DISCLAIMER: None of the Buffy/Angel characters are mine. Everyone else not from those shows is.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: This story is the first part in a series which is now up to two stories. Rather than just starting off posting the third, I thought that it would be easier to send in the first two rather than try and explain what happened cause I know that I'd miss a bunch of parts. So here's the first part.

Angel was completely terrified to say the least. He had hoped that by leaving Sunnydale, leaving the entire North American continent for that matter, that he would leave his past behind. What he always seemed to forget, though, was that his past went back a great deal farther than most people's. Leaving Buffy and the friends that he had made behind didn't mean that other people wouldn't catch up with him. Angel cursed himself for not having known that something like this would happen. But no, he had to get all morbid and decided to go into Romania? It was like asking for trouble. Angel reasoned that he could have enjoyed myself just as much around the Mediterranean. Going home and actually facing his past would have been better than this. Anything was better than facing the gypsies who had cursed him over a century ago.

Now Angel was in a deep pit with no way out at the mercy of the people who had hated him for generations. All night he had been trying to get out of the pit to no avail. The walls of it are made of dirt and every time that he would get ten feet up, it would begin to crumble and he'd fall back to the ground. The smell of the approaching dawn put an end to Angel's efforts. Even if he did manage to get out, he would have nowhere to go. It was summer now which means that the days were much longer. It would be another twelve hours, at least, before he could try to make another escape. Angel hoped that this time he would be more successful.

For the most part of the day, Angel pictured his tiny love in his mind. No mater what may have went on between them prior to his exodus from the small California town, she would always possess his heart. Angel knew that he had no right to ask the same of her, but he liked to think that some little corner of her heart would hold a place for him. They were nice little day dreams, but the gypsies didn't leave him alone long enough to finish them.

"Your death, demon, will be very painful," one of the clan elders informed Angel as he leaned over the edge of my prison.

"How about telling me why I'm here?" Angel shouted back up at the man. "Do you throw everyone who goes window shopping after dark in a pit?"

"Only you, demon. Your crimes against our clan will be paid back in full."

"And just what crimes are those?" Angel demanded, already knowing full well what they were. He had heard the people talking before they had captured him and heard the name Kalderdash mentioned several times in their conversations. These people were out for the blood of Moira and Jenny. He didn't think it likely that he was going to get out of Romania in one piece .

======

"Shouldn't Angel be back by now?" Cordelia asked as she and Doyle sat in the man's hotel room.

"If he wants to live another night, he should be," Doyle commented, trying to be nonchalant even though he was very worried about his friend. The meeting with the Slayer a few weeks back had rattled his nerves and was probably what had prompted this trip to Europe.

"Well if he still has that ringy thing then he'll be fine," Cordelia said even though she already knew that he didn't. Angel had destroyed the Ring of Amarra within days of receiving it.

Doyle looked at her levelly, already skimming through his little black book in search of names of contacts in Europe that might have some idea where Angel was. He knew that there was some demon relative of his in Romania, he just couldn't remember the slimy bloke's name.

There was a knock at the door shortly after Cordelia began her worried pacing. Thinking that it might be Angel, she hurried over to the door and yanked it open. The man who stood on the other side was most certainly not the vampire. For one thing, he was blonde. But the main thing that gave him away was that he was standing in a beam of sunlight not wearing a heavy leather trench coat or dark sunglasses.

"I have a message for you," the young man said, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his jeans.

"And that would be....?"

"Your friend the vampire is being held by my people. In two days' time he will be destroyed unless it can be proven that he has redeemed himself." No sooner were the words out of his mouth than the young man had turned and left.

"Hey wait!" Cordelia yelled running after him, but he had already disappeared into an elevator. Muttering curses under her breath that were very unbecoming for the sophisticated woman that she liked to think that she was, Cordelia rushed back into the hotel room to tell Doyle what she had learned.

=====

Giles stared pensively at the phone. He had just finished speaking with Cordelia who had informed him of the situation that was going on in Romania. The most likely answer that he could come up with was to send Buffy to Romania to convince the gypsies that Angel was not the same creature that he had been when he had been without his soul. While Angelus had killed the woman that he loved, he could not condone their blaming Angel for the crimes of the demon. Giles was more than willing to send Buffy to save the vampire. The only problem was that no one knew quite where to find Buffy. The Slayer had gone on an impromptu vacation after her meeting with Angel a few weeks before and no one knew quite where she was at that point in time. The first week she had been in Scotland, a week later she had been in Greece. For all they knew she could be in Switzerland. If she did not get a hold of Willow within the next twenty-four hours, there was a good chance that Angel would be dead.

Now it wasn't that Giles didn't think that the vampire had redeemed himself, it was just that Buffy was the best person to prove such a thing. That the Slayer, a warrior of all things good, could love a creature with such a vile past was only proof that Angel had changed to the better. The fact that he would give up a chance to become practically invincible was an even better example. Angel had been in possession of the Ring of Amarra, a precious gem which made its vampire wearer invulnerable to what would normally kill them. Instead of keeping it like any other vampire would have, Angel had destroyed it.

"Earth to Giles!" Xander called, waving his hand in front of the older man's face.

The librarian jumped slightly then turned to glare at the dark-haired boy standing beside him. "I do wish that you wouldn't do that, Xander. There are much more productive ways of getting a person's attention."

"Yeah, but none of them were working. You were off in Watcher la-la land and not answering your cell phone."

Giles removed his glasses and began to rub the bridge of his nose. "I was trying to figure out how we could get a hold of Buffy. We have a problem."

Xander brightened. This had been way too boring without Sunnydale's resident Slayer in town. "Ohhh! New demon in town? An apocalypse that we need to avert?... Are you guys finally gonna let me stake Spike?"

"As much as you would enjoy doing that, Xander, the answer is no. We have to find a way to convince the Kalderdash gypsies not to kill Angel. And we only have until tomorrow night to do so. Actually, less than that when you take the time difference into account."

"So? Who says that we've got to save Deadboy's ass?" Xander shrugged.

Giles glared at the boy, wondering how he could hate Angel so much. "Well I don't think that Buffy would enjoy coming back and finding out that Angel was dead. She has a habit of acting rashly when his life is in danger."

"When who's life is in danger?" Buffy asked as she strolled into Giles' apartment. "Don't tell me that Spike got caught cheating at card again cause if he did I'm not gonna risk my life for his. He's a big demon and can take care of himself."

"Actually, Buffy, it's Angel's life that's in danger at the moment," Giles informed her as he cleaned the lenses of his glasses. "The Kalderdash gypsies have taken him captive in Romania and are going to kill him if it can't be proven that he has redeemed himself."

Without saying a word, Buffy turned and bolted from the living room. If she hurried she could get to the airport and catch a flight back to Europe that night. Her suitcases were still in her car so she didn't need to pack anything. Not that she really cared about what she was wearing when Angel was in trouble.

Part 2

Back in Romania, the elders of the Kalderdash clan were preparing for a spell....

As best as Angel could figure, he had been in the pit for two days and despite the fact that he was now being taken out of it, Angel knew that this wasn't a good thing. A rope had been lowered for him to climb out with, but it was useless to try and escape seeing as how there were men standing all around it with torches and other non-vampire friendly weapons in their hands. If he fought back, Angel knew for a fact that he would either be in a lot of pain or else dead. So when he was pulled out of the pit and shackled, Angel did nothing but stand there. A part of him was rebelling against this, but he wasn't about to anger the people who could so easily kill him.

"I'll bet you are wondering what we are going to do to you," one of the older men said as Angel was led out of the barn that housed the pit.

Angel did not meet the man's eyes, but kept them glued to the ground. "The thought had crossed my mind. I have a feeling, though, that it's not going to be very good."

The old man nodded his head. "You are right about that, vampyre. After tonight you will never again see the light of the moon."

At this point, Angel began to panic. His head shot up quickly as he tried to find some way out of his present situation. But he was surrounded by what had to be a hundred people, all of them armed with things that were lethal to his kind. Stakes, crosses, holy water. One young man even held an ancient sword that looked like it could do some serious damage. To put it in the words of his favourite childe, he was royally screwed.

The group of them walked into a nearby forest where the coming events were set to take place. This filled Angel with a sense of dread. He could clearly remember the last time that he had been in a Romanian forest surrounded by gypsies. The last time they had all be cursing at him. What was to be his fate this time? Angel wished most fervently for the presence of a certain blonde-haired Slayer. He didn't know what was going on other than the fact that the gypsies were probably going to finish what their ancestors had begun over a century before.

"Welcome, my children," a regal voice called as the group reached a clearing in the forest. "You have brought the Destroyer with you. Very good. We will begin the ceremony now."

"What of the demon's friends?" one of the men called. "Are we not to wait for them?"

"Their words are meaningless. The Destroyer will die this night."

As Angel was filled with an even greater sense of fear, he caught a glimpse of the person who was talking to the gypsies. It was the same girl that he had killed a hundred years ago. The dimwitted gypsy girl who got him cursed with his soul. Instead of decaying beneath the ground, she stood tall and proud, a flowing white gown covering her slender form. Her long dark hair was blowing in a breeze that affected no one but her. To those that followed her she looked as beautiful as any god that had ever walked the earth. But to Angel she was more frightening than any demon he had encountered during his tenure in Hell.

Acting on instinct, Angel broke free from those that were holding him and went charging into the forest. He needed to get away from the gypsies and find Doyle and Cordelia. Perhaps if he could make it back to the hotel they would be able to find some way to get him out of this situation.

Unfortunately for Angel, he barely got a dozen feet before he was sent reeling back by an unseen force. He slammed painfully into a tree to which he was quickly bound to by the Kalderdash gypsies. Reflex caused him to slip into his game face just like he did whenever threatened. Unlike most, though, the gypsies did not shrink back in fear. Rather they all laughed and jeered at him making Angel feel even more helpless than he had before.

"Be silent, my children," the girl said softly. "It is time for the Destroyer to pay for his crimes against our people."

When Angel saw her hold out an Orb of Thesula in her small hands, his eyes widened in fear and he began struggling as best he could to get free. While it was true that the Orb could restore the souls of vampires, it could do the exact opposite. The gypsy girl could easily remove his soul and set him loose on an unsuspecting populace where Buffy or the other Slayer would kill him. Angel did not want that to happen. He didn't want to hurt anyone else, but the gypsies had a weird sense of justice. The first time that they had cursed him they had inserted a loophole that had caused more harm than good.

