Disclaimer: So many other people own Buffy, I really can’t compete with them.

Author’s note: Ok, you’ve read the summery and you’re thinking, is Buffy gonna...you know...with Angel? Please don’t hurt me, this is the way my brain laid out the story...It gets better...I promise. Quotes from the episodes Surprise and Innocence. Once again I thank my reviewers, please be kind! Warning: Angel bashing!
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Buffy rushed to Angel’s apartment. She just had to make sure he was ok. Dreams like that.... So not of the good. He’ll probably think I’m some sort of kid, afraid of my dreams. Spike wouldn’t think I was a kid, she thought as Angel opened the door.

“Hey. Is everything okay?”

“That's what I was gonna ask you. You're okay, right?”

“Sure. I-I'm fine,” he moved back to invite her in. “What's up?”

Buffy walked in and put down her school bag. And he’s not wearing a shirt, she noted.

“Um... I-I had this... dream that Drusilla ....

“What happened?” he asked as he put on a shirt.

“She killed you. Right in front of me.”

“It was just a dream. It wasn't real.”

“But it felt so real.”

Angel grabbed her hand and held it tenderly. “It wasn't. I'm right here.”

“Angel, th-this happened before. The dreams that I had about the Master, they came true.”

“Still, not every dream you have comes true. I mean, what else did you dream last night? Can you remember?”

She‘d been caught. He was always right. *Hate that about him.* “I dreamt... I dreamt that Giles and I opened an office supply warehouse in Vegas.”

“See my point?”

“Yeah, I-I do, but... what if Drusilla wants vengeance?”

“We'll deal.”

“W-w-what if she is...” Buffy is cut off as Angel smashed his lips to her. Buffy pushed away from him instantly.

Oh my god, oh my god. Angel kissed me.

“I'm sorry. I, um... I-I have to go to school.” She turned and quickly headed for the door.

“I know,” said Angel. He followed her, took her arm, turned her around and kissed her again passionately.

Once again Buffy pushed him off.

“Stop! Please. I can’t do this Angel.” she whimpered, looking at the floor. “Not yet.“
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Angel, kissed me, twice. And I said yet....YET. Did this mean that she wanted to someday? Seriously needed Best friend time.

Buffy found Willow walking in the quad at lunch time.

“Quick, Willow, need girl chat. Like now!“

“Buffy? What happened?“

“Ok, so I had this dream, but the dreams not important...well it is but it isn’t. I dreamt that Drusilla killed Angel, right in front of my eyes, and you were going on about how hippos steal pants or something...“

“You said the dream wasn’t important.“

“Right, so this morning I went to Angel’s apartment to check to see if he was ok, cause the dream freaked me out. And while I was there, he kissed me, twice. And I said I can’t do this Angel, not yet.“

“Implying that you could someday.“

“Yes! Do you see the problem?“

Willow had confused face on, “No.“

“Ahhhh!“ Buffy was frustrated.

“Haven’t you been kissing Angel for like months now?“

“NO!“

“Huh?“

“Willow, How can I want to do anything with Angel, it’s Angel!“

“How can you not want to do anything with Angel? It’s Angel, you love him, you have smoochies in graveyards... I don’t understand, and frankly you’re freaking me out here.“

With some difficulty Buffy then clued in that Willow didn’t know about Spike.

“Oh God! Willow, I’m sorry, please forgive me, but it was all a ruse, a smoke screen. I couldn’t let anyone know who my boyfriend was. And now that he’s gone, Angel wants to make a move on me. I’m grieving here Willow!“

“Whoa! hold on! Boyfriend, who’s not Angel? Huh? Since when?“

“Since I lived in LA.“

“But you were all over Angel when you first moved here.“

“He came to find me in October.“

“And now he’s gone, he dumped you?“

“No, he’s...“ Buffy brushed her tears away. “He’s dead Willow.“

“Oh my god Buffy!, I’m so sorry.“

“Need help Willow, what should I do about Angel?“

“What do you wanna do?”

“I don't know. I... I mean, S-William is dead, I don’t want to move on, but is it unhealthy to stay like this forever?“

“How long ago was it?“ said Willow as they sat on a bench.

“Two months”

“Well that’s not long enough to properly grieve, Buffy. Tell Mr Broody to back off.”

“It’s not like I want him, really, it’s just, I miss being physical with someone.”

“Physical?” Willow gulped.

“Yep,”

“Wow”

“You have no idea, but hey, speaking of 'wow' potential, there's Oz over there. What are we thinking, any spark-age?”

Willow smiles. “He's nice. Hey, I like his hands.”

“Mm. A fixation on insignificant detail is a definite crush sign.”

