RESPECT

_ Here catch," she said as she stepped up beside him and then continued past him. A small silver package caught air and then landed safely in his palms. He unwrapped it and then grinned.

"Buff, I love you. No, I mean it. Can I bear your child?" Xander Harris chirped as he rose a cupcake to his mouth. She threw him an amused grin and then looked back at her small red-haired companion walking beside her.

"I think that will keep him occupied for awhile." Buffy laughed.

"With the whip cream and all..speaking of which...how did last nights' um..kissing session with Angel go?" Willow asked as the threesome reached a bench.

Xanders' head shot up, "Whip cream, Angel...no no no. Bad segue."

Buffy considered a retort but then decided against it. "It went fine, Will. We went up the bluffs for a couple of hours. It was..nice."

"Of course it would have been nicer if you were where you were supposed to be," a voice said from over her shoulder. She made a face and then turned to regard him.

"Giles, heya." Buffy said lightly, a smile stretching across her face.

"Buffy, you were supposed to meet me for endurance training last night. I waited and well..you didn't meet me."

Buffy frowned for a moment. He seemed actually kinda annoyed. That was never good in the long-term. "Well, technically I did do endurance training last night."

"Buff, I don't think he means how long you were able to kiss Angel without breathing." Xander said with a snort.

She shot him a dirty look and Willow followed with a slap to the arm. He simply shrugged. Giles, looking now more than just irriated said, "Buffy, he's right. You need to take this more seriously. Your training is not a joke."

"Giles, I know. And I don't think it is." Buffy replied easily, taking a cupcake from Xander. He made a move to stop her but she twisted her wrist until he let go. He gave her a hurt puppydog look and then began to massage his wrist. She glared at him and popped the whole cupcake into her mouth.

"Oh that's lady-like," Xander muttered.

"Shush," she said swallowing and then looking back at Giles. "You need to relax. I'm at my peak right now. I've never been better. These extra sessions are just an un-neccesary nuisance. Go home, relax, watch some movies. Maybe a good porno. Ooh..I didn't say that."

Blushing deeply, Giles said sharply, Dammit Buffy.. just because you believe that you're at your 'peak' doesn't mean you can't get better. Your enemies are. Now that said, you are to report to the library this afternoon at exactly six o' clock for weapons training. Not a minute later and no excuses." He glared at her a moment longer and then turned and walked away.

She stared after him, annoyance on her face and then finally turned to Willow and Xander, "So we're Bronzing it tonight, right?"

She was dancing when his foot stepped over the threshold and into the dark club known as the Bronze. All around him he could smell blood and sweat. Scents mixed with excited voices but he was able to easily pick out that of his lover. She was in the middle of the dance-floor,with out a doubt,the most beautiful creature there. She was dancing with Xander, nothing special, nothing seductive, simple and easy and they were talking, she smiling at some joke of his.

And yet when he appeared behind her, she stopped. "Angel," she whispered, as if his name alone could stop the world. It stopped hers. Xander rolled his eyes and retreated back to the table where Willow and his girlfriend Cordelia Chase were watching as Oz and Devon worked on a new song for their band.

"Hi," Angel said with a smile, moving forward and taking his lover into his arms. Buffy curled against his chest and inhaled his scent as if it were the freshest air in the world. She wrapped her slender arms about his waist.

"I was wondering when you'd finally show up. Thought you might have been off playing Cryptic Boy to some other girl." Buffy joked, a wry smile on her lips.

He chuckled, "Oh right. So, um, you wanna dance."

"Are you gonna make fun of my dancing ability?"

"I never do that."

"Oh bull. You hate the way I dance with Xander."

"Well, that's because Websters' Dictionary doesn't define what you do with Xander as dancing." Angel muttered. Before she could reply, he leaned down and caught her lips in a heated embrace. When he parted, he noticed that her eyes had fogged over with want. He grinned and taking her hand led her to the dance floor. "So, Giles let you off tonight?"

She gave him a weak smile, a twinge of guilt overtaking her. "Ya, kinda. Let's not talk about Giles. Kinda kills the mood."