Before Angel was even completely aware of it, the Orb began to glow signally an end to whatever spell was being cast. Sucking in an unneeded breath, Angel waited for the sensation that he had felt the last time that he had lost his soul. Sure enough, there it was. A blinding pain that coursed through his entire body. Throwing back his head, Angel let out a blood curdling scream. Then everything around him went black.

=====

"Are you sure that this is the way?" Buffy asked as she, Doyle and Cordelia wandered through the forest in search of the gypsy compound. The blonde-haired boy had come back the day before to tell them where to meet. But it was very hard to find the place in the thick Romanian forest.

Doyle glanced around and shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not sure a' all. I don't really think that the gypsies are all the eager for our boy Angel to get a fair trial. I'm surprised that they even gave us a warning."

"Remind me again why Angel wanted to come here?" Cordelia grumbled as she pulled a thorn from her sweater. "Couldn't we have gone to Rome or some place like that? He likes history, right? Well Rome is a very big history place."

"Let's not forget about all the shopping ye could do there," Doyle teased. He stopped for a moment and let his demon side out, sniffing for any sign of the vampire. It took only a few seconds for him to find Angel's scent which was tinged with fear. "He's right this-"

Doyle stopped abruptly when he heard the scream that echoed through the air.

Buffy was the first to react. The instant that she heard Angel's painful cry, she bolted through the forest in the direction that the scream had come from. Something was hurting him and she wasn't about to let that happen. Angel may have broken her heart, but that didn't mean that she had stopped loving him. Her failed attempts at dating only proved it. Angel was the only one who would ever be able to claim a place in her heart.

After about a minute, Buffy could see brief glimpses of firelight peeking through the leaves. As she got closer, individual figures could be seen. There was so many of them that Buffy couldn't make out Angel at all. There were only two reasons for that which Buffy could think of. The first was that they had him surrounded and the second... She didn't even want to consider the second.

Buffy breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Angel's familiar profile slumped against a tree. As long as he wasn't dust there was a chance that he was all right. Angel may not have been breathing, but he only ever did that when he was conscious and only then because his body remembered it from when he had been alive. Ignoring the curious looks from the gathered gypsies, Buffy hurried over to Angel, ready to protect him from whatever was coming.

"What did you do to him?" Buffy demanded as she glared at the throng.

"The Destroyer is no more," someone shouted from the centre of the assembly. The crowd parted to reveal the young girl that Angelus had killed so long ago. As soon as she saw her, Buffy's Slayer sense jumped about a thousand notches. There was something very strange about her that Buffy couldn't quite figure out.

"I thought that we were supposed to have been given a chance to save Angel's life!" Buffy shouted, trying desperately to keep her voice from cracking. "Now Angel is not the same creature that killed Janna and that other girl. That was a demon. A monster that is nothing like the man that Angel is. He has the kindest and most generous heart that I have ever known. He would rather die than hurt anyone that he cares about. So don't you *dare* tell me that he hasn't redeemed himself because he has!"

"She's right," Doyle said coming to stand next to Buffy. "My boy Angel here gave up the Ring of Amarra which would have made him invincible. Only wore it long enough to see his first sunset in two and a half centuries then smashed it under a rock. Bloody stupid move if you ask me."

"But I didn't," the gypsy girl said moving towards them for the first time. "It was my gypsies that decided to give you a chance to save the vampyre's life, not mine. As far as I'm concerned he deserves everything that he got."

Buffy eyes grew dark with hatred as she beheld the young girl who would dare to treat Angel that way. "And just what do you know about him? Nothing! You have no idea about what he's been through. Most of it because of me. Did you know that I sent him to Hell? And when he came back he still loved me. He was willing to die twice- in less than six months I might add -just to keep me safe. If that doesn't show how good his soul is I don't know what does."

"It is too late to save him from his fate," the little girl said. "The Destroyer has been reduced to nothing. He is mortal, true enough, but with no memory of anything. Not even his life before he was sired by the Master's childe. He is now nothing in the truest sense of the word."

Buffy's anger exploded when she heard that. Hurting Angel was bad enough, but to insist that he was nothing was a big mistake. Pulling out the gun that she kept in the waistband of her jeans at the small of her back since being mugged a few months ago, Buffy aimed at the mystical girl and fired three shots. The gypsies all shouted in outrage, but the girl didn't so much as flinch. With a wave of her hand, the bullets extracted themselves from her body and dropped harmlessly to the ground.

"That was not a wise thing to do, Slayer," the little gypsy girl said, her voice no longer soft and carefree, but now hard and deadly. "I won't punish you this time, but I suggest that you leave now with what is left of the Destroyer."

She was gone before Buffy could do or say anything else. Grumbling under her breath, Buffy started towards the other gypsies, determined to have a word with them about what had happened in the past half hour. She wanted to know exactly what had happened to Angel.

"Buffy!" Cordelia called, speaking for the first time since entering the clearing. "Get your little blonde butt back here and take a look at this."

With a warning glare at the gypsies telling them to stay where they were, Buffy turned back round and headed over to the other three. "Is he all right, Cordy?"

"He's better than all right," Doyle answered instead, an amazed look on his face. "Come check this out."

The half demon took hold of her left hand and placed it over Angel's heart. Buffy could feel tears spring to her eyes when she felt the steady beating of his heart. So far the gypsy girl had been correct when she said that Angel was alive. Whether his memory was intact or not had yet to be seen. Buffy prayed that the girl had been wrong about that.

"Can you guys untie him?" Buffy asked quietly. "I'm gonna go find the key for those cuffs and try and find out what actually happened."

"Sure, Buff. Just try not to stake anyone, kay?" Cordelia said, placing her hands on Angel's shoulders so that he wouldn't fall down when Doyle untied the knots.

After taking a few calming breaths, Buffy turned back to the gypsies. "First of all, I need the keys to the handcuffs. And secondly, I want to know what happened. What did that girl do to Angel?" When no one answered, Buffy's anger started to boil once again. "Somebody had better answer me before I get angry."

"She.... She ban-banished the d-demon from his body," volunteered the young blonde man who had been relaying messages to them for the past two days.

"What about his memory? She said something about his memory being gone. What was that all about?" Buffy asked, much calmer by this point. The demon was gone which meant that Angelus was gone for good... It also meant that Angel could finally be happy without worrying about the consequences.

The boy paused for a moment as though struggling to come up with an answer. "I think that it has to do with the demon. The demon knew all of his memories so when it was banished, it might have taken them with it... I'm not sure, though, for I haven't been fully trained in the ways of my people."

Buffy nodded her head, a slight smile on her lips. She was already planning ways for Willow to get Angel's memory back for him. It paid to have a Wicca for your best friend at times like this.

"Thank you for telling me the truth," Buffy said to him. "And since I'm sure that none of you really want us here, we just need the keys then we'll be gone."

There was another pause before an older man presented Buffy with the key that she was looking for. As predicted, the gypsies wanted the outsiders gone as soon as possible. They watched solemnly as the Slayer removed the handcuffs from the former demon's wrists. In fact, none of them made a move as to leave until the four strangers had disappeared from where they had come. Then they all left as one. Glad to be rid of the Destroyer for good.

Part 3

Angel came to with a start. All around him was an unending darkness without a single speck of light in it. If there was one thing to be thankful for, it was that there were no gypsies. Doyle and Cordelia must have gotten him out of there before they could do any serious damage. But that didn't explain why he couldn't see anything. Even in the dead of night Angel could clearly make out objects on the other side of a room. It was one of the perks of being a vampire. But now there was nothing. He couldn't even see his hand in front of his face. Assuming, of course, that he was actually moving his hand about.

"What the fuck is going on?" Angel muttered as he searched for some shape in the blackness.

"Now that's not a very nice way to speak," a small child-like voice chided.

"Who are you?" Angel called, seeking for the source of the voice

There was some giggling then a bright flash of light which nearly blinded him. When Angel did manage to get his eyes open without them tearing up, he could see the little speaker standing not more than a dozen feet in front of her. She stood barely more than three feet tall, her long, dark, curly hair reaching nearly to her waist. She wore a miniature version of the dress worn by the gypsy girl and she could have in fact passed for a gypsy save for one feature. Her piercing blue eyes. Those belonged solely to his mother. To see them staring back at him from the child's tiny upturned face startling Angel.

"My name is Heather," the little girl said at last. "I'm your daughter."

Angel shook his head, instantly denying the fact. "I don't have any children. Vampire's can't have children."

"But you're not a vampire," Heather informed Angel, her voice as calm and level as though she was the adult and Angel the child.

"That's impossible. You can't unmake a vampire."

Heather began to giggle again and started to play with one of her long curls. "You of all people should know that nothing is impossible. It's actually very possible. You simply banish the demon to the nether realms. The only problem is that the gypsy who got rid of your soul went a little overboard. She banished your memories as well. That's what you represent."

"I... I don't understand," Angel muttered beginning to panic slightly. He couldn't believe that what this girl said was true.

"There's really not much to understand. You are stuck here until someone either sticks you back in your body or you find your way back there yourself," Heather explained.

Like Buffy, Angel immediately thought of Willow to help with that part of their problem. But it was always good to have a back up plan. "And how to I get back there myself."

"Buffy. Your love for her was the one thing that couldn't be banished because your love isn't just in your mind. It goes as deep as your souls and that's something that can't be taken away. Find your way back to Buffy and you'll find your way back to your body. Then you can live happily ever after."

Before Angel got a chance to ask any more questions, Heather disappeared in a flash of light. Sighing loudly, Angel chanted "Eenie, meanie, minie, moe" and started in the direction of moe. He figured that one way was as good as another.

=====

According to the doctor, the only things really wrong with Angel was dehydration, slight exposure and a mild case of shock. In other words, nothing serious enough to keep him at the hospital for more than one night. Using some tricks that he had learned form his father's side, Doyle assured them that they'd be able to get Angel out of the hospital without the doctor's knowing about his memory loss. It had been agreed by the three of them that it would be best to wait until arriving back in Sunnydale before finding out how severe Angel's memory loss was. Too much legal mumbojumbo anywhere else.

While Doyle and Cordelia talked with Giles on the demi-demon's cell phone, Buffy stayed with Angel and watched him sleep. Just watching the steady rise and fall of his chest amazed her to no end. Sure she had dreamed of this probably thousands of times, but now it had actually come true. That was something that Buffy had never expected to happen.

Buffy couldn't remember falling asleep, but she suddenly found herself waking up with a start. Eyes still closed, she was able to figure out that her head was resting on the mattress of the hospital bed and that someone was running their fingers through her hair. Opening her eyes slowly, she saw part of an arm which led up to a shoulder which was attached to Angel.

"Hey there," Buffy said groggily, a reassuring smile on her face.

