Actually, I've got a fantastic idea, Cord. I already asked Dawn to finish working on it while we came shopping. I just hope he likes it."

"Please...you've got that man so wrapped around your finger. You could give him a brown paper bag and he'd treasure it forever just cause it's from you..."

An hour and a half later, Angel waited patiently with his few bags sitting by the fountain. < Typical. They're probably both buying out the rest of the mall. > His mind drifted to the thought of sharing his first Christmas in over two hundred years human with the love of his life. Smiling at the thought, he didn't notice Buffy and Cordy descending the spiral stairway.

Buffy and Cordelia walk down slowly, noticing Angel staring into oblivion with a goofy grin on his face. Cordy heads over to buy a lemonade as Buffy rushes over to Angel, kissing him on the neck from behind, covering his eyes with her soft hands. "Guess who?"

"I don't have to guess," he pulls her hands down, turning around to capture her lips in a soft kiss. "I'd know you anywhere. Did you two get all of your shopping done?"

"Yep. How 'bout you? What'd ya get me?" She leaned forward to peer over into his bags.

"Uh-uh...you'll just have to wait until later tonight. It'll be worth it, I promise."

As she sits down by the fountain to take a rest, she wraps her arms around his waist, and begins to interrogate him about her gift. "Angel," she begins as they kiss, "how about you tell me what my gift is?" Kissing her while laughing at her attempt, Angel answers, "Cause that would ruin one of my greatest surprises ever for you, and you really don't think I'm about to do that, do you?" Buffy continues to work on him, kissing her way down his neck. "If you tell me now...I'll be your best friend," she says, not being able to hold back a laugh for her last remark.

"First of all, you're already my best friend," he says with a final kiss, pulling her up as he sees Cordy returning with her drink. "And second...no. You'll just have to wait and be surprised." Seeing Buffy's immediate mock-pout, he kisses her, and drags her out to his car to head home.

Part Ten

"Please?"

"No."

"Pleeease?"

"Noooo."

"Please, please, please, pleeeease?!"

"Exactly what part of the word 'no' don't you understand," says Buffy as she places the wrapped box in her bedroom closet.

"Actually, I've always had a hard time with the 'n'," says Angel, grabbing Buffy around her waist from behind. "Come on," he says, beginning to nuzzle her neck, "tell me what you got me? I think I've had my fill of surprises for one day- you know, being granted my humanity and all- I really don't think my heart could handle any more surprises."

"Hmmm...nice try, but...nope. To quote a certain someone, 'you'll just have to wait until later tonight'."

"Oh, that's really fair," Angel pouts.

"But, you're more than welcome to continue with your methods," Buffy says, as she goes to kiss him, but he quickly turns his head. "Oh come on...the least you could do is let me surprise you once in a wh-" she's taken by surprise as Angel pulls her into his lap. The two begin laughing heavily on her bed. "You know, if it wasn't Chrismas, and I wasn't so much in love with you, I'd slug you for making me think you were really mad," says Buffy as she snuggles into his arms.

"Come on Buffy, you know I could never get mad at you," he says, as he places one arm around Buffy's back, sitting up on the bed.

"Good...cause if you wanted to play that game I could start bugging you about that bag we saw you were carrying out of the jewelry store."

"I haven't the faintest idea of what you're talking about," says Angel with a smile. "That must've been some other guy you saw."

"Well see, that's impossible. Wanna know why?"

"Enlighten me."

"Because no matter if we're alone, or in a crowded place, you are the only guy my eyes ever see." She begins to kiss him deeply. "So...how's about giving me a hint as to what's in that jewelry bag?"

"Nice try. You're almost as good as I am when it comes to being sneaky." He pulls Buffy into his body for a sweet kiss. "You're happy," he says to her, almost as a question.

"Why wouldn't I be? I've got everything I need right here in my arms."

"I'm glad...to see you smiling and happy again. That's all I've ever wanted Buffy...for you to be happy." Buffy pulls him in and kisses him, but the couple is interrupted by a knock on her bedroom door.

"Are you two decent?"

"Come in, Dawn," Buffy invites her sister in.

"Xander and Anya are here. We're all ready to go to the Bronze. And, Cordelia's got a surprise downstairs."

"Should we be worried?" Buffy laughs, going over to her mirror to give her makeup a final check. Angel couldn't pull his eyes away from her. Dressed in a simple black spaghetti strap dress that stopped just above her knees, with a small, cute dragonfly detailed out of rhinestones upon the left corner, Angel couldn't imagine anything more stunning.