He shrugged,"So, how was your day?"

"Ugh. Angel. Stop talking shop talk. Can't we just..be? I mean..there are no vampires..well..besides you. Can't we just let down for awhile and relax. Be as normal as we can?" Buffy pleaded, running a hand across his jaw.

He smiled, "Sure." He pressed his lips to hers in a kiss that promised much more.

Whistling, Angel walked through the halls of Sunnydale High. It was a few muinutes after two in the morning and he had just dropped Buffy off at her house. Literally. They'd left the Bronze when it had closed at midnight and then gone to the cemetary for a quick patrol. Halfway through, he'd noticed that she'd begun to drag so he'd insisted on taking her home. She'd been out before her head had even hit the pillow. After a few minutes of watching his lover sleep, he'd departed through her window and headed to the library. The night was young yet and he was desperately in need of reading material. It didn't much help that Barnes and Nobles was closed. So in times of reading want, there was always one place to go.

He opened the door and slipped into the library, his feet making little actual sound as he moved swiftly towards the stairs to the stacks. The lights were on but Giles had a bad habit of leaving them in that state so Angel thought little of it. Until he heard the Watchers' voice. "Angel?"

The dark haired vampire spun," Giles? What are you doing here?"

"Well I work here. And you?"

Looking sheepish, he admitted," Reading material. I have need. Oh God, I've started talking like her." Angel shook his head.

"Speaking of her..did you happen to see her tonight?"

"I'm assuming we're still talking Buffy. And yes."

"Damn girl," Giles muttered, taking off his glasses and needlessly cleaning them.

"What's wrong?" Angel asked, worried.

"She blew off another training session." Giles replied tersely, now pacing out little circles next to the table. "She treats it all like it's a game. Her recent successes have made her cocky, I fear."

Angel frowned, deeply disturbed. The idea of her arrogance getting her injured was a concept he wasn't at all that fond of. "So what can we do about it?"

"And then she got all mad and poured the drink on me." Xander cried out. "It was a new shirt."

"Uh huh." Buffy muttered, curling tighter into her blankets. A weary look at the clock next to her bed showed it to be almost three. Apparently no one could sleep tonight.

"I mean, all I did was say that her nose looked funny."

"You should know by now that she's sensitive," Buffy said with a yawn. Xander had woke her up half an hour ago to talk about his current problems with his girlfriend, Cordelia.

"Yeah well..still. Ah hell. I should call her."

"That's a damn good idea. Call her. Goodnight." Buffy didn't give him time to reply, simply hit the "On/Off" button and started to return the cordless to the cradle. Of course that was when it rang. "Hello?"

"Buffy, it's me, Giles."

"I know who you are Giles. What do you want?" she asked and not too nicely.

"Well, I was worried. You didn't show tonight and you never checked in."

"Oh..right..sorry about that. I got kinda held up..with..vampires. Well, technically."

There was a tense pause and then Giles said, "Buffy, I need you to make sure that you join me after school tommorow. There's something I've found in one of my books that I need to speak to you about. I'll be gone all tommorow at a conference so it'll have to wait until about eight."

"Okay," she said,a tad bit of seriousness seeping into her weary tone.

"Excellent. Well then, goodnight."

"Ungh." Buffy muttered, hanging up. Once again, she started to put it back. And it rang.

"Dammit." The little Slayer growled. "Hello, Buffy's All Night Parlor, what can I do you for?"

"Five bucks." A voice laughed. "Hi, lover."

"Angel," she said sheepishly. "I..didn't know it was you. Hi."

"Just wanted to call and wish you a goodnight."

"That's sweet. I don't know if it will actually happen but it's sweet."

"I'm glad you think so. Now get some sleep. You look pretty beat."

"Okay. I love you."

"I love you too. Night Buffy."

"Night Angel..wait, five bucks? That's it?"

"Hush. Go to bed."

"Wait lover,how do you know I look beat?"

All she heard was his throaty laugh as the line went dead.

Shaking her head, she dropped the phone next to her pillow and pressed her face into it. And yet she wasn't all that stunned to hear it ring moments later. "Yeah?"