"Mornin', Buff," Angel returned, his voice sounding somewhat off.

Buffy, however, didn't register this. She was too thrilled about the fact that he knew who she was. After being told that Angel wouldn't remember anything, it was a shock to find that he remembered who she was. Buffy sat up slowly, allowing Angel's hand to remain in her hair.

"It can't be morning..." Buffy started but stopped when she saw a beam of sunlight streaming across the bed. The light hit Angel who looked extremely pale under the natural lighting.

"What's up? You look like you haven't seen me in the sun before," Angel said, a single corner of his mouth turning up in a smirk. "By the way, where are we? The scenery is great and all- especially your cute little face -but it would be nice to know where I am."

Buffy was still a bit shocked from seeing Angel in the sun, but quickly shook her head to get mind back on track. "Where are we? Right. Good question. We're in Romania. On vacation with some friends. You had a little accident and hit your head so we took you here. The doctor said that you might have amnesia. Do you? Wait, stupid question."

Angel gave a short little laugh and let his hand trail down from her hair to cup her face. "Not a stupid question. It actually explains why I can remember who you are but not who I am. I do have a name, don't I?"

"Angel," Buffy blurted out, startled by the way his other hand was tracing patterns on her stomach. Her Angel certainly never acted like that. Of course her Angel had always been such a guilt freak. This one, however, didn't know anything about the crimes that the vampire had committed.

"Kinda wussy, don't you think?" Angel muttered, scrunching up his face in disgust. "How about something more manly. How about.... Angelus."

Buffy's eyes widened when she heard that. "Angelus? Y-you want your name to be Angelus? But you hate that name. That's why you dropped the 'us.' It's just Angel now."

"Why would I do something like that?" Angel asked, removing his hands from Buffy and sitting up a bit.

"Because a while back you were going through a..... going through a phase. You were really awful and did some nasty things," Buffy told him, trying to figure out the best way to tell Angel that he had been a vampire without actually having to tell him that. "But then something bad happened. You pissed off the wrong people and they hurt you. You changed after that. Changed your name and the way you acted. Then I met you and we fell in love. That was about three years ago."

Angel just sat there, kind of dumbstruck by it all. He could remember nothing of what Buffy had just told him. No matter how hard he wracked his brains, the only thing that he could come up with was her face and the fact that he loved her beyond all reason. He didn't even know the name of the two people who entered the room.

"Glad t' see that you're awake, Angel. I must say that you had Buffy quite worried," Doyle commented as he came to stand beside the Slayer. "I thought that she was going to kill someone for a moment."

Angel's eyes widened when he heard that. "Kill someone? I thought that I just fell and hit my head. Why would Buffy need to kill anyone?"

"He means the doctors," Cordelia jumped in. "They wouldn't let her see you and she got really pissed. Isn't that right, Doyle?"

"Yeah, right. Buffy can get like that," Doyle agreed.

"Thanks, Doyle," Buffy muttered, a fake smile plastered on her face. They were going to have to be careful until Angel got his memory back. He wasn't allowed to know about the other side of her life. Or his for that matter.

Angel was the one to end the awkward silence that followed. "Now as nice as this all is, some names would be nice."

"Cordelia Chase," the former cheerleader said sticking her hand out towards Angel. They were all surprised when he placed a kiss on the back of her hand. Perhaps something from his old life had found it's way in.

"The name's Doyle," the dark-haired man said nodding his head slightly.

"All right then. Next order of business. How long till I can get out of here?" Part 4

"How long till Buffy and the mindless Deadboy get back?" Xander asked as he paced back and forth across Giles' living room.

"Angel is not mindless, Xander. He is a perfectly normal human who-"

"Couldn't even remember his own name," Xander finished, knowing that the former Watcher's answer would have been much nicer.

Giles glared at the boy as he cleaned his glasses with the handkerchief from his pocket. "I do wish that you would be nice to Angel. Especially now. This has to be very confusing for him."

"He's Deadboy. He'll survive."

Spike was started getting ticked off by Xander's attitude. Even if Angel wasn't the same as when he had sired him, the blonde vampire still considered him to be his best friend. He had spent over a hundred years with the guy, it was hard to become close. Who else knew how much he had fucked up his first kill. And, oddly enough, he hadn't made fun of him for it. Angel had just taught him the proper way to catch and kill his prey.

"I wonder if he remembers how to use a fork," Xander mused, wandering closer to the pissed off vampire.

Quicker than the human eye could follow, Spike's fist lashed out and caught Xander squarely in the jaw. The teenager went flying back, slamming painfully into the wall. It took a great deal of self control for Spike not to slip into game face and finish the boy.

"One more word against Angel and you'll wish that you'd never been born," Spike threatened, letting a tiny bit of gold shine through in his eyes.

"Sure. No prob," Xander stuttered, picking himself up from the ground. "Didn't know that you and Deadboy were so close."

Spike continued to glare that the younger man. The boy could really be ignorant when he chose to. "He's my sire. I've been friends with him for longer than you've been alive. A couple of centuries longer."

Xander held up his hands in mock surrender. "Peace. I mean Deadboy no harm." Xander quickly realized his mistake when Spike began to growl at him. "All right. All right. No more Deadboy comments."

"That would be a very smart move," Giles commented from his kitchen. According to the call he had received from Doyle earlier, they would be arriving at the LA airport around seven that night. If his calculations were right- which they normally were -the four should be arriving in about half an hour.

Or they could have been early.

"Giles, we're here!" Buffy called as she entered her mentor's house.

Buffy was followed by a more hesitant Angel. Even after two days, he was still a little unsure about things. Especially when he saw three people looking at him that he had never seen before. Oddly enough, the one that he felt safest around was the blonde guy with the leather trench coat.

=====

"Well this is probably the most boring place that I've ever been," Angel muttered as he continued his trek through the unending whiteness. "A pair of sunglasses would be really nice right about now."

Behind him, he heard an obnoxious giggle that he knew all too well having heard it hundreds of thousands of times before. Even though he knew who it was, Angel still hoped that he had heard wrong. Of course, it was exactly who he didn't want it to be.

"Well hello there, soulboy. Fancy meeting you here," Angelus sneered, a mocking smirk on his face.

Angel said nothing to his vampire self. From long experience, he knew that Angelus was a rather irrational character who could not be reasoned with. He wanted to know what the vampire was doing there but knew that it was pointless to ask Angelus anything for he would never give a straight answer.

"Come now, soulboy. No witty comments?" Angelus inquired, the smirk ever present.

At last Angel said something to the vampire. "What's the point? It will all go over your head anyway."

"Ooooo. The wimp's got an attitude. That's quite a shocker. Does the lovely little Slayer know that?"

Once again Angel chose to say nothing. He simply turned around and continued along the way that he had originally been going. He didn't have time to deal with his alter ego. He wanted out. He wanted to find his way out of that place and back to Buffy. Another thing that he wanted was to get out of the brightness. After so many years as a vampire with no exposure to bright lights, it was starting to give him a painful headache.

Of course, he should have known that Angelus wouldn't be so easily put off. Angel had gotten barely more than twenty feet before he was tackled from behind by the vampire.

"You're not getting away so easily, my boy," Angelus snarled in his ear.

By now Angel was starting to get a little ticked off. Growling in the back of his throat, Angel pushed himself up quickly with his arms hoping to dislodge the large parasite.

Angelus just let out another one of his maniacal giggles and held on tight. Back in the realm that he had been banished to by the gypsies, Angelus had made a deal with the one in charge. If he could defeat his souled self, Angelus would get control of the mortal body. That he would be human was only a minor setback. In Sunnyhell, he was sure to find a vampire who would bring about the return of Angelus. And he planned on coming back with a vengeance.

In this world, however, Angelus was still a vampire. Shifting quickly to his game face, he prepared to drain his foe. Angelus never got a chance to, though, for there was a violent flash of light as his prey disappeared into thin air.

"Where the fuck did he get to?" Angelus muttered as he got slowly to his feet. "I had just about get out."

There was another flash of light as the brightness dimmed to a dim glow. Standing before the vampire was the dark-haired gypsy girl that he had killed a century beforehand.

"His helper brought him to a new place, my love," she said, moving forward to slip her arms around his neck. "But, don't worry, I can send you there, too."

Angelus grinned down at the young girl and pulled her body closer to his. "I hope that you don't plan on doing that too soon. I've been awfully bored here."

"I think that I can help with that," the gypsy drawled out, standing up on tiptoe to capture her lover's lips with her own.

=====

Angel stayed close to Buffy all night. Sitting beside her, or possibly with her in his lap, and leaving the room whenever she did. While he had no problem with the blonde man that Buffy had introduced to him as Spike, the others made him feel a bit nervous. Especially the young, dark-haired man. Angel felt incredibly uneasy around him and avoided the boy whenever possible.

Around midnight, Buffy decided that it was time for her and Angel to leave. She had been aware of how restless he had been all night and knew that he would be grateful to get away from everyone. Since it would be impossible to keep him at the dorm, it had been decided by both Buffy and Willow that she would stay with Angel at the mansion until he was better. Willow certainly didn't mind because that meant that Oz could be her roommate until Buffy returned.

As Buffy and Angel walked towards the mansion, Buffy noticed something that she had been trying to convince herself wasn't really happening. As much as she hated to admit it, the way that Angel walked and carried himself reminded her a great deal of Angelus. For the most part, the way that he acted was completely Angel, but there was the odd time that she would catch a glimpse of his evil alter ego. Considering how long he had spent as Angelus, Buffy figured that it would only be natural for his body to remember the way that the vampire had moved.

"Welcome home," Buffy announced as she opened the front door of the mansion with the key that Angel had given her many months ago.

Angel's eyes widened as he took in the place. "You mean to tell me that I actually live here? Wow. Do... Do you live here, too?"

Buffy couldn't help but smile at the uncertainty in Angel's voice. "I've been known to stay here from time to time. I actually live in a dorm at UC Sunnydale, but I'll be staying here for a while. If you don't have a problem with that."

"I want you to stay here," Angel told her, smiling shyly.

That was something else that Buffy had noticed. Since waking up in the hospital, she could have sworn that Angel had smiled more in the short time that had followed than he had in all the years that she had known him. It was a change that Buffy hoped would continue after he regained his memory. Which was going to happen one way or another. The main reason why Willow and Oz hadn't been at Giles' was because they were busy researching ways to help Angel regain his memory. In a magickal way, of course.