"Hard to say...I think it's pretty cool."

"We should be worried then." Angel smiled. < I never knew Angel could smile so much. It's a good look for him. > As Dawn talked with Angel about the gang's plans for the evening, Buffy's gaze quickly fell upon him. He was dressed in a black suit, the collar of his tieless darkblue dress-shirt having one button undone, slightly emerging from his black suit jacket. "Ready?" Angel's silky smooth voice knocked Buffy out of her appreciative gaze. Taking his hand, Buffy followed Angel and her sister downstairs.

"Look who decided to grace us with their presence."

"Spike?! What are you doing here?"

"I told you I'd come 'round tonight to check up on things, Peaches."

"Great. I don't know how I would've survived the night without seeing you." Looking around the room, he noticed only one person missing. "Where's Ashlan?"

"Oh- she's in the kitchen," Tara answered, a smile plastered across her face.

"So…I hear you're among the breathing now. Glad to hear it- now maybe you won't as much as a nuisance to me," said Spike.

"Don't bet on it, Spike," Angel replied.

"He's still got his strength, ya know," Willow chimed in. "He's a male slayer. The first, actually," she added matter-of-factly.

"Christ- it wan't enough to have just blondie over there. And now you're human. Oh- great! Now I can't even hit you!" Spike whined. "Some Christmas!"

"Speaking of which, shouldn't you be celebrating with some of your more gruesome buddies?" Xander asked him.

"Hey- I happen to think that Christmas is a joyous occasion that should be shared with loved ones and friends. And since you all are my best friends-"

"But we all pretty much hate you," Anya told him. Spike stared at all of their glaring faces. "Alright, well- you're the only ones who'll answer the door and let me in," he admitted. "So are we going or what?"

"We're just waiting for Cordelia to show us this surprise of hers," said Buffy. "So, where is it Cordy?" They all watched as she strolled over towards the kitchen. Coming back out into the living room, her smile beamed from ear to ear, anxious to see Angel's reaction. "It's right here," she gestured behind her with her arms but soon noticed that her surprise was a bit shy. "Ash? Ashlan, get out here."

"I'd rather be back underwater," she muttered.

"Get out here-" she reached into the kitchen and finally pulled her out into the living room for everyone to see. Ash stood awkwardly against the wall, staring up at the ceiling, waiting for the group's reaction.

"Wow," came Buffy's response. "Ashlan, you look...I mean- you look just like-"

"God- they even dress alike," Xander interrupted her. "Ok- lemme just say, the second you and undead boy get matching haircuts- I'm outta here."

"Can I have that in writing, Xander," replied Angel. He walked past him, approaching his sister. Her new attire, quite similar to Angel's, was a departure from her previous leather pants and black shirt ensemble. Her black hair was finally dry and tied back into a simple ponytail. She wore a pair of black dress pants, and a black duster overtop a blue silk shirt. "You look great, Ash" was Angel's simple and honest reaction. "This was your doing I take it?" he asked in Cordy's direction.

"Your sister cleans up nice, doesn't she?" The brunette walked over to them and began fussing with Ash's duster and shirt. "What can I say- a little haircut, some new threads, and-"

"And you've got an Angel mini-me," Xander cut in. Seriously though," he noticed Angel's annoyed glance, "you look great, kid."

" 'Kid'? I think I'm over 240 years past 'kid'. But...thanks. It was Cordelia's idea though."

"Thanks Cordy." Angel leaned over to kiss her on the cheek.

"Wonderful...the lil' squirt's got new clothes," Spike spoke up, "how 'bout we get going so she can show them off, huh?"

******

"So...let me get this straight...you're the slayer...you're an 1100 year old demon but you're pretty much powerless...you two are witches, but good witches...you're still a full-fledged vampire but you can't hurt anyone...and you...you, uh- don't...do...anything?"

"Hey!" Xander took offense to Ash's quick summaries of the friends sitting at their usual table in the Bronze. "I may not be an official freak, but I lend moral support and comic relief to the party mix." Ignoring his plea, Ash's eyes wandered to the huge Christmas tree standing in the corner of the club by the stage. While admiring it's beauty, Ash turned her questions back to Spike. "So Spike, why exactly can't you hurt anyone?"

"I've got this bloody chip in my head, and-"

" 'Chip'?"