"Hi, Buffy."

"Will, I love you. I really do but believe me, it's in your best interest to hang up right now. Otherwise we could have bloodshed."

There was a laugh. "Let me guess Xander right?"

"Among others." Buffy muttered.

Willow laughed and quickly said good-night.

Buffy sighed and put the phone on it's cradle, then thinking about the night so far she stood up and went to her desk and put it in her top drawer. And then falling back to her bed, she allowed sleep to take her.

"Wow, she looks wasted." Xander said as he and Cordelia approached the half-sleeping Slayer. She was lying on a stone bench, dark sunglasses blocking her eyes from the harsh California sun and her hands wrapped underneath her head.

"She probably had a long night with Angel," Cordelia replied easily, moving past him and towards where Willow was crouched next to the Bench, bio book on her knee.

"She wasn't with Angel." Xander shot back. He shook his head. "I know she wasn't." He followed her over to the bench and sat down on the ground. "Hey Buff."

She muttered a reply and then sat up, "Hey guys, Giles wants us to meet in the library t'night. Some new thing. Eightish, cool?"

"Sounds like a party," Willow squealed. She looked at the others looks of annoyance and then shrugged. "Well it could be a party."

Whistling to herself, the little Slayer moved slowly down the halls of Sunnydale High. It was dark out which meant that most of the youth population was at the Bronze. It also meant that Buffy's creature of the night lover Angel was free to roam about. Her mind focused on getting this little session with Giles over quickly so that she could see him. When she entered the library, it was unusually lit, as if for combat.

"Giles?" Buffy called out looking around the deserted library." I"m here, oh mystic Watcher person."

Giles walked calmly out of his office and eyed Buffy for a moment, almost as if he were sizing her up. "Thank you for coming."

"You said it was important. What's up?" She was getting quite uneasy now. Not in the sense that Giles would hurt her, more like he knew something she didn't and he wasn't going to tell her.

"Training..you, well..you skipped it. Your utter disregard for it must end. "Giles said sternly.

Buffy started to open her mouth, but he held up a hand silencing any protest from the tiny Slayer."Since you won't work with me, I've brought in someone to ensure that you are trained in the proper manner. Please arm yourself."

Buffy frowned at Giles' uncustomary command tone, but still did what she was told. As she went to the cage to get her weapon, she felt confident that she could get rid of her new instuctor and still have time for a good night kiss with Angel..a long one if things went her way.

She turned to tell Giles to get his person into their protective gear when she was knocked off her feet by a quarter-staff. It didn't hurt, but it did kinda piss her off that she had allowed the new guy such an easy hit. She raised her head to look at her competition and the smart remark that had started working it's way up her throat abruptly plunged into her stomach. "Angel."

"Hi lover, do tell me why you're on your butt when you should be up here.?" Angel queried with that all knowing smirk that he had worn when they had first met.

Too stunned to say anything smartass to him, Buffy gaped up at him. She started to reach for him when he batted her hand away with his staff. "What?"

Angel's eyes grew serious, "I'm here to make sure the beautiful girl I love doesn't became dinner for some uunknown vampire with hunger pangs. And the only way I can think to make sure that doesn't happen is to force you to train. With me, Buffy."

Buffy sighed "Angel, would you chill out? You're my boyfriend, not my father. Don't go all psuedo Giles on me. I'm in the best-shape of my life."

Angel shook his dark head and said,"You'll excuse me if I'm not so sure of that. Why was I able to get such an easy shot. Anything harder would have knocked you cold. You can't take that risk."

Fine," Buffy replied, angrily pushing back a cocktail of both annoyance at his intrusion into her training life and shame at him being upset with her. "If that will make you happy."

He nodded sharply, his dark eyes still serious and his lips turned into a frown as he realized that despite her words, she was not about to take this seriously. Sighing, it occured to him that there was probably only one way to go about this. The hard way. The one that would almost certainly lead to her being pissed at him for days. Damn. Grimly he turned to face his lover, noting with some irritation that she was still wearing an amused smile on her lips. She thought this was a game. Well soon she would learn. Inwardly, he noted that even if Buffy did spend the next couple of days at his apartment, he'd still be sleeping on the floor.