Buffy felt bad about not including her mother in what was going on, but considering how she felt about Angel it couldn't be helped. Besides, Joyce didn't even know what had happened during the past week. The two hadn't even spoken since Buffy's abrupt departure following Thanksgiving. It wasn't until she thought of it that Buffy realized how close it was to Christmas. She was quick to realize that it was less than a week until her favourite holiday.

An hour later, Buffy was propped up against the headboard of the bed in the master bedroom watching Angel sleep. It was something of a pastime of hers. Every night since rescuing Angel from the gypsies, she had taken to watching her love sleep until she herself fell asleep. Tonight was no exception. For nearly three quarters of an hour she ran her fingers through Angel's thick hair, glad to give him any sort of comfort. She knew that he was scared even if he would never admit to it.

Buffy was just about ready to fall asleep when the phone on the beside table rang. Reaching over quickly, she picked up the phone before it woke Angel up.

"Hello," Buffy muttered, yawning slightly.

"I always thought that you were a night person," Cordelia said rather briskly.

Buffy let out another yawn before answering. "Not when I've just spent about 12 hours on a plane. What do you want, Cordy?"

"Doyle and I just wanted to see how tonight went. Did Xander behave himself?"

"Surprisingly enough he did," Buffy informed her, just realizing how odd it was that her friend hadn't been making fun of Angel. "Spike must have threatened him or something. Are you and Doyle still coming down for Christmas?"

"I'm coming," the former cheerleader confirmed. "I'm not sure about Doyle, though. He has a couple of sources he wants to check out. Some demon friends of his might know how to get Angel's memory back."

Buffy nodded her head. "Good. Well, I've got to let you go now, Cordy. I'm about to fall asleep at any moment. Talk to ya later."

"Okay. Bye, Buffy. Say hi to Angel for me."

The Slayer quickly hung of the phone the snuggled up next to Angel. The fact that his body temperature was now as warm as any other person's never ceased to amaze her. True, she had never minded that he was a little on the chilly side, but it was nice to have a warm boyfriend for when you were cold. Buffy was out in a matter of moments.

Part 5

Buffy was sitting on a large green hill, little butterflies dancing around her face. There were so many of the brightly coloured insects flying around that she couldn't see anything else but them. Buffy couldn't help but laugh as gently brushed against the underside of her jaw, tickling her. The butterflies were gone suddenly and in their place stood Angel, a serious frown on his beautiful face.

"What's wrong?" Buffy asked, instantly worried that something terrible had happened.

Angel opened his mouth to speak but instead of words flowing from his lips, and agonized scream did. His body slowly crumpled to the ground revealing Angelus who stood behind him, a bloodied dagger in his hand. His features shifted into their vampiric ridges, his eyes glowing yellow as he licked the blood from the dagger.

"Soon," was all that Angelus said before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

Back in the real world, Buffy's eyes shot open as her entire body was jerked awake by the frightening nightmare. Beside her, Angel still slept soundly, unaware of what was going on around him. When she saw his peaceful face, Buffy reached over a placed a kiss on his forehead, delighting when she saw the tiny smile form on his lips.

"I love you," Angel murmured, one of his hands reaching out to caress her face. His eyes were opened enough so that Buffy could see only a tiny sliver of the intense brown eyes that she felt could see all the way to her soul.

Smiling softly, Buffy turned her face into his hand. "I love you too."

Angel shifted his head on the pillow a bit, moving his face closer to Buffy's. Doing likewise, Buffy and Angel continued inching closer and closer together until their faces were mere centimeters apart. Closing her eyes, Buffy covered the final distance which separated her and Angel and gently brushed her lips against his. He responded in turn, slipping his arms around her and pulling her tiny body flush against his. There was some part of him which felt as though it had been an eternity since they had been able to be so close. At that instant, Buffy was thinking the same. Not since the night of her seventeenth birthday had the two of them been able to love each other without fear of the consequences. It felt wonderful that she was finally able to show Angel how much she did love him.

The kiss ended quite abruptly as Angel pulled away, gasping in pain. He slowly curled in on himself, clutching at his head and squeezing his eyes shut. In a panic, Buffy reached for him, shouting Spike's name at the same time. She held Angel in her arms, rocking him gently back and forth as he trembled and cried out.

Spike, woken by the Slayer's call, hurried over to his sire's room. The house was still vampire proof since he had started living there so he didn't have to worried about getting fried on his way over. The first thing that he saw when he entered the master bedroom was his sire's trembling back. He raised his gaze a bit and saw the Slayer's tear-filled face, fear etched across the surface. She was clutching at Angel, holding him tight against her.

"What happened?" Spike demanded as he strode over to the bed. He tried his best to sound calm, but inside he was just about as scared as Buffy.

"I don't know," Buffy sobbed. "One minute we were kissing, the next he just started shaking. Spike, what's wrong with him?"

Spike just shook his head, knowing that there was really nothing that he could do. And he hated every moment of it. He wanted to help Angel, but didn't have the slightest idea of what was wrong in the first place.

Suddenly, just as quickly as it had started, the shaking stopped. Angel's entire body went limp as he slipped into unconsciousness.

=====

Back in the other realm, Angel and Angelus glared at each other as their second battle ended in another draw.

Angel knew that his demon counterpart was up to something. The first attack could have merely been considered Angelus' way of annoying him. But when Angelus had returned for the second time it signaled something else. The demon was up to something and Angel was determined to find out what it was.

"Isn't there anyone else here that you can annoy?" Angel asked as he rose slowly to his feet. "Some frolicking nymph or little fairy?"

"But I do so enjoy bothering you, soulboy. You kept me locked up for a century. It's only right that I repay you for that privilege."

At last Angel had a clue as to why this was happening. This was Angelus' revenge for what had happened when the gypsies had originally cursed him. Angelus had been given a brief glimpse of freedom when the curse had been lifted a few years before but had quickly been shut up again by Willow. The thought came to Angel quite suddenly. If he was able to regain his body once he found his way out of this place, who was to say that the same deal hadn't been made with Angelus.

Cursing under his breath, Angel turned and took off in a run away from the vampire. Now, more than ever, he was determined to find his way out. Now he not only had to find his way back to Buffy, but a way to keep the vampire away from her.

=====

"Buffy Anne Summers, you come down here this instant!"

Buffy groaned when she heard her mother enter the mansion. She had known that she would have to face Joyce sooner or later, but had fervently hoped that it would have been later. She did not want to have to deal with her irate mother at that point in time for she was still a little freaked out over what had happened only an hour earlier. Angel was still asleep and Buffy hoped that he would stay that way until her mother left. Spike had gone back to sleep as well, but Buffy planned on waking him up before she went downstairs because, for some strange reason, Joyce had a soft spot for the annoying demon.

Placing a kiss on Angel's forehead, Buffy slid out of bed and left the room. She passed Spike's bedroom along the way and pounded on the door, shouting for him to get him downstairs ASAP. The vampire gave a grumbled response, but somewhere in it, Buffy had heard and assent.

Joyce was just starting up the stairs when Buffy turned the corner to go down. The older woman smiled when she saw her daughter, but it was more of an angry smile. "Well it's about time. Were you planning on telling me that you'd come back home or were you just going to spend Christmas by yourself?"

"Can we do this downstairs, mother? I'll make us some coffee."

Not uttering a single word, Joyce followed her daughter down the stairs and into the large kitchen. It wasn't until Buffy had hit the start button on the coffee machine that Joyce let her concerns be known.

"Now I'm not angry with you about going away, Buffy," Joyce started. "Mr. Giles explained things to me. What I am upset about is that you didn't call me once in the three weeks that you were gone. Would it have been so hard just to call me and tell me where you were? You barely even called Willow. Now I know-"

"Hello, Joyce," Spike cut in smoothly as he strolled into the kitchen. For the first time that Buffy could remember, he was actually not wearing the trench coat or red shirt.

Joyce smiled instantly when she saw the vampire. "Spike, hello. It's been a while. I have some of those little marshmallows you like in my purse. Giles told me that you were out."

Spike went over to Joyce and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Thanks, mum. I haven't had the time to go out for them."

While her mother and friend started a conversation of their own, Buffy quietly snuck out of the kitchen, intent on making it back to Angel's room to check on him. She didn't like leaving him alone for very long, especially not after what had happened earlier that morning. Giles and Xander were already working on it, but Buffy wouldn't feel better until she knew for sure what was wrong with Angel.

"Don't you sneak away from me, Buffy," Joyce demanded as she followed her daughter out of the kitchen. "Explain yourself now. Why are you staying here instead of at home? I get that it's Christmas break and you don't want to stay at the dorm, but why would you want to stay here when you have a room waiting for you at home?"

"Look, mom, it's kinda complicated," Buffy started, knowing that she was caught. "You remember Angel, right? Well, you see, the thing is-"

"You're seeing him again, are you?" Joyce cried, enraged that her daughter would dare to associate with the vampire that had broken her heart. "Buffy, haven't you learned yet? He's no good for you. You deserve someone better than that monster. Get your things together now. I'm not letting you stay here another moment. Spike, would you tell Angel that he is to stay away from my daughter? I don't want him anywhere near her."

"She's not going anywhere," a new voice said.

Joyce turned around and came face to face with the man she had just forbidden her daughter to see. "I told you to stay away from my daughter. She deserves a nice, young man, not a freak like you."

Angel ignored her and went straight to Buffy, slipping his arms around her waist. He could not remember the older woman or what conversation they had supposedly had, but he knew that he didn't really like her much now. Something had obviously happened between the two of them at one point, but it had happened back before he had lost his memory. Whatever it was, Angel didn't much care.

"I'm not going anywhere, mother, so just accept it. Now I understand that you're upset, so I'll see you on Christmas. We're having dinner here and you're welcome to come if you'd like. But say one word against Angel and you're gone. I don't care if you're my mother, you don't treat Angel like that."

Joyce left it a huff and it wasn't until she stepped out into the morning sun that Spike remembered about his marshmallows.

=====

Putting it mildly, Buffy hated waiting. She had been in the lounge of the doctor's office for nearly half an hour with no word from either Angel or the doctor checking him out. Giles had made the appointment after learning of the events in Romania for he knew that this doctor wouldn't be the slightest bit bothered by what had happened. This particular doctor had treated a good number of demons and even the Slayer that Buffy had replaced.

"You are not to go in there, ma'am," the receptionist said as Buffy once again tried to sneak into the examining room. "Dr. Burges doesn't like things interrupting when he is seeing patients."

"Can't he make an exception? This is my boyfriend that we're talking about and I would like to know what's going on."

"I'm sorry, miss, but you can't go back there," the elderly lady insisted.

