A Thousand Words.

It was over. She was safe. Darla had been turned to dust and all was right with the world. Well, almost. There were still vampires out there that needed to be slayed, and she was the Slayer. And there was a vampire just standing in front of her.

Not just any vampire. A good vampire, if there was such a thing. Giles didn't think so. Xander certainly didn't think so. Did she? Did she believe Angel's story about a Romany Gypsy curse? It sounded so unbelievable...but then again, nothing in her life sounded believable. Vampires, demons, living on the Hellmouth, that was her lot in life now.

Her life. Angel just saved her life. Just like he saved her the other night, when the Three ambushed her on her way home from the Bronze. The night he stayed in her room. The night before she found out the truth. That he was a vampire. The night before they kissed for the first time.

Everything changed in that moment. She had the most memorable kiss that seemed to last forever...and the truth reared its ugly head. Literally. Was that only last night? So much had happened since then. The horror and betrayal of finding out what Angel was really was. The sick feeling in her gut when she realised that she would have to kill him. The realisation that she still loved him. The shock of seeing him standing over her mother, of believing that he had been feeding off of her. The guilt of feeling that it was her fault for inviting him into her home. The determination in her decision to face him and bring him down. The uncertainty when she actually saw him face to face.

She was going to do it. She really believed that...up until the point she saw him. Oh he taunted her. Told her how bad he was. That he was just an animal. Goaded her into firing the crossbow, that first shot that went wide. Then he told her his story.

His story about his killing his family, their friends and family. He told her about killing a young girl, like her...who was a favourite amongst her clan. Her Gypsy clan. Then the Gypsies' cursed him by giving him a soul...and making him remember every soul he killed or destroyed. Making him remember them in with remorse.

She didn't believe him at first. She couldn't. But he said that he hadn't fed off another living human since then...and eventually she believed him. She put down her crossbow and offered her neck to him. Why she did not know. To test him? To tempt him?

He didn't rise to the bait. He couldn't. Like she said, it wasn't easy killing someone you care about. And he cared about her. He loved her, according to that vampire bitch, Darla. Wasn't there a saying 'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned'? Well that goes double for a vampire scorned. It seemed that Darla was the vampire 'made' Angel, and they shared rather a long-term relationship...several generations before Angel was 'cursed' with his soul and left her.

The Willow distracted her by calling out, and the fight followed; and Angel killed Darla before Darla could kill her. Angel, who truly was a good vampire. Angel who saved her life, who wouldn't feed off her even when she offered. Angel, who loved her... But did she love him? Could she? Could the Slayer love a vampire?

All these thoughts and more were swirling through her mind in that long moment as she stared into Angel's eyes. And there was only one thing she was certain of then...the same was going on in his mind too. Then he left, a thousand words left unsaid between them.