Buffy picked her staff back up and held it easily in her hands."Okay lets get this done. I have an important date tonight."

Angel glared at her for bringing up their nightly making out sessions. Well it looked like there was only on way to get her to take this seriously. And boy was it going to hurt him more then it hurt her.

He swung his staff at her head. Hard. She blocked it but only barely. Another second or so and she would be wearing the staff on the side of her head."What the hell?"

Angel just looked at her with his dark penatrating eyes."This is real Buffy.I'm not Giles. I'm going to hit hard."

She smiled and tried to get closer to him but he put his foot out, sending her to the floor with a resounding thump. This one hurt as she landed hard on her butt again. She glared up at him this time, all humor gone from her face. "You want to play hard? Fine with me." She grabbed her staff and lunged at him,intending for his butt to be the next one to hit the floor.

"All I'm saying is that if I order something without pickels, how hard it to make it that way?"Xander asked as he led the rest of the Scooby Gang toward the library.

Cordelia and Willow both rolled their eyes at him. He'd been going on for at least an hour about how the local burger joint had messed up his order...twice. Finally Cordy couldn't take it anymore. She stopped, turned, grabbed Xander by the shirt and kissed him. "That should shut him up for at least ten minutes." Then smirking, she marched off towards the library, a very amused Willow trailing not far behind. Xand held a beat and then followed.

They all burst in to the library, stopping short at the seen in front of them. Angel and Buffy were pulling no puches as they fought with the two staffs in their hand. It was not a pretty fight.

"This is new,"Xander said walking beside them.

"Understatement much?" Cordelia muttered back.

"Wow, this doesn't look happy. "Willow said eyeing the lovebirds as they tried to knock each other on their asses. "This could get ugly."

It was getting very ugly. All traces of humor had disappeared from both the Slayer and her vampiric lover. All that was left was the fighting instincts of two warriors. Even Giles was beginning to second-guess the intelligence of asking Angel to help him out.

Buffy lunged for Angel again, slamming her staff against his ribs. It connected solidly and Angel spun back, grunting. She attacked again but he managed to block and push her a few feet back.

"Is that good enough for you?" Buffy challenged, standing back as Angel took a moment to try to pull himself together. Her anger was appearent as she glared at him.

Angel didn't flinch."If you weren't such a child about all of your responsibilities then this wouldn't have had to happen." Oops wrong thing to say but at this point he was as angry at her as she was at him. Didn't she realize he was doing this to protect her?

"A child!" Buffy laughed, utterly unamused. And then she continued to do so, fury working it's way into each chuckle. "Well, well, well..let the trust be known, huh?" She narrowed her eyes at him and dropped her voice a notch so that it took on an ice tone to it. " I don't need you to help me do anything but pick out which ashtray you want to live in" She dropped the staff to the floor with a loud thud. She stared him down for a moment and then kicked out so suddenly and violently that Angel never saw it coming.

He dropped. His head slammed against the floor and he lay on the ground stunned.

Buffy was too angry to care. The idea of him giving her fighting tips sent angry chills racing through her little frame. She threw him one last furious glare and then turned her back and began to walk towards Giles, her muscles tight with tension. Which of course was when he decided that the lesson was far from over.

Everything spun in mad circles until the next thing she was aware of was the fact that it was she who was now lying flat on her back. And sitting atop her was a very angry Angel. "Nice move. For your sake, I hope that's not all you've got, he growled, his face sliding easily into his vampiric visage.

She bucked forward trying to knock him off her. He just smiled and held her more firmly. She tried using her knees but he tightened his hold on her, challenging her with eyes glazed with anger and frustration. Seeing that brute strength was not going to work she arched her fingers. Smiling up at him with a look far more vindictive than that which she usually wore, she reached up and grabbed a handful of his dark hair. And yanked. Hard. He roared in pain.