"You know, like a computer chip-"

" 'Computer'?"

"Oh…yeah- you've been pretty much out of the picture for about a hundred years. Come on over here, love..." he motioned for her to move beside him, "I'll fill you in on everything you need to know to survive the twenty-four hour zoo around here."

"No offense, Spike," Angel began, "but I think I prefer my sister sane. If you really want to be caught up with things Ash, Cordelia is a much better source."

"Well, why can't you just give me a quick rundown of the past century right now?"

"Because," he sat up and reached for Buffy's hand, leading her to the dance floor, "I need to dance with my heavenly date here- if you'll do me the honor, love?" Buffy nodded slowly, wordlessly, as she felt herself go weak in his arms.

Something is wrong, nothing's o.k.
Cause when I'm without you, nothing's the same
Don't misunderstand me, cause nothing's alright
When I'm without you the day turns into night
...into night

We dream of a future...a possible place
Where we lie together face to face
And I'm looking forward
I will not deny
I dream of a future made for you and I
You and I

Buffy pressed her body closer to his and felt his arms tighten around her. His hand traced light circles in the small of her back. She shivered and brought her arms around his neck, resting her head against his chest, smiling at the all too true words of the song.

When I'm with you
No longer alone
When I'm with you
It feels like I'm home
You are with me
No longer alone

You're all I can see
It feels like I'm home
It feels like I'm home

Buffy begins to tear up at the song, sniffling as the tears unvoluntarily flow--and Angel smiles, kissing them away with his lips, hugging her deeply.

I look through the darkness into the sky
The moon up above me brilliantly shines
I've never been happier watching it glow
You're here by my side, I'll never be alone
...I'm not alone

I look through the brightness into the sky
The sun up above me, spitting out fire
Call me a child, call me naïve
The world is much brighter
Than it ever used to be

Angel brought one hand up from her back and placed it gently against her head, brushing against her hair and tucking it back behind her ear. He continued to stroke her hair and Buffy felt herself slipping into the ecstasy of complete contentment. "Buffy...I don't know whether you still do, but...I want my life to be with you. I want to give you that bright future you deserve."

"Do you know how much I love you, Angel? There aren't enough words that I could use to tell you just how much I absolutely adore you, and want to be with you- now and forever. You are and always will be the one person who makes me truly happy. I finally feel alive again." Angel inclines his head and Buffy meets him halfway. The kiss was long and sweet and filled with the promise of more. Buffy tangled her hands in his hair, and he sighed against her lips. He pressed forward and she laid her forehead against his.

When I'm with you
No longer alone
When I'm with you
It feels like I'm home
And you are with me
No longer alone
You're all I can see
I know that I'm home
I know that I'm home

As the song ends, Buffy looked up into his loving gaze, taking his hand and leading him back to their table amid Ash and Spike's fighting.

"You're out of what lil' bit of a mind you ever had you miserable excuse for fishbait! How do you figure-"

"I'm telling you- you owe me $5,462- give or take a hundred."

"Sod off! How do I possibly owe you-"

"Remember that night in Paris when you went on that all night drinking binge? Your tab came to about-"

"A hundred francs! Two hundred at most! So how do I owe you-"

"You didn't think that I wasn't going to charge you interest for the money you borrowed, did you? So pay up!"

"Hey Peaches- you'd better restrain your kid sister before I knock her blinkin' block off!" Spike quickly got up, mumbling his goodbyes to everyone. "Bloody hell- everybody wants something these days. I swear- the minute I manage to get this damn chip out of my head..."

"It's a good thing you two came back when you did-" Dawn made an attempt to put a stop to their bickering, "I was about ready to send for the jaws of life to pry you guys apart. I see we're not too keen on the whole breathing aspect of being human yet, huh Angel? Cause otherwise, you and my sister wouldn't have been making with the nonstop smoochies out there," Dawn giggled.

"Get used to it, Dawnie," said Willow.

Part Eleven

"So who's going first?" Anya twirled the small box she was holding perched atop Xander's lap. "Since I already know Willow's going to hate my present- it's a new pen" she told the young wiccan, tossing her the box, "who's got me? Who bought for me?"

"Gee- thanks for the surprise, Anya." Willow lifted the lid of the small case. It wasn't the best gift she had ever received, but it was a pretty cool pen- as cool as pens can get. It even had a small menorah inscribed around the cap. "I don't know who picked your name, but-" she handed a larger box to the ex-demon's fiancee. "Merry Christmas, Xander."