Grumbling under her breath, Buffy turned around and trudged back to her seat. Even though Giles insisted that Dr. Burges was a good doctor, Buffy wasn't all too fond of this particular rule of his. She and Angel had rarely been apart since that night in the Romany forest. They even took their showers together. It was nice to be able to do the normal couple things that they hadn't been able to for the past three years. Even the simple act of eating breakfast together was as new to Buffy as it was to Angel. In fact, the only one upset by the new living arrangements was Spike who was now forced to keep his blood in the basement fridge since Angel knew nothing of vampires.

Buffy picked up the five year old magazine which sat on the table in front of her and began flipping through. She had already been through it twice since Angel had disappeared with the doctor and found it as interesting this time as she had the first two times. Buffy had just about finished the magazine once again when she heard a muted shout coming from behind one of the closed doors. Ignoring the old lady's warning, Buffy shot to her feet and hurried over to the door. If that doctor was hurting Angel......

When she burst into the examining room, Buffy found Dr. Burges looking at Angel as though he were a specimen in a glass jar. Angel, on the other hand, was lying on a metal table, shaking and clutching at his head as he had earlier in the morning. Terrified about her lover's well being, Buffy rushed to his side and gathered him up in her arms. Almost instantly the shaking lessened. It continued to decrease until, at last, Angel lay still in her arms.

"This is extraordinary!" Dr. Burges exclaimed.

Buffy turned her head to glare at the middle-aged doctor. "Extraordinary!?! This is hurting Angel and you're excited about it? What's wrong with you? What about that Hypocrite oath that you doctors are supposed to take? Isn't there something in it about helping your patients and not ogling at them like they're part of a sideshow?"

"It's Hypocratic and I do apologize, Miss Summers, if I seem a little unconcerned," the doctor said. "It's only that I've never seen anything like this. It is as though there is a battle going on within Angel's mind to decide which of his personalities will emerge."

"What are you talking about?" Buffy asked, shifting her gaze back to Angel's face.

"What I mean, Miss Summers, is that when Angel regains his memory there is a chance that the demon's personality will resurface instead of the soul's."

"And you found this out how?"

"By slipping into his mind," Dr. Burges said as though it were a common practice.

Buffy gave an exaggerated nod as she spoke. "Riiiighht. Well as long as there's nothing else wrong with Angel, I'd like to take him home."

The doctor gave his assent then disappeared from the examining room. That was another thing that bothered Buffy about doctors. It was rare for them to treat their cases like actual people. Dr. Burges seemed more concerned by what he had just seen than by what it was doing to Angel. After Joyce had left that morning, Buffy could vividly remember how shook up Angel had been about what had happened earlier.

This time was no different. Angel awoke with a start, a strangled scream erupting from his throat. He instinctively turned to Buffy, burying his face against her shoulder. Buffy held him as he shook, rocking him gently and murmuring things in his ear.

"What's happening to me?" she heard him mumble as he raised his head slightly.

Buffy moved so that she could see Angel's face. When she saw the tears soaking his cheeks, she leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on his trembling lips. "I wish that I knew, Angel."

Angel sat up quickly and gather her up in his arms. Before Buffy had a chance to protest, he had captured her lips in a passionate kiss. Buffy responded instantly, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing her body against his. She slowly opened her mouth and ran her tongue lightly across Angel's lower lip, inviting his tongue to come out and play. Angel answered the invitation immediately, opening his mouth to accept Buffy's willing tongue. The kiss lasted for what seemed like them to be an eternity, but eventually they were forced to come up for air.

"Where did that come from?" Buffy whispered, resting her forehead against Angel's as they both struggled to catch their breath.

"I just really needed that," he answered, squeezing his eyes shut to block out loneliness that he felt whenever he was away from Buffy in any way. Angel knew that soon she would pull away and he would be left alone while she went out to talk to the doctor.

As always, Buffy surprised him. "Come on, I'll help you change then we'll go see what the doctor has to say."

Angel smiled slightly then tilted his head to kiss the end of her nose. "Thank you."

"For what?" Buffy asked, running her fingers lightly along his sides.

"Just for being."

Buffy beamed. That was, by far, the best compliment that she had ever received.

Part 6

When Spike came downstairs just after sunset, he was greeted by a sight that would have made his heart melt were he not a blood sucking demon. The Slayer and Angel were both asleep on the couch, the former cradling her love's body in her arms. Spike felt a twinge of envy surge through him when he noticed that his sire was using the Slayer's breasts as his pillow. Angel's only visible hand was resting on her shoulder while Buffy had one hand tangled in the silky strands of his mussed up hair and the other lying on his back. Their swollen lips gave proof to the fact that they had once again stopped just short of completely the act that they had only once before.

"Why can't they just get to the sex and skip all of this lovey dovey bullshit," Spike muttered as he stalked towards the basement and his breakfast. It was more of an afterthought when he added. "I'll bet that the Slayer's a killer in the sack."

"You'll never find out, Spike," Buffy's voice called from behind him.

"Bloody hell," Spike muttered to himself before turning around. "Something tells me that Angel's not going to either with the way that you keep at it."

"Look, Spike, Angel was just a little freaked out by what happened at the doctors. This was my way of distracting him."

"What did the good old doctor have to say anyway?" Spike asked, instantly concerned about his friend's well being.

Buffy sighed and began to run her fingers through Angel's hair as she had been earlier. "He said that Angel and Angelus are both fighting for control inside his head. That was what hurt him this morning and is going to keep hurting him until one of them wins."

"Bugger," was all that Spike could think of to say.

"That about sums it up," Buffy agreed, shifting her body slightly so that Angel wasn't completely suffocating her. "Hey, after you're finished eating could you order Angel and me a pizza? Didn't have time to make anything for dinner."

Spike made some weird motions with his hands that Buffy took to be an agreement. Once the vampire had disappeared further into the house, Buffy turned her attention back to Angel who was starting to wake up slightly. He moaned softly as his eyelids began to flicker and eventually open.

"Hey there, sleeping beauty," Buffy said quietly once his eyes were open.

Angel continued to stare at the fireplace for a moment before turning his head in the direction of Buffy's voice. "How long have I been asleep?"

"About as long as I have. Do you feel any better?"

"A bit," Angel confirmed, lifting himself up on his elbows so as not to squish Buffy quite so much.

A small smile crept to his face as he leaned forward to capture her lips. Buffy moaned and slipped her arms around his neck, pulling his body back down against hers. As she continued to make little whimpering noises, Angel's mouth trailed from her lips, over her cheek and eventually down to her neck. Buffy's body arched against his as Angel applied pressure right above her jugular. As the pressure increased, Buffy cried out in pleasure, her voice muffled by her presently breathless state. When he heard the noise, Angel raised his head up from her neck, a bewildered expression on her face.

Instead of answering him, Buffy simply reached up and captured his face in her hands. "I love you," she murmured before planting her lips firmly on top of his.

Moaning into her mouth, Angel let his hands wander down her petite body, wanting to memorize her even more firmly in his mind than she already was. Buffy was the only thing that he could remember and at that point in time she was the only thing that he was aware of. She filled his senses completely so that there was no room for anything else.

Overcome with emotions, the pair failed to realize that they were lying on a couch. With so little room for movement, it was only a matter of time before they rolled off. Buffy was, in fact, in the process of removing Angel's shirt when they tipped too far to the right and went toppling onto the rug. Thankfully, Angel landed on the bottom and the two of them burst out laughing as they realized what they had done.

"I say that we go upstairs and finish this," Buffy whispered seductively as she continued to unbutton Angel's shirt.

Angel may have lost his memory, but he most certainly hadn't lost his mind. Within seconds the two were on their feet and rushing for their upstairs bedroom.

"It's about bloody time," Spike muttered as he walked back out into the living room, wiping the last remnants of his breakfast from his lips.

=====

Even if he died right that very moment, it was Angel's belief that he would die a happy man. He was lying naked in the arms of the woman that he loved, feeling more loved and accepted than he could ever remember. While Buffy slept contentedly with her head pillowed on his massive chest, Angel drew little patterns on her bare shoulder. As he brushed some of her flowing blonde hair away from her neck, Angel noticed a small scar on Buffy's throat. Almost as though something had bit her.

"I wish that I could remember my life," Angel whispered, gently caressing Buffy's sleeping face. "I wish that I could remember why it is that I love you so much. I know that I love you beyond all reason, I can feel it deep in my soul, but what I don't know is why. How can it be possible to love someone so much?"

Unknown to Angel, Buffy was awake and listening to him. He was so lost in thought that he didn't notice her running her fingers lightly across his taut stomach. When his quiet words were cut short by a painful cry, Buffy tightened her grip on his body, willing the pain to vanish.

*Please let Angel win,* Buffy prayed. *This is his chance at a life outside of all this darkness. Let him have his freedom. Angelus can't win.*

With one final pained scream, Angel collapsed back in the pillows, thoroughly exhausted by the battle going on within his mind. He had seen brief images- memories of the life he had forgotten. All that he saw, though, was death and pain. More than any human soul should be subjected to in a hundred lifetimes. Due to the horror of it all, Angel believed it to be only a nightmare.

"Buffy," Angel sobbed, curling his body around hers.

Buffy gathered him up in her arms, running her hands up and down his back in a soothing motion. "Don't worry, Angel. It's all right. Nothing can hurt you here."

For a long time the two just continued to lie there like that. Buffy offering comfort to Angel who was in desperate need of it then. Without even needing to ask, she already knew what had upset him so much. Dr. Burges had warned them that this would happen. As one of the personalities gain dominance over the other, some of it's memories would resurface. Considering that they both shared the same memories, Buffy wasn't able to tell which of them was winning.

=====

Heather sat on the ground with her father's head in her lap, lightly stroking his dark hair. He was unconscious, a jagged gash stretching across the front of his chest. The demon was cheating. Using weapons where none were allowed. That was why Heather had been given permission to rescue him from the demon and his lover. It was the gypsy that had supplied him with the dagger that had cut so painfully into her father's chest.

With a quiet moan, Angel opened his eyes a tiny crack. He tried to sit up, but thought that it would be better to stay where he was when he became aware of the pain. "What happened?" he asked the little dark-haired girl who cradled his head so lovingly in her arms.

"The demon beat you. But he cheated so it does not count," Heather informed him in a tiny voice. "He must beat you without weapons if he is to win. The same goes for you. You must outsmart the demon if you are to find your way back to her."

"And just how do I do that?"

When Heather smiled, Angel was instantly reminded of Buffy. She was like a small, dark-haired replica of his beloved. Was it possible that Heather was their child? The idea that he and Buffy could have a child together filled Angel with a sense of hope that he had abandoned a long time ago. He knew what he had to do in order to beat Angelus and was determined to do it. He was going to find his way back to Buffy even if he killed both of them in the process.