As he hissed in pain, head downwards, she came to the decision that she would be the victor. She then bucked hard again sending him flying off her body. He spun wildly across the room and crashed into the far wall. Looking down, she noted that she still held a small clump of dark hair in her hand. She heard Xander say something to the girls about it but her mind quickly tuned him and the others out.

Angel could feel his anger turn solid in the pit of his stomache as he regained his feet. Growling savagely, he advanced on the Slayer. For her part, she stared back at him, a small chiding smile on her lips. And then she lifted her hand. She allowed her fingers to drop so that she could reveal her trophy; his hair. The rage increased. She was going to pay.

Giles quickly realized the situation was out of control. He tried to intercept Angel but found himself shoved up against the checkout table where the Slayerettes stood watching, now too stunned to speak.

"Oh the big bad vampire got an ouchie?" Buffy asked tauntingly as she saw Angel approach. Her mental warning sirens whirled into overdrive but she was quick to ignore them. "Guess we know who can't handle themselves and who can huh, lover?"

"I wouldn't be so sure of that..lover." Angel said mockingly as he backhanded her across the face. She spun around, knocking against a table and hitting the back of her head as she fell. "Now who has a ouchie?"

She regained her footing and tried to advance on him but he moved faster, allowing his anger to keep him in the hunt. She kicked out and even managed to connect. And then he grabbed her foot and tossed her bcakwards. She hit the wall again and fell to the floor in a heap.

The whole room went silent with the only sounds of breathing filling the stale air. They all waited with growing dread for whatever was supposed to come next. And then it came. A soft noise pierced the air and stopped everything. Hell, time itself.

A soft agonized moan escaped the hurt slayer as she huddled where she had landed. The game had gone too far. Angel's game faced disappeared and he scrambled over to her.

"Buffy! Are you okay?"Angel asked, his eyes filling with concern He tried to put his arms around her but she shrugged them off.

"No! Leave me alone!" She jumped up holding her face and stepping beyond his reach."You must be so happy! Yep, you sure did it. Aren't you a big man? Well you got what you wanted..you proved I'm a fuck up at my slaying. Congratulations." Buffy's blue eyes filled up with tears as she gazed back at the man she loved. Closing her eyes, she pushed them back. Then she turned to stare at her Watcher."Thanks for the lesson." She stared at him for a beat, letting the pain of her words sink in and then she turned quickly on her heels and ran out, a hand still clamped firmly over the swelling beginning to form around her eye.

Angel glanced helplessly around at the others. "I'll...I'll..ya..I'll." He sighed and then followed the hurt Slayer out the library doors, his face full of self -incrimination.

"Wow," Cordelia said as the doors swang shut.

"Wow would be an understatement." Xander said as he glanced at his companions.

"Poor Buffy and Angel." Willow muttered.

"This is all my fault." Giles said sadly as he disappeared into his office to try to think of a way to amend the situation.

Xander looked at everyone again and said"Wow!" Then he frowned thoughtfully, "You think maybe they'll break up." A smile quickly fluttered across hi face. "Cuz that'd be cool."

The next thing he knew, both Willow and Cordelia had hit him and his shoulders hurt. A lot.

Buffy didn't stop running until she reached the safety of her home. She had stopped crying, but the pain was still there. Luckily her mother was out of town until tomorrow or she would have to explain what was wrong. Not to mention the black eye that was quickly forming. And how the hell was she supposed to explain it someone else if she hadn't a clue herself. One minute she was with Angel teasing him and the next she was trying to tear him to shreds. So what had gone wrong?

It was his fault. It had to be. What was he thinking? It wasn't his right to butt into her life? Okay, yes, he was he lover and yes, he cared. But still...

"I'm the Slayer," she growled, walking into her kitchen. She crossed to the freezer and took out an ice-pack. Wrapping it in a dish cloth, she pressed it to her eye and hissed. He'd hit her good.

"I can take care of myself. I don't need his help." Buffy said, walking towards the stairs. As she progressed towards her room, she continued to mutter. Her mind berated her, urging calm and sensability but her heart wanted to remain furious.

And yet even she could feel the anger bleeding away. He wasn't right. That she was sure of. Just the same, it probably wasn't worth the kind of fight they'd had. The kind of fight that could end relationships..