"If this is a really big dreidel, Will-" he joked. "Hey- cool sweater. How'd you know I needed something to keep me all warm and toasty now that we've been hit with a freakin' cold front."

"I thought that's what I was for, sweetie," Anya asked him with a raised eyebrow.

"Well...yeah- I mean, you do. I just meant- ya know…uh- who's next?"

"I'll go." Buffy sat up from Angel's lap to hand Anya her gift.

"Finally- somebody bought me a gift that I don't have to pretend to like and then return." Anya held the skirt before her for the others to see. "This is great. Thanks Buffy."

"Honey- that stuff about pretending to like gifts? You never did that with any of my gifts- did you?" Xander stared at her for a moment, watching as her eyes quickly darted away from him.

"Okay- next. Who's going next??"

"So that's the way it's going to be, huh? Fine- here Dawn," Xander tossed her the box.

"Xander…do I look five years old to you?" Dawn held the box in front of her, eyeing it curiously.

"Hey- people of all ages love Pokemon. And that's the complete set of figures. A rare commodity," he proudly smiled.

"Not to me," she placed the box beside her on the floor. Seeing his distraught face though, she got up to give him a kiss on the cheek. "But thank you- it is pretty cute. It'll look great in my room."

"At least someone around here appreciates my efforts," he murmured in Anya's direction.

"Oh- come here, honey. You know I love you- and all you're gifts." That was all it took for the couple to kiss and make up.

"Guys- hello? Kid in the room," Buffy said.

"You should talk, Miss My-tongue-has-permanent-residence-down-Angel's -throat."

"Here Tara-" Dawn handed her a fluffy bundle. "I decided to go practical this year." Tara ripped through the wrapping paper to reveal a new pillow covered in moons and stars.

"Thanks Dawnie," she reached over to hug her. "Hopefully Willow won't hog this one too." She received a light nudge from her girlfriend before handing a box to Buffy. "Here ya go, Buffy- Merry Christmas." Eagerly tearing away at the box, Buffy reached inside to find a new journal. "Wow- this is really beautiful Tara. Thank you so much."

"You're welcome. If I could've found another one, I would've bought it for myself."

"Well, maybe if you're a good girl, Santa will bring you one." Angel sat up to retrieve the bags he had accumulated at the mall earlier that day. "Here-" he handed Tara the first present before making his way around to hand everyone else one- except Buffy, Ashlan, and Cordelia.

"What about us?" Cordelia spoke up for the three of them. "I suppose we're yesterday's news, huh?"

"Be patient- you'll all get yours."

"You got us all gifts, DeadBo- err…Undea- umm…Angel. Yeah that works."

"Yeah- and if you can go an entire year without calling me any of your obnoxious names, maybe you'll get a birthday gift from me too." The rest of the Scooby Gang wasn't surprised by the ex-vampire's generosity. Angel had bought Tara the exact same journal she had bought for Buffy, and Willow some new spellbooks; Anya a new necklace, Dawn an art book, and Xander…

"Space Mutant Freaks 2! Awesome! I've been looking all over for this video game! Bless you!-" he jumped up, wrapping his arms around a very surprised Angel before he realized what he was doing. "I mean, uh-" he released his hold, backing away quickly, "thanks man." Xander sat back down, hugging the video game to his chest.

"Great," Anya whined, "now that's all he's going to do. Way to ruin my sex life, Angel."

"I can't wait to go home and play this! You're going to love it, sweetie. There's this huge-"

"You're crazy if you think I'm going to play that thing!"

"Uh-" Angel cut in, trying to prevent another lover's quarrel between the two, "-I have something for Giles too. Where is he anyway? He should be back by now."

"I think he said something about doing some research with Wes," Cordelia lied. She knew where Giles and the others were- and it certainly wasn't in L.A. But she wasn't about to ruin her second Christmas surprise for Angel.

"Well, I guess that leaves you three." Angel walked over to the couch, pulling out a small rectangular box for Cordelia, and a larger one for his sister. His final gift, a small black jewelry box, he held in his right hand.

"Whoa- it's beautiful, Angel. How'd you remember?"

"That you love clocks? How could I forget? You had only collected about four hundred by the time you were 120." The small porcelain clock was encased by a glass dome with a tiny silver cross perched on top of it. "Thank you," she smiled, kissing him on the cheek.