"Be careful, daddy," Heather warned as she watched Angel disappear into the light.

"You have done very well," a female voice said from behind Heather. "Soon the soul will defeat the demon."

Heather turned around and stared at the gypsy. "Then you are no longer angry with my father for killing you?"

"No," the gypsy confirmed, a slight smile on her face. "I forgave your father even before he killed me. My death was a necessary price to pay in order for the pain to stop. Many lives have been saved and will be saved because of your father."

"Then why do you help the demon?" Heather demanded, her small voice lacking the ability to sound truly angry.

"Because now that the demon is over-confident, he will fall."

Part 7

Even though she would never say anything about it to Angel, Buffy was really starting to get worried. After the latest round of Angel vs. Angelus, she had noticed a jagged cut scarring his chest that went from just below his left nipple across to just above his right hip. Neither of them had noticed it until they were in the shower and both were equally shocked by its appearance. Angel had looked down at Buffy whose fingers were delicately wiping the soap away from the wound with a look that she had never before seen in his eyes. Pure and unadulterated terror. She had seen Angel scared before, but never to that extent. His face, which had recently begun to gain some color, had become even paler than when he had been a vampire. The rest of his body was also reacting to the fear; his arms trembling as they wrapped around her tiny body.

"What's going on?" Angel whispered, raising one hand to wipe the water from his eyes.

"Shhh. Don't worry about it," Buffy told him, guiding his head down onto her shoulder. "We'll go see Dr. Burges and ask him if he knows what going on."

Angel shook his head against her shoulder. "No. I don't want to go see him."

"All right then. We'll go talk to Giles. He'll know."

"Okay," Angel mumbled, relaxing as he felt her fingers running idly across his back. A few moments later his entire body became stiff as an image flashed through his mind. There was a statue with a sword sticking from its chest. He said some cruel things, hurt Buffy, but in the end she had forgiven him. She had kissed him and told him that she loved him. The memory stopped there, but Angel had a sinking feeling that there was more.

"Angel, what's wrong?" Buffy asked him, cupping his cheek and turning his face towards hers.

Rather than answering right away, he shook his head and placed a kiss on her wet forehead. "It was nothing. I thought that I heard something, but it must have been Spike."

"I will never be able to figure out how you two can be best friends," Buffy said rolling her eyes. "You're this gentle, caring, sweet guy and Spike....Well Spike's more like an overgrown five-year-old with a bad dye job."

"Who also has a thing for little marshmallows," Angel added.

Buffy started giggling then leaned forward and placed a kiss on the hollow at the base of Angel's neck. "How could I possibly forget that? Come on, we should get out of here before we prune up."

"But I like it in here," Angel murmured, running his fingers through her wet hair.

Buffy could feel her knees grow weak as she stared into his intense dark eyes. Grabbing a hold of all the will power that she possessed, Buffy reluctantly broke the gaze. "We should get out. Cordy and Doyle will be here soon. So will the rest of the gang. Tomorrow is Christmas and they're gonna help us with the tree."

"If I'm a good boy do I get to open my present early?" Angel wheedled, beginning to resemble the five-year-old that Buffy had recently compared Spike to.

"No presents until Christmas," Buffy said in a mock stern voice.

Angel pouted and began to trace the curve of her breast with the tip of one finger. "Not even just a little peak."

"Well... you'll just have to- AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!" Buffy screamed as the water quickly went from nice and warm to boiling hot. Angel was screaming as well and the two of them quickly hurried out of the shower only to see Spike who was standing contently by the toilet which he had just flushed.

"Prom queen and the mick are here," Spike announced before turning towards the bathroom door. Working very hard to contain a grin, he paused when he reached the wooden door and turned back to the couple who had hastily wrapped towels around their bodies. "By the way, Slayer, your roots are showing."

=====

"Do I want to know what all the screaming was about?" Cordelia asked Buffy and Angel as they walked into the living room.

Buffy rolled her eyes and took a seat on the couch. "A certain someone who will not be mentioned decided that it would be fun to get our attention by flushing the toilet while we were in the shower."

"He's yer friend, no' mine," Doyle muttered, barely able to contain a smile. Knowing that he wouldn't be able to hold it in for much longer, he quickly looked for a way out of the room. "Angel man, could ye help me bring 'Delia's things in? Plus dere's some o' your things that I brought from the apartment. Clothes and presents you bought fer the Sunnydale clan. I swear, man, ye bought more stuff than my 'Delia."

"Your 'Delia?" Cordelia cut in. "Since when have I been your 'Delia? And how many times to have I have to tell you not to call me that? My name is Cordelia. Cor-deal-i-a. It's not that hard to remember."

"What can I say? I'm in luv," Doyle said with a dopey grin on his face as he led Angel out of the mansion.

Once the two men were gone, Cordelia quickly bounded across the room to where Buffy was sitting and hopped up on the couch next to her. "Okay, you have to tell me everything? How is life with a human Angel? Does he get all hot and sweaty when you guys do it? Did he even used to sweat before? Come on, girl, I want details!"

This was the first real chance that Buffy had had to gossip about life with the new and improved Angel. Normally she and Willow would have talked about every little detail, but the hacker turned witch was busy with her boyfriend and some projects she was working on for school. Giles had taken over looking up ways to give Angel back his memory so that Willow could spend more of her holiday actually relaxing.

Buffy sighed and leaned back into the couch. "You know how when you're little and you have this image in your mind of the perfect guy? He's sweet and caring and treats you like a goddess. That's what it feels like whenever Angel's in the same room as me. But it's not only that. Just seeing Angel happy and in the sun is like a dream come true," Buffy marveled, a huge grin on her face.

Cordelia rolled her eyes. "As nice as that is, I want the juicy stuff. You know, the sex!"

"Sheesh, Cordy. One track mind much?" Buffy exclaimed, barely able to keep from laughing.

"Once you've lived with Doyle for a week we'll talk," Cordelia shot back, playfully swatting Buffy's arm.

At this particular moment, the two topics of their conversation decided to chose that time to walk back into the mansion. Their arms were loaded with suitcases and packages. Noticing that Angel's eyes were barely visible over the top of the boxes, Buffy hurried over to help her boyfriend. As Buffy shifted the boxes in her arms, Angel swooped his head down and planted a quick kiss on her lips.

"What was that for?" Buffy asked, smiling up at Angel.

Angel dipped his head, his cheeks flushing slightly. "Your lips are so beautiful that they just seem to draw mine to them."

Buffy whimpered and leaned her forehead against Angel's shoulder. Never had she thought that Angel could be more romantic than he had been prior to his curse being broken. The night before he had been reciting one of Shakespeare's sonnets to her as she drifted off to sleep. The sound of his soft, gentle voice speaking to her on the verge of sleep had given Buffy a night full of beautiful dreams.

"What did I ever do to deserve someone like you?" Buffy whispered, raising her eyes up to Angel's.

"Whatever it is, I'm glad that I did it, too."

Behind them, Cordy and Doyle cleared their throats loudly, heralding the two loves back to reality. Buffy and Angel parted reluctantly, each taking the boxes and suitcases in their arms to their proper destinations. When Cordy and Doyle weren't looking, Angel quickly pulled Buffy into a dark corner.

"We never did get to finish that conversation," he whispered, the darkness masking his features and giving him a mysterious air.

"And what conversation would that be?" Buffy asked coyly.

Smiling softly, Angel reached out and began to trace her features softly with his fingertips to remind her. "Whether or not I get to open one of my gifts early. Say tonight when everyone else is asleep. Just you. And me. Alone." Angel punctuated the last couple phrases with kisses in between.

Buffy was no longer able to put up any pretenses as she succumbed to her lover's seduction. "I think that can be arranged."

=====

"What's that?" Angel asked staring up at the small piece of greenery hanging over the entrance to the living room.

Buffy smiled broadly, more than willing to show Angel the purpose of mistletoe. Unfortunately, someone beat her to it. Before she was even halfway across the room, Spike took his sire's face in his cool hands and kissed Angel firmly on the lips. Everyone in the room gaped, except for Xander who couldn't help but snicker at the sight.

There was a loud smacking noise as Spike pulled away. "That, mate, is called mistletoe. Stand under it and whoever's closest gets to kiss you."

Angel's eyes were wide as he watched a grinning Spike disappear out into the atrium. After the vampire had left, everyone else started to laugh except for Buffy. Buffy crossed the remaining distance between Angel and herself, an understanding smile on her face. As soon as she was close enough, her lover gathered her up in his arms and kissed her most soundly. Buffy and Angel were both left quite breathless by the kiss.

"How on earth did I manage to get a guy like Spike for my best friend?" Angel murmured, his face breaking out into a huge grin as he finally realized the audacity of what had just happened.

Buffy started giggling and patted Angel cheek reassuringly. "I have never been quite able to figure that one out. You kind of came as a matched set."

"As if Deadboy wasn't enough, a few months later Deadboy Jr shows up," Xander added.

For the first time that night, Angel turned his attention to the only one who made him feel the uncomfortable. "Deadboy? Who's that?"

Since Willow was the one standing closest to Xander, she was the one to hit him on the back of the head. "Ignore him. Xander's just being an idiot again... Come on, guys, we should get going. It's getting kind of late."

While Angel stayed downstairs to shut off all the lights, Buffy hurried upstairs to get things ready. Buffy planned on celebrating Christmas alone with Angel before the others arrived the following afternoon. And this Christmas had an even greater significance than any other had for her. This was Angel's first Christmas as a human in over two hundred years. And so much better than the last one for this time no evil spirits were trying to drive him insane. This December twenty-fifth, they were merely two people who were deeply in love.

I treasure your love,
I never want to lose it.
You've been through the fires of hell,
And I now you've got the ashes to prove it.

I treasure your love,
I want to show you how to use it.
You've been through a lot of pain in the dirt,
And I know you've got the scars to prove it.

Remember everything that I told you,
And I'm telling you again that it's true.
When you're alone and afraid, and you're completely amazed
To find there's nothing anybody can do,
Keep on believing, and you'll discover a way baby.

"Buffy? You in here?" Angel called as he pushed open the door to the darkened bedroom.

"Shut the door," her quiet voice instructed him. "Make sure to lock it."

As soon as the heavy wooden door was shut firmly and locked, there was a sudden flash of light as Buffy lit a solitary match. Angel watched, mesmerized, as the tiny, flickering light moved towards a candle that Buffy had placed on the bedside table. As more of the room was illuminated, Angel saw that his beloved wasn't wearing a single article of clothing. Every inch of her beautiful, tanned skin was revealed to him as she reclined casually against the pillows.