None of that. Those possibilities were too horrible to entertain.

She glanced at the clock and noticed it was only ten o'clock. That only made her feel worse. She should be with Angel, right now in his arms kissing him, doing other things with him. Things that didn't require any kind of pain or hurt.

Sighing she pressed the ice to her eye. Still wincing in pain, she fell back against her mattress. Perhaps if she could just sleep this off. Make it all go away..

Her eyes had just drifted close when she felt his presence. "You came."

She opened her good eye in time to see him jump from the window sill into her room, an odd misture of emotions playing across his handsome face. "I did. I needed too. We should talk."

"We are."

"So we are. You know why I did what I did, right? I mean..you do know."

"I know what it seems like to me, Angel. It seems like you don't trust me in battle. That hurts."

He shook his head. Swallowing hard, he moved a step towards her but still kept his distance."No, never that. Never. I trust you more than anything in the world. I also love you more. I..I can't contemplate not having you..it scares the hell out of me.."

Her face softened, "I'm not going anywhere."

"I want to make sure of that. Maybe I got a little zealous." He looked at his hands. "I needed to. I"ll do anything to make sure you survive. If that means you and I fighting a bit..then so be it."

"Was that an apology?" She asked with a smirk.

He chuckled, a small shy smile crossing his face. "I guess so." Then he sighed. "I'm sorry."

Buffy smiled and patted the bed next to her. "I know. So am I, lover, so am I."

Angel quickly crossed the room and sat down on her bed. She scooted over and found herself wrapped in his strong arms. He took the ice-pack from her hand and pressed it to her eye. "Ugly."

"It's okay. It'll hurt like hell tommorow but it should be fine by the time mom gets back. This is so not something I'd want to even try to explain."

"I'm sorry." Angel whispered. Leaning across, he kissed the top of her head and mumbled into her ear, "So is this where we make up?"

She raised her blue eyes to him and said seductively " You better believe it, handsome. And trust me, you wont find anything wrong in this session." She reached up and drew his head down to hers and kissed him hard, her passion growing. He raised his head and looked into her eyes, feeling the love vibrate off her.

"Works for me." He murmured, quickly reclaiming her lips. The ice-pack dropped out of his hand and he quickly replaced it with his cool lips grazing the swollen and bruised flesh. She whimpered, caught between pain and pleasure. Moving away, he attacked her mouth again.

As they kissed, their passions for each other grew. Want and need overcame every other thought. Their bodies moved together as their lips hungrily sought out each other. Urgent hands started to pull at the offending clothes that now seperated them from finding what their bodies so eagerly desired.

Angel suddenly stopped moving of Buffy and standing up. She whimpered and reached for him. He just smiled and stepped back out of her reach. "Wait lover." He then pulled off his shirt. His smirk proved that he knew exactly what he was doing as he tossed the shirt across the room. Buffy swallowed as her gaze went down his well muscled chest. Angel reached down took off his shoes and unfastened his pants, allowing her full view of his lower body regions. She smiled shyly at the sight of his manhood standing firm and ready.

He then came down beside her and lifted her small body. He slid her shirt off in one quick motion . His hands brushed her aching breasts as he unhooked her bra. "Victoria Secret?" She grinned and was about to respond when he pressed his mouth to the flesh just above her breasts. She moaned his name. He smiled. Still kissing her, he proceeded to remove the rest of undergarments.

"Oh God you are so beautiful." Angel whispered, his voice shaking with a cocktail of emotions. Want and need, passion and love.

"Just shut up and make love to me." The tiny Slayer pleaded, a hint of annoyance creeping into her voice as she pulled him to her.

Angel chuckled. "What the lady wants, she always gets." He bent his dark head and caught one of her breasts in his mouth and began to suckle like a baby. She arched her back and ran her hands into his hair drawing him still closer. He nipped and licked her painfully erect nipple and then turned his attention to the other one, giving it the same treatment.

"Angel... God dammnit...I can't..just.. God please!" Buffy gasped out as her pleasure increased to an almost unbearable threshold.