"You're welcome," he answered her kiss with a warm hug. "So…Cordy, how do you like your gift? Cordy?? Cordelia??"

"Sparkly," she finally managed to breathe out. "Ve- very sparkly." She lifted the small diamond-accented watch from it's case. "Angel…I can't accept this."

"Why? Not enough diamonds for you?"

"Angel- I'm serious. I was kidding earlier about the diamonds. This is too much."

"Well, if it's too much for you-" Dawn stood up, making an attempt to grab the silver watch, "-I'll take it off your hands." Cordy quickly clutched the watch to her chest. "Touch it and die little girl. Angel-"

"Cordy- take it. I owe you this much. Just consider it an alternative to that raise you've been bugging me about," he smiled at her.

"Angel...thank you." She wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly and planting a sweet kiss to the side of his head. "Thank you for everything," she whispered into his ear. Angel had essentially taken Cordelia in as his family- his sister. Knowing that her own family rarely showed much concern for her, Cordy had relied so much on him over the past few years for which she would be forever grateful. The only person she considered luckier than herself to have Angel in their life was-

"So where's Buffy's gift, Angel?" Dawn's sharp voice broke Cordy out of her thoughts. Pulling back from him, she playfully slapped Angel across the chest. "Yeah- if you got little old me this-" she motioned to her her new favorite piece of jewelry, "I can't wait to see what you got the lovely Miss Summers over there."

"Actually..." Buffy began, "I want to give you your gift first. "Even though it was my idea," she walked over to pull his gift out from underneath the tree, "I guess you can consider this a gift from me and Dawn...and Xander??"

"Huh?" Xander looked up from his video game booklet.

"There's a box under here that's addressed, 'From: Xander, To: Angel'?"

"Oh…yeah. I got ya something man. Not much. Just something I'd figure you'd be needing now that you're among the land of the living with the rest of us mortals." Buffy handed the box to Angel. Cautiously peeling back the paper, he opened the case lid. "Sunglasses? And Ray-Bans too. That's really...sweet, Xander. Thanks."

"Wear 'em in good health my man," he responded, barely looking up from his video game box.

"I guess it's my turn," a nervous Buffy said, handing Angel the thin, rectangular package. Carefully tearing the paper off, Angel paused for a moment as he caught a small glimpse of the gift that layed within. He looked up at Buffy with unbelieving eyes, and she nodded for him to continue. Finally ridding the gift of the remaining wrapping, Angel held the framed portrait in front of him to eye completely. It was a handdrawn picture of him and Buffy from just that morning- captured in a passionate embrace ontop of the hill, watching as the sun's beams illuminated their faces with the breaking dawn. "Buffy…this is magnificent. How did you-"

"This morning- I woke up long before you just to watch you sleep. You looked so peaceful...I just wanted to capture your first moment of humanity for you to always be able to look back on and cherish."

"So this is what you were doing this morning?"

"Mmm-hmm. I started it, and I had Dawn finish it while you took us shopping. I know it's not as good as some of your stuff, but...do you like it?"

"I love it. I couldn't imagine a better present," he pulls her into a deep kiss, his free hand gently caressing the small of her back. "But-" he reluctantly pulls out of their embrace, "maybe I can imagine one just as good." Angel slowly reaches into his back pocket to retrieve the jewely box. He lifts the lid of the small black box to reveal a silver claddagh ring- a large heart-shaped diamond as it's center being carefully guarded by the hands and crown. As he bends down on his knee he begins to speak, fully aware of Buffy's startled, tear-filled gasp.

"Buffy, we've been through so much agony and so much pain, that it's time we started enjoying each other- just being able to be with you once again and hold you in my arms in the sunlight is enough joy for me to last me five lifetimes. I would be honored if I could finally hold you as my wife. Buffy...will you marry me?"

Buffy can't think or breathe. This is the day that she had waited for since the day she first laid eyes on Angel. Not being able to think past the fact that she had just been proposed to, Buffy just stands still. Cordelia can't stand it. "Hey dummy," Cordy hits Buffy's arm, "You just got asked the question of a lifetime. Aren't you going to answer the man?"

"What? Oh right! YES! YES! YES! Yes, of course I'll marry you, Angel! I love you so much!" Buffy shouts as she launches herself into Angel's arms. When she finally releases her grip on him, Angel slips the ring on her finger once again, the heart pointing towards her own. Buffy wraps her arms around his neck and begins kissing him passionately, until their mutual need for air becomes an issue. "I love you," she whispers.