"And to what do we owe this pleasure?" Angel asked as he strolled towards the bed, removing his shirt in the process.

Buffy smiled as his sculptured chest was revealed and shifted slightly to get more comfortable. "It's Christmas. I thought that we should celebrate... Besides, we were interrupted before."

Angel stopped at the foot of the bed and finished removing his clothing. It was more than obvious that he was as eager to celebrate as Buffy was. As Buffy continued to lounge against the pillows, Angel climbed on the bed and crawled slowly towards her. He stopped when he reached her first tiny foot and slowly began to kiss his way up her body. Slow, wet kisses that left Buffy tingling all over. It was an agonizing process as she waited for him to make his way up her body. As soon as his head was within reach, Buffy took his face gently in her hands and guided it towards her own. Angel lazily captured her lips with his own, delighting in the moans that he heard coming from her mouth.

While Buffy was preoccupied with the feel of his mouth devouring her neck, Angel entered her fully in one quick thrust. It was at times like this, when they were joined so intimately, that both of them felt whole. Holding himself up on his elbows, Angel stared down at his love's face as their bodies began to move in time with each other. Not wanting to be separated from him in the least, Buffy reached up and pulled Angel's face back towards her, planting kisses on his cheeks and forehead. Her hands, meanwhile, were busy running up and down his back. Her left hand, in particular, remaining in the area where his tattoo was. As their movements sped up, she dug her nails into his shoulders and buried her face against his neck.

They both cried out in release, their bodies slumping together as the pleasure overtook them. Their lower bodies were still joined as the two drifted off into a peaceful slumber. So far it was starting out the be the best Christmas that either Buffy or Angel had ever had.

=====

It was the sound of the shower running that woke Buffy up the following morning. As had become her habit, she turned and reached over to Angel's side o f the bed. The only difference was that this time he wasn't there. Since she was still mostly asleep, it took a moment for her to figure out that it was Angel who was in the shower. That meant that there was only one option of her to take. Follow her lover into the shower. Buffy quickly got out of the large bed and slipped on her silk robe. With a smile planted firmly on her face, Buffy entered the bathroom from the entrance in their room and hurried over to the shower. Without a word she removed her robe and pulled back the shower curtain... And promptly let out a blood curdling scream.

The scream was answered by Spike who had been in the process of taking a shower. He was the first one to react and reached out to pull the shower door closed again. "What they bloody hell do you think you're doing, Slayer?" Spike shouted through the steamed up door.

"I thought that you were Angel," Buffy whimpered, barely able to contain her mirth. She had her robe back on by this point and was seated on the toilet. "This is our bathroom after all. What are you doing in here?"

"The prom queen's in mine."

At last Buffy couldn't take it anymore and burst out laughing. She was laughing so hard that tears started to form in her eyes. This was something that she wasn't going to forget any time soon.

"Shut up, Slayer. I was high when I got it done," Spike grumbled from the shower.

"But it's a happy face!!" Buffy cried, referring to the small tattoo on the vampire's right hip. "Spike, you have a happy face tattooed on your hip."

"Don't remind me," Spike muttered. "Now do you think that you could leave so that I could finish me shower in peace?"

Buffy was just about to say something when the door was thrown open and a very frantic Angel and Doyle burst into the room. Both of them let out sighs of relief when they saw that Buffy was all right.

"What happened?" Angel asked as he walked towards his beloved who was still sitting on the toilet.

Buffy took a few calming breaths before opening her mouth. "I woke up and heard the shower going. I thought that it was you and wanted to join you. When I opened the door, instead of seeing you, Spike was in there. It just kinda caught me by surprise. Then I saw the tattoo...."

"Watch it, Slayer," Spike warned.

Still giggling slightly, Buffy followed Angel and Doyle from the bathroom. While she hadn't minded that Spike was in the shower, she would have preferred it if it had been Angel. Buffy already had a feeling that this was going to be a very memorable Christmas. Any Christmas that involved Angel and everyone else that she cared about was a good one.

"Today is going to be perfect," Buffy told Angel as they descended the stairs to the main floor of the mansion.

Unfortunately, Buffy wasn't going to get that perfect Christmas. They were just nearing the bottom when Angel's eyes rolled back in his head and he fell down the rest of the way. By the time that Buffy and Doyle reached the bottom, he was unconscious.

The thunder is rolling.
The sky is black.
It's gotten so dark somehow.
There's gonna be danger.
God, I wish I were back.
We should have been home by now.
We should have been home by now.

Part 8

After days of being surrounded by nothing but an intense white light, Angel was relieved to find himself in the dense fog. But while it gave his headache a chance to fade, being in the fog was perhaps more dangerous when he had been held prisoner by the gypsies. At least then he could see them coming. In this place he wouldn't be able to see Angelus until it was too late.

As if on cue, Angel heard the maniacal giggle that often announced his counter part's presence. He spun around in the direction that the sound came from, forgetting that fog distorts sound. Expecting to see the vampire appear in front of him, Angel was struck from behind. He fell forward, hitting his head hard on the ground. Angel struggled to get up again, but was hit again on the back of the head. He collapsed on the ground again, his mind sinking into the darkness.

No matter what they tell you.
No matter what they do.
No matter what they teach you.
What you believe is true.
And I will keep you safe and strong.
And sheltered from the storm.

This was supposed to have been a perfect Christmas. She and Angel were supposed to have had their first Christmas as a normal couple. They were supposed to have opened presents and ate all sorts of food together. Then they were supposed to have gone to bed and had another private celebration. Instead of that, they were in a sterilized hospital room with Angel hooked up to all sorts of machines which monitored his heart rate, brain wave activity and did all sorts of other things that Buffy didn't know. Everyone else was back at Giles' pouring through all sorts of books trying to figure out what was wrong with Angel. They all knew that there was nothing medically wrong with him, but they had taken him to the hospital just to be on the safe side. With Angel human now, it was much easier for him to die than when he had been a vampire.

"We were supposed to be happy," Buffy told Angel, running her fingers through his hair. "This is your second chance. Right now we should be at home celebrating Christmas together. I had this really great present for you. Actually, I have it here with me."

For the first time in the two hours that Angel had been in the ICU room, Buffy left his side. She didn't go far, though, only far enough to get her purse which was on a table on the other side of the room. She quickly got the small wrapped box out of it then returned back to the bed.

"You can't open this, so I guess that I'm going to have to open it for you," Buffy told Angel as though he were awake and could hear what she said. There was a part of her which believed that he could actually hear her. Buffy carefully tore the bright wrapping paper away from the small box and set it aside. Taking a deep breath so that she wouldn't burst into tears, Buffy gently opened the small ring box. Resting inside was a silver Claddaugh ring much like the one that he had once given her.

"I've had this since just after you came back from Hell," Buffy told him, holding the ring out as though he could see it. "I don't really know why I bought it, but I knew that oneday I would give it to you. Who would have thought that I would have given it to you like this. I had something engraved on the inside. It says, 'You have my heart forever.' And you do, Angel. Of course, when I got this I thought that you would live forever. I know that you're not going to live forever anymore, but how about another sixty years or so. Is that too much to ask? This is your chance to be happy."

Buffy slipped the ring on the finger that he had once worn the other one on. The heart was pointed in. Raising his hand up, Buffy pressed the ring to her lips and kissed it as she had the day that he had given her hers. She then glanced down at her hand, frowning at the empty place on her finger.

"I really don't know what happened to my ring. The last time that I saw it was the day that I went to say goodbye to you at the mansion. Maybe it was the price that I had to pay to get you out of Hell. If it was, I'm glad. It was a small price to pay for your freedom. I can easily replace the ring, but I can never replace you. So you'd better live, Angel. I need you here with me cause I'm not ready to give you up yet. Do you hear me?"

At first only silence answered her. Then suddenly one of the machines around him started to let out a high pitched noise. Buffy quickly jumped to her feet and stared at the machine. Doctors rushed in and Buffy was soon pushed from the room. She just stood there, completely numb.

=====

In the other realm, Angel screamed as Angelus shoved a pointed knife into his thigh. Before Angelus could react, Angel kicked him with his other foot, sending the demon reeling into the darkness. There was only a single ring of light in this world. The rest was completely dark. Gritting his teeth, Angel quickly pulled the knife from his leg, grunting from the pain of it. He had to figure out a way out of this place.

"Angel, Angel, Angel. You don't serious think that you can beat me, do you?" Angelus mocked from beyond the ring of light. "You're weak. You hesitate when others act. That's why you'll never kill me. I'll win... Then I'll go back and kill your precious Buffy."

Reacting quickly, Angel spun around and flung the knife into the darkness. Going by the cry of outrage that he heard, the blade had struck Angelus. Of course, Angel knew that metal wouldn't kill the demon. Only weaken it. And considering how small the knife was, it wouldn't weaken him much.

"Why you little prick!" Angelus shouted as he reappeared in the ring. The knife was sticking out of his shoulder. He pulled it out then looked down at it, a small creeping to his face. "Who'd have ever thought. The whimp's got some aim."

"Will you just shut up and fight," Angel hissed, becoming very annoyed the vampire.

Angelus started to laugh. He threw his head back as though lost in the hilarity of it, but quickly turned back to Angel and charged. He caught the human in the stomach and sent him reeling. Angel was a little slow getting up due to the knife wound in his thigh.

"Is that all you've got?" Angel taunted the demon. "You must be losing it cause I barely felt a thing."

Angelus reacted as expected. He lunged forward again, but this time Angel stepped out of the way. Nearly losing his footing, Angelus stopped short and turned around to glare at his opponent. "You always were a coward, you little-"

"Angel?"

Both Angel and Angelus stopped when they heard the voice. Buffy's voice.

"Angel, please come back to me. I need you here," her voice pleaded.

"You're not gonna get back to her. You'll be stuck here forever," Angelus informed the human.

When he heard his love's voice, Angel became even more determined to find his way out of the strange world that he was trapped in. Buffy was hurting because of this and Angel didn't want that. He didn't want her to feel any more pain because of him. He snuck up on Angelus who was staring in the opposite direction, hoping to catch him by surprise. It didn't work. As soon as he got within striking distance, Angelus reached out blindly and struck Angel hard in the face. Angel staggered backwards, blood dripping from his wounded nose.

With an insane gleam in his eye, Angelus turned around, knife in hand. In a series of quick, rapid blows that Angel couldn't follow or hope to defend himself against, the vampire created an irregular pattern of slashes, ending it off by stabbing the knife into his shoulder. Angel screamed in pain. A scream which was echoed by Buffy's.