"Easy lover...soon."He whispered huskily He reached his hand down to her, feeling the wetness between her legs. "You ready?"

Buffy nodded breathing hard,"Pleasepleasepleaseplease.." Her words slammed violentally together and her grip on his back became painful as she urged him on.

Angel smiled and spread her legs. Then gazing deeply into her eyes he possessed her, the throbbing heat of his desire impaling her fiercely. Buffy whimpered and moaned as she ran her nailes down his sweat slicked back. He started moving within her. First slowly, then faster and harder.

Buffy closed her eyes, her breathing coming in short frantic breaths. She met each thrust, responding to his fierce need with her own. He went faster and faster. Both were reaching their heights not able to stand the hot-sweet torture any longer. His mouth claimed hers again in a kiss that was both bruising and deep. With one final thrust he, he began to throb inside. Her own head started to spin as she reached her orgasm at the same time that he came deep inside her womb. The world spun away in colors and everything ceased to exist but the feel of him against and within her.

When the world came back into focas she gazed happily up at her lover. "Wow. We should fight more."

He smiled lazily at her, his head propped up by his elbow. His dark hair was mussed and his eyes were sparkling mischeivously. He looked like a little boy that had just spent some serious time in the candy store. "Nah, we should just skip the fighting and ho straight to the making up." They both laughed and then he sighed. "God, you're beautiful." And she was. From her blonde toussled hair to her kiss swollen lips to her petite but well muscled body. She was the sexiest thing he had ever seen. "I love you."

Buffy glanced sleepily up at him and said "I love you too, Angel." Then she yawned and curled further into him, burying her head in the meat of his shoulder and wraping her arms around him. Grinning, he pulled her closer and rested his head on top of her hair.

And together, with their bodies wrapped around each other, they fell asleep. All the problems and pains of reality faded away, if only for a few moments. Replaced by the gentleness of love and the fire of passion.

He awoke a few short hours later to see Buffy standing in front of her windows, pulling the dark drapes across them. She'd aquired them after their relationship had gotten intimate so that he could spend the night without having to worry about sunlight.

"Always stand in front of your windows naked?" Angel asked with amusement. She turned and smiled, affording him a full frontal view.

"Only if I know a tall, dark and very sexy man is watching."

"Any tall, dark and sexy man?" He teased, sitting up in bed. The white sheets clung to his body and tangled with his legs.

She winked. "Maybe."

Looking her over, admiring her body, his gaze locked on the swollen mass of colours around her eye. Frowning slightly, he asked, "Your eye looks so.."

"It hurts,"she admitted. "It's okay. I'm okay." Then she grinned. "We're okay." Turning around, she reached over to her dresser and started leafing through it for fresh clothing.

"Whatcha doing?" Angel asked, trying to pull his legs free from the sheets.

"It's a new day, lover. And I need shower."

"New day, right." Angel muttered, now glaring at the sheets.

"Of course..you could join me," she said, lowering her voice just a bit. She flashed him a sexy look and then began to saunter towards the hallway. Angel's first thought was that it was a damn good thing that her mom was in LA for a few days. His second thought was about the way she was moving. Like she was begging him to accompany her.

That was all it took. As she exited the room with a pouty look over her shoulder, he jumped up from the bed.

And promptly tripped and fell to the floor, the sheets still tangling around his legs. He cursed and then leapt up and after her. He heard the shower start. He entered the bathroom and saw that she had already gone into the glass cubicle shower.

"Thought you might like someone to wash your back," Angel grinned as he stepped into the shower. He grabbed her arm and spun her, his lips upon hers the moment she was turned enough. Pushing her against the wall, his kisses became more urgent.

"Should we fight first?" She breathed, barely breaking away.

He pulled back, wide-eyed. "Uh..what kind of shampoo do you like?"

"Pert."

"I hate Pert. It's uh..Head and Shoulder for me."

"Really? Ooh yuck..I don't like that at all. Does that count as a fight?"

"Good enough." He pushed her back against the wall and kissed her again.

Making up really was more fun.