"I love you." He leans down to kiss her again but soon realizes they still have an audience.

"Guys," Willow is the first to hop up, "congratulations! If any two people were meant to be together, it's you guys." She and the rest of the gang take turns congratulating and passing around hugs to the two of them.

"So-" Cordelia begins, fully expecting to be out of a job- "I take it Angel Investigations is-"

"Relocating," Angel answers for her. "We've worked too long and hard building up our reputation, Cordy. I may not be going back to L.A., but we're definitely keeping the agency going. We'll just find an office here in Sunnydale."

"Angel, no. Why do that when I can just move in with you in the hotel?"

"Buffy, I appreciate that, but you're needed here. All of your friends- our friends, are here in Sunnydale. Plus, there's Dawn-"

"Hey!-" Dawnie cuts in- "don't let me stop ya. I'll be fine here on my own."

"You've got to be kidding me?" Buffy passes a glance at her little sister.

"Yeah Dawn. Besides- you wouldn't want to stay with us?" Dawn stands before the both of them stunned. "You mean...you guys would still want me around?"

"Of course..." Buffy reaches out to stroke her hair. "You can sorta be like our daughter- practice for when we have our own kids." Dawn rushes into her sister's and Angel's arms, nearly knocking them over with her excitement.

"Oh Damn!"

"Cordy?" Angel is taken back by her shout. "What's wrong? It's not another vision, is it?"

"No, no. My bracelet. It's missing."

"And you just realized this now?" Xander asked. "Cordy- you're losing your touch."

"The mansion."

"Excuse me?" Ashlan spoke up at Cordelia's mention of the mansion.

"I just remembered- it fell off while I was fighting Sigfried and Roy's gang of bloodsuckers. I've gotta go get it."

"Cordelia, it's just a crummy bracelet," Xander begins, "but then wait…nothing's just a bracelet with you, is it?" he laughed, but quickly stopped himself as he saw Angel's stare.

"It's the one Doyle gave you, isn't it?" Angel asks, already knowing her answer. She heads for the door until she feels Angel's hand on her shoulder. "Wait- Buffy and I will come with you."

"No. No, you two enjoy yourselves. Sing some songs- drink some nogg- well, actually- you might not want to drink the nogg, but you guys stay here. I won't be long."

"We'll feel better if we go with you," Buffy assures her. "Humor us," she pleads.

"Fine- but...I'm driving." Cordelia races out to Angel's car, as Buffy follows, dragging her fearful fiancee along with her.

Part Twelve

"You sure you don't want me to run in really quick and get it, Cordy? I mean, it is pretty cluttered in there."

"It isn't that bad, Angel."

"Cordelia...it looks like the land that time forgot in there." He and Buffy followed behind the brunette, hand-in-hand, as they walked to the front of the mansion. Angel opens the front door for the two of them, only to be startled by what greeted them as they walked in. "Oh my god...wow," came Buffy's surprised response.

"Buffy, what's- whoa." Angel's shocked expression matched hers completely. "Did you do this, Cordelia?" The entire mansion was completely restored. All of the debris had been cleared out and most of Angel's furniture was present. Some of the artifacts, weapons, and sculptures he had collected over his many years were tastefully on display, and a few paintings were strewn over the walls. The floors, walls, and ceilings were all washed down, and new French windows provided crystal clear rays of light.

"Well, I can't take all the credit. It was just my idea…they-" she pointed into the hall by the roaring fireplace, "did all the dirty work." Wes, Gunn, Fred, and even Giles were all sitting around the fire, smiles grinning merrily. "It's about time you two showed up," Gunn shouted, jumping up to greet them. "And it looks like congratulations are in order," he stared down at Buffy's diamond claddagh ring. "Congratulations you two," he pulled them both into a hug.

"Let me just say-" Wesley approached from behind, "it's about time. Congratulations."

"You guys-" for the first time in a long time, Angel was at a loss for words. "I can't believe this."

"Enjoy it. But, uh- this isn't an all play and no work sorta deal," Cordelia pointed out. "This is kinda gonna serve as another branch of the LA office."

"Wes, Fred and I are gonna head up the squad at the hotel in LA," Gunn explains.

"And I suppose I'll stick around here in town with you guys" Cordelia announces, "seeing as how you can't get along without me," she adds with smile.