"Angel, no! Don't you dare die on me!" she sobbed, her pain coming through in her voice.

Growling viciously, Angel pulled the knife from his shoulder and stalked over to the demon. Had he not been limping slightly, it would have been an imposing sight. Angelus, seeing only the limp, began to laugh again. That was a mistake that he soon regretted. While he was preoccupied by the sight before him, Angel pulled out a weapon that had been on his person the entire time, but completely forgotten about because of its odd location.

Reaching into the leg pocket of his black cargo pants, Angel pulled out a stake. Angelus saw this, but did not have time to react before he was embedded in his heart. While his body was still in one piece, he pulled the knife from Angel's other hand and stuck it in his heart. Within moments of each other, both the vampire and the human were sucked back into the void.

=====

It was a few tense moments as Buffy waited for the doctors' prognosis. They were all equally perplexed. According to them, Angel's mind was responding to vast amounts of pain, the source of which they could not determine.

"We'll monitor him closely," was all that the doctors could tell her.

Nodding her head mutely, Buffy watched the doctors file out before entering Angel's room again. He looked so weak and vulnerable that it broke her heart. Angel was supposed to be the strong one. Nothing ever seemed to hurt him. In all the time that she had known him, there had only been three times that he had ever been seriously hurt. When Spike had tried to transfer his life force to Drusilla, when she had found him shortly after his return from Hell and then around graduation when Faith had poisoned him.

"Angel?" Buffy asked, hoping that somewhere he could hear her. "Angel, please come back to me. I need you here."

As she sat there, Buffy realized something that she had never though possible. Angel could die before she did. Never in the four years that they had known each other had the thought ever crossed her mind. Up until a few days ago, Angel had been immortal. He would be the one living forever while she grew old and eventually died. Even now that he was human, they weren't able to celebrate. Firstly because Angel wasn't aware of the great gift that he had been given. And secondly because..... Buffy hated to think of the second reason. She refused to believe that Angel could die.

Suddenly, the machine that had been shrieking earlier took up its cry again. Buffy watched Angel's body, but there was no reaction. Whatever was going on was in his mind. And, if Dr. Burges was to be believed, whatever happened in there would affect the person that Angel would become when it was over.

"Angel, no! Don't you dare die on me!" Buffy screamed, praying desperately that the part of Angel she loved beyond all reason could hear her. She wanted Angel to win this fight, not Angelus.

As if the one machine wasn't enough, soon a second joined in the wailing. But Buffy knew what this machine was for. This was the one that measured Angel's heart rate. She began to scream all over again when she saw the flatline. Angel was dying and there was nothing that she could do.

"Angel, no! No, you can't do this to me!" Buffy cried, tears streaming down her cheeks. "You can't leave me, Angel! You can't!"

Buffy could hear the doctors rushing down the hall and hoped that they would get there in time to save her love's life. She couldn't lose Angel. Not now and certainly not in such a manner.

But it seemed that the doctors weren't needed. Just as they reached the door to Angel's room, it slammed shut on its own, blocking their entrance.

Buffy watched, terrified, as Angel's body began to shake. His eyes flew open and focused on the ceiling. He seemed to be staring on something up there. Buffy looked up to see what it was and was amazed to see a tiny circle of light forming on the hospital ceiling. The light became bigger and bigger, growing in size as Angel's body began to shake more intensely. Suddenly, Angel rose up from the bed, pulling tubes out as he went. He hovered there for a moment before something shot out of the circle of light. It hit him with such a force that he went crashing back onto the bed.

When the light disappeared, Buffy cautiously made her way back over to the bed. Angel lay in a tangle of sheets, deathly pale and still, with a few injuries that hadn't been there before. But there was one thing the same. His chest was rising and falling with regular, even breaths. As Buffy stared at him, Angel's eyes slowly began to flicker. It took a few moments, but eventually Angel was able to open his eyes about halfway. Buffy just continued to stand there, almost afraid to find out which of them had returned.

"Buffy?" Angel gasped out, his voice soft and scratchy, but definitely her lover's.

Buffy promptly burst into tears when she heard Angel's voice. There was no doubt in her mind that it was her Angel. Even if it wasn't for the voice, the eyes were completely Angel's. There was so much pain in his eyes and it had nothing to do with the blood trickling from his nose and shoulder. It was a pain that went down to his soul and refused to let go.

"Angel," Buffy sobbed, rushing to his side. When she got close enough, she leaned over and gather Angel up in her arms, clutching him tight against her. "You came back to me. You came back."

"Oh god, Buffy, I thought that I'd never see you again," Angel moaned, pressing his face into her shoulder. He slipped an arm around her waist, all but pulling her into the bed with him.

Just as Buffy started to get comfortable, the doctors managed to get the door open. They stumbled in together, practically falling on top of each other. Despite the great deal of noise that they made, Buffy and Angel weren't bothered by them in the least. They saw only each other.

And I would do anything for love.
I'd run right into hell and back.
I would do anything for love.
I'll never lie to you and that's a fact.
But I'll never forget the way you feel right now,
oh no, no way.

Part 9

It had taken a great deal of persuasion and insistence for Angel to convince the doctors to release him that night. But it was more than worth the trouble. Just to be able to hold Buffy close in front of a fire on Christmas. Even thought he was still very sore from his last battle with the vampire, Angel couldn't remember a time when he had been more happy.

"Hey, Doyle, could you go into the closet and get the package out of the back?" Angel asked his friend who just so happened to be in the living room with his girlfriend and Spike.

"And who, pray tell, would this be for?" the Irishman inquired as he searched through the collection of coats gathered in the closet.

Angel looked down at the woman in his arms and smiled. "It's for Buffy."

"Angel, you already got me the pearl necklace. You didn't need to buy me anything else. You being human is enough for me," Buffy said, snuggling deeper into her lover's arms.

"Then consider it something for our home."

Buffy grinned at the idea and turned her head to kiss Angel on the cheek. "I like the sound of that. Does this mean that I'm gonna be living here full time?"

"If you want to," Angel said, trying not to sound too hopeful. In truth, he would have been happy to never get off the couch.

"So, in basic terms, Slayer, the poof doesn't want to let you out of his sight," Spike volunteered, knowing full well what his sire meant.

Buffy couldn't help but smile when she saw how red Angel's cheek got. That was one of the nice things about him being human. He had nice normal reactions that didn't involve him vamping out when he was upset. True, it had never really bothered her, but now it didn't have to bother Angel either and that was what was important.

"Geez, boss, do ye think this is big enough?" Doyle called as he reentered the living room. "What's the paintin' of?"

"You're just going to have to wait till tomorrow to find out," Angel said.

Taking the hint, Doyle, Spike and Cordelia said their good nights and headed off to bed. They were all tired anyway. It had been a very long day and they were all looking forward to some well deserved rest. Doyle and Cordelia were going to bed anyway. Spike, on the other hand, was off to find some fun. It was still early for him, after all.

On the way out, Doyle passed the wrapped painting to Buffy who was still lying contently in Angel's arms. She would have been happy to stay there, but in order to get the brown shipping paper off of it, she was forced to sit up.

"I wonder what's inside," Buffy mused as she tore away the wrapping like a toddler. She stopped, though, as soon as most of the painting was revealed.

"Do you like it?" Angel asked, his voice barely more than a whisper. He had been contemplating giving her the painting for over a year and had just now gotten up the nerve to. Not another soul have ever even seen it before now.

"It's beautiful," Buffy whispered, tears running silently down her cheeks.

Painted onto the canvas that she held in her hands was a frightening vision that one would see when visualizing the horrors of Hell. Fire, brimstone and barren mountains. Grotesque, hideous demons populated the landscape, surrounding the pair in the thick of it all. A beautiful woman with flowing blonde hair knelt in the centre, cradling a severely injured man with dark hair lovingly in her arms. The woman wore a silver cross around her neck and held a glowing sword in her right hand. The pain that the man felt was clearly visible in the lines of his body and the way that he clutched at his blonde angel. There was a blurred tattoo painted on his shoulder. From the top of the painting came a bright beam of light, one which encircled the pair of humans.

"I had a dream," Angel began, whispering quietly in her ear. "Just after I got... *back.* I kept seeing this image in my mind over and over again. You came into Hell and you saved me. You brought me back, Buffy. One day I found the paints in Drusilla's room and just started to paint it. It took a while, but eventually I got it all down."

Setting the painting down gently on the floor, Buffy turned around so that she was kneeling in front of Angel. Unable to find the right words to express the emotions swirling around inside of her, she silently cupped Angel's face in her hands and lowered her head. The kiss started of very gently, but within moments was full of the intense passion that the two had felt for each other since the instant that they set eyes on each other. Angel's cheeks soon became wet as the tears from Buffy's face fell onto his.

"Marry me?" Angel whispered as they pulled away, both breathless.

At last, Buffy was able to find her voice. "Yes, Angel. I'll marry you."

The smile that lit Angel's face after that was, by far, the best present that Buffy had received all day.

I know. We are. We
Are the lucky ones.
I know. We are. We
Are the lucky ones.

".... I now pronounce you, husband and wife," the minister proclaimed, raising his arms above his head with a flourish.

While everyone cheered, the bride and groom proceeded with the traditional kiss. Unlike most times that they kissed, the pair kept is sweet and short knowing that they would have plenty of time to worship each other. They had the rest of their lives... Plus the honeymoon in Ireland that they would leave for in a couple of hours.

"I've got a surprise for you," Buffy whispered as she and Angel stepped apart.

The smile that had been present on Angel's face all day only got bigger. "And just what would that be?"

Buffy silently reached out and brought his hand to rest on her stomach. "You're going to be a daddy," she told him.

All that Angel could do was stare at his wife. He opened and closed his mouth soundlessly a few times before finally getting a sound out. "A daddy? I'm going to be a daddy? But that means that..."

"That I'm pregnant," Buffy supplied, loving this side of Angel that only she could bring out.

Without a word, Angel gathered Buffy up in his arms, this time kissing her more thoroughly. When they showed no sign of coming up for air, Spike reached over and tapped his sire on the shoulder. He rolled his eyes when Angel and Buffy made no move to let up any time soon.

"You know, mate, I may be overstepping my best man role here, but I do think that the lady needs to breathe," Spike suggested. "The same goes for you, peaches."

At that time Buffy and Angel did pull away from each other, but only far enough to smile at each other before beginning the kiss again.

Seven months later, Heather Angela Donnelly made the same journey from one world to the other that her father had only days after she was conceived.

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