"What?" Angel asked. "What is it?"
Willow stepped back to gather herself. What she had just seen still
fresh in
her memory. Angel stepped towards her and she backed away.
"Willow, what happened?" She looked up and saw the worry in Angel's
eyes and
couldn't contain the laugh. She pulled out a seat and sat down,
Angel doing
the same thing. "What just happened here?"
"As strange as this sounds, I saw something."
"Something?"
"Yeah, like a vision or something."
"Well, maybe your powers are progressing. What did you see?"
"You're gonna think it's so weird -- I think it's weird. I had a
flash of you
and Buffy having sex. Isn't that just beyond weird? 'Cause, you
two could
never actually *do* that stuff. You'd loose your soul and why are
you looking
at me like that?" Angel had a devastated look on his face.
"There's something I should tell you." He paused, unsure if he should
continue. "First, though, I need to know what you saw."
"You and Buffy were, making love, against the refrigerator. Then
on the
table." Angel put his head in his hands to compose himself. "What?"
"Willow, what you saw is something you shouldn't have seen."
"Why? Did it really happen?" She jumped back, jumping out of the
seat. "Are
you really Angelus?"
"Willow, sit down. It's... complicated. But what you saw, it did happen."
Willow sat down, dumbfounded. "I can't believe this. Buffy comes
up here,
sleeps with you then comes back -- "
"You know, Willow -- "
"-- and doesn't even tell me?"
"What?"
"She tells me everything."
"Willow, she couldn't."
"What do you mean she couldn't?! I'm her best friend. She tells
me
everything."
"She couldn't tell you because she doesn't even know." Willow looked
at him
as if he'd grown another head. Which, would have been neat under
these
circumstances.
"Wait, she didn't know?"
"No."
"Okay. Let me get this strait. You two did with the nasty, but she
doesn't
remember? And you didn't loose your soul. Hate to say it Angel,
but that
doesn't rate well for your performance."
"No. It's a long story."
"I'm not going anywhere."
Angel sighed an unneeded breath. "When I came to town and she followed
me
back to LA, she confronted me in my office. A demon attacked us
and got away.
We tracked it and split up. I found it but when I killed him his
blood mixed
with mine and it turned me human.
"That's where what you saw comes in. We were together till we found
out the
demon didn't die. So I went as a human to kill it and almost ended
up dead
myself. We found out more soldiers were coming and Buffy would
die, fighting
alone because I couldn't help her. I asked the powers to turn me
back. To do
so, they had to turn back the day as if it never happened. Everything
we did
didn't happen. Only I carried the memory of the day.
"When time changed back I killed the demon when it first attacked,
not giving
it the chance of making me human again."
"So you were human, but had the powers conduct a, um, temporal fold
if you
will, and take back the day?"
"Yes."
"I've got to hand it to you, Angel. Just when I thought the whole
Buffy/Angel
forbidden love thing couldn't get worse you go and tell me this."
Angel kinda
looked down. "Then why did I see the day?"
"I don't know."
"Could we see these powers for help?" Angel thought about that for
a moment.
"See if they know why I was given this power."
"The Oracles are meant for warriors, Willow. I don't know how to
get you in
there."
"We can try. Angel, it's the only shot we've got."
"I'll take you but I can't promise anything."
Willow stood, not giving Angel a chance to help her up.
"I'll get ready." Willow dashed away.