"Cordelia..." Angel is astonished by the past day's events and can't even begin to put into words his gratefulness, for everything. "This...is-"

"Our cue to get going," she interrupts him as she sees Buffy wrap her arms around him, unshed tears of joy glimmering in her hazel eyes. "You two enjoy..." she reaches out to hug them both, "and don't worry about Dawn- or Ash for that matter. I'll stay at the house tonight until I figure out where I'll pitching up new residence-"

"Cordy," Buffy begins, "since you're staying in Sunnydale, why don't you stay at home?"

"No offense Buffy, but I'd rather move in with Spike than have to move back in with my parents-"

"No, I mean my house. I mean, now that the agency's going to be open here, I'm going to be around the house less often. If you don't mind helping look after a hormone-raging teenager, you're more than welcome to take my old room-"

"Actually," Angel cuts in, "I think Dawn may want your room now that it's going to be vacant. But that's a great idea. Of course, you can always stay here in the mansion with us, Cordy. I mean, this place is almost as big as the hotel- we've got plenty of room."

"You know, I think Buffy's invitation is a bit more ideal. It's not that I don't love you guys to death, it's just that- well...you two also love each other to death, and I really am not looking forward to being woken up in the middle of the night by the happy couple."

"So..." Buffy attempted to hide her blushing face in Angel's chest, "you'd rather be woken up by a whining brat who'll take all of your clothes and forget what she did with them?"

"You know it," she laughed. "Plus, I could do wonders with your room. If Dawn thinks she's getting it, she's got another thing coming to her."

"Hell hath no fury like Cordelia Chase on the rampage," Gunn mused.

"Damn straight!"

"So that only leaves one thing," Angel speaks up as he tosses his jacket onto the sofa. "What about Ashlan?"

"I've been meaning to ask you that myself, Angel," Wes says. "What if she returned to LA with us? She could be a huge help now that you'll be here."

"Tell you what-" Cordelia begins pushing the rest of her friends and Giles out the front door, "I'll talk with her tonight about what she wants to do, and you two-" she finally shoves everyone out the door, "enjoy!"

After removing her own jacket, Buffy turns around to see her fiancee walking towards the full-size mirror that had been placed in the bedroom hallway. He stood there, edging his face closer to the glass, running a hand through his hair before he began to trace his facial features. "Looks like you like what you see almost as much as I do," Buffy says as she leans her head on his shoulder.

"It's been a long while since I've been able to see myself...almost forgot what I looked like. And for the first time since even before I was turned- I like what I see," he nods at their perfect reflection.

"And what do you see?" she turns herself in his arms, gently reaching up to caress the side of his face.

"My gorgeous soon-to-be wife-"

"And her amazing soon-to-be husband-" she finishes as she pulls him into a long, passionate kiss. She leads them back into the bedroom, slowly slipping her hands underneath his suit jacket and sliding it off before Angel breaks their embrace. "Buffy," as Angel takes Buffy by the hand and leads her over to sit on the bed, he asks her the question that's been on his mind since Whistler first said he was human. "Are you sure that you don't want to wait until after we're married? I mean, as much as I miss making love with you, and want this so much, I don't want to push things too soon for you, and..." before he can finish, Buffy gently grabs his face and kisses him deeply. "What was that for...?"

"For being the sweetest man in the world. It's been one whole day since you've rejoined us permanent-soul folks, and I say, we start healing each other- body and soul, tonight. I want to be with you in every sense of the word, Angel. I just haven't brought it up yet because I thought that you may still be in pain."

"Well then...I guess tonight you'll just have to be gentle with me." Buffy giggles, softly kissing the outer shell of his ear as she whispers, "I should be telling you that...", she playfully smacks him across his chest as he grins, instantly grabbing her and pressing his lips against hers in a passionate kiss, stealing away her breath as well as his. They slowly break the kiss and he stares into her sapphire reflection, seeing himself in her eyes. "A-Are you sure about this--", he stutters before she places her hands on his belt buckle, teasingly pulling it. She nods softly, capturing his lips for another kiss, running her hands over the belt loops of his pants, tugging at them.

He gasps softly and cups her back in his arms, massaging every curve and crevice of her body as he pulls her against him, feeling a sudden whisk of cool air as she managed to get his pants off. They both laugh softly, feeling the anxiety and sudden rush of emotions fill their hearts completely, having to wait for this moment for what seemed like forever. After a few moments of caressing each other and becoming familiar with each other's feel again, Buffy teases with the elastic band of Angel's boxers, hooking her thumbs on the inside of them and slipping the shorts from his body ever so gently.

He trembles and rests his hands on her waist, bending over slightly to place butterfly kisses on her neck and shoulder, keeping her close to him. Her eyes flutter shut as he continues to lightly nip at her shoulder blade, continuing lower to the silk fabric covering her slender body, smiling before grasping one of the dress's thin straps and slowly pulling it down--halfway down her arm. He repeats the action with the other shoulder, lightly tugging the other strap so that the dress hangs off her shoulders, a strong wind could remove the garment completely from her body. He chuckles at the sight, leaving her speechless as she blushes and wraps her arms around his neck, kissing him passionately. He reaches around and pulls on her garment, letting the dress cascade off her shoulders and landing on the floor, tickling her feet. She gasps in surprise as he sweeps her up in his arms and gently lays her on the bed.

They let the silence and warmth speak for them, their soft sighs and pleads filling the room like a gentle breeze as they become a tangled mess in the silk sheets, their sweat and sighs of passion becoming a jumbled emotion in their minds, focusing only on each other and how long they've been keeping their love inside--only for it to be released. Angel holds Buffy in his strong arms, the pain in his side going unnoticed, as he thinks of only pleasing her--his own pain nothing to be with the woman of his dreams.

Time passes slowly, like grains of sand through a fine shifter, until finally--their passion erupts, exploding in a soft but sweet way. Angel sighs, deeply kissing Buffy as she softly moans into his mouth, as he releases the love that's been pent up for so long...accumulated over time and finally spoken without even saying a word at all.

"Angel...", Buffy whispers his name softly as she wraps her arms around his back, sighing exhaustedly and keeping him close to her as she releases her love for him as well, gently kissing his face as he softly kisses her shoulder, burying his face in her neck. "Angel...I love you...", she sighs, stroking his muscular frame as she snuggles herself into his arms, safe and comforted by his touch. "I love you," he gathers her into his arms and nuzzles her neck as he pulls her close to him, and they lay together- kissing and caressing one another, whispering their undying love, and gently drifting off to sleep together.

******

Buffy pushed herself up off of Angel to reach across him to read the clock- 6:44am. She smiled to herself, recalling their evening's activities. As she went to go lay back down on top of the nice, soft spot that she had become accustomed to stretched out across Angel's body, she noticed that he was awake as well.

"I'm sorry, sweetie," Buffy said, propping herself up on his chest to face him. "I didn't mean to wake you."

"Sweetie, huh? I could definitely get used to that. I wasn't asleep, by the way."

"Couldn't get to sleep?"

"Not when I have you in my arms," he said as he wrapped his arms around her and began to slowly massage and caress her body. "I've just been laying here watching you sleep, and I want to enjoy every minute of it."

"Well I thoroughly enjoyed everyminute of tonight. I missed you so much."

"Me too, Buffy." As his hands continued to roam her body, he gazed deeply into her eyes, almost becoming lost in their depths of peacefulness and cherishing love. "I love you."

"I love you too." She leans up against him to give him a kiss, and snuggles onto his chest, planting several kisses there, until finally laying down ontop of him.

"Do you know how even more beautiful you are when you smile," asked Angel. Buffy turned herself around in his arms to face him. "I was just thinking about our first night together- how safe and loved I felt in your arms," she whispered.

"Until the next morning-" Angel's returning brooding was quickly silenced as Buffy reached up to place a finger over his lips. "Angel don't. Past, remember. I wouldn't take back that night for anything."

"I know. I never knew that anything could be so wonderful as having you love me, in every way possible. He covered her mouth with his, slowly slipping his tongue ontop of hers. "Speaking of wonderful, how are your ribs?"

"Not too bad. I'll change the bandages before I get in the shower so I can rub them down good with some ointment. I think after another day or two of bandages I should be good as new. Thank god I'll still be able to heal pretty fast."

"Well, how about we take that shower now," says Buffy, as she gets out of bed, clutching the sheets to her naked body. "You know, growing up, I was always a firm believer in conserving water. We'll get all washed up, and I'm sure that I can help soothe your ribs again in the shower. Then after, we can head back to my house- see what everybody's up to."

"Well...," Angel slips from underneath the covers to follow her into the large bathroom, "if you insist. And believe me, we've got plenty of time for a nice, long shower together. No rush..."