“Oh, I don't know, though. I mean, he is a senior.”

“You think he's too old 'cause he's a senior? Please. My boyfriend had a centennial.”

“Angel’s your boyfriend now...after all that?“

“No! Angel’s not my boyfriend.“

“But you said...wait, was William a Vamp?“

“Not answering that, right now anyway, I promise I will have a full blown girls night, dishing all my secrets, with tubs of Ben and jerry’s. It’s just too painful right now. But back to Oz, you can't spend the rest of your life waiting for Xander to wake up and smell the hottie. Make a move. Do the talking thing.”

“Well, what if the talking thing becomes the awkward-silence thing?”

“Well, you won't know until you try.” said Buffy as she walked away leaving Willow with questions.
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When Spike had opened his eyes regaining consciousness from being pinned beneath an organ Dru had been ecstatic. She wanted a party naturally, to celebrate. Spike had just rolled his eyes at that. Why have a party when all he could do was roll around in a stupid wheel chair. He couldn’t even leave the factory, unless the minions were out with him. Dru enjoyed being the mother hen.

“I have your package.” said Dalton, presenting Spike with a large wooden box.

“Just put it on the table... near the other gifts.” Dru always had to have presents. But this present had him worried.

“Are you dead set on this, pet? Wouldn't you rather have your party in Vienna?” asked Spike of his Sire who was pushing his chair forward.

“But the invitations are sent.”

“Yeah. It's just I've had it with this place. Nothing ever comes off like it's supposed to.” They could take Buffy and go.

“My gatherings are always perfect. Remember Spain?” Dru crouched down to look him in the eye “Hey... The bulls?”

“I remember, sweet. But Sunnydale's cursed for us. Angel and that other Slayer see to that.”

“Shhh... I've got good games for everyone.” Dru licked his cheek “You'll see.”

Spike watched as Dru walked over to a table and inspected the roses and other red flowers that had been assembled for the party.

“These flowers... are wrong.” moaned Drusilla “They're all... wrong! I can't abide them!” Dru began to scream and rip up the flowers which had been so right until just now.

“Let's try something different with the flowers then,” said Spike in a calming voice.

Dru’s eyes flick over her childe, then to the presents on a nearby table.

“Can I open one? Can I?”

Spike smiled at her. She was a child, even after 150 or so years.

“Can I? Ooo...”

“Just a peek, love.”

She excitedly reached for the latch on one of them.

“They're for the party.”

He wheeled himself over to her.

“Do you like it, pet?”

“It reeks of death.” She sighed and knelt in front of Spike. “This will be the best party ever.”

“Why is that?”

“Because...” She stood back up and leaned toward the box. “It will be the last.”

The last huh? Spike didn’t like how this party was coming together. And he really wanted to see Buffy. God knows what she was thinking right now. He hadn’t seen in her two months. Granted that he was bedridden/unconscious for a large part of those two months. Angelus better be keeping his paws to himself.
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This birthday sucked. Attacked by vamps, Dru’s minions were assembling some sort of icky destructo judge person, and now Angel was all ‘let me take the arm to the ends of the earth.’ Some birthday fun. Buffy popped another bite of cake into her mouth. The truth was that Buffy was not a little conflicted about Angel leaving. Sure there was the added bonus to his leaving that he would gone and hence not trying to mack on her. But she would miss her friend.
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Buffy followed Angel to a ship that would take him to Asia.

“ I should go the rest of the way alone,” he said reluctantly.

“Okay.”

“But I'll be back. I will.”

“When? Six months, a year? You don't know how long it's gonna take or if we'll even...” she trailed off looking down.

“Hey...” Angel raised her chin so he could look in her eyes. “If we'll even what?”

“Well, if you haven't noticed, someone pretty much always wants us dead.”

“Don't say that. We'll be fine.”

“We don't know that.”

“We can't know, Buffy. Nobody can. That's just the deal.” Angel reached into his pocket. “I have something for you. For your birthday. I... I was gonna give it to you earlier, but...” Angel held out the ring for her inspection.

“It's beautiful. But I can’t wear your ring Angel. I can’t, it’s too soon.”

Angel continued on ignoring her protests “My people, before I was changed, they exchanged this as a sign of devotion. It's a claddagh ring. The hands represent friendship, the crown represents loyalty... and the heart... Well, you know... Wear it with the heart pointing towards you. It means you belong to somebody. Like this.” Held his hand out and showed her his own ring.

“Put it on.” He took the ring from her and slipped it onto her finger.

Buffy looked down at the ring, the heart was pointing in, her heart was taken, she knew that. But it wasn’t the man that gave her the ring to whom her heart belonged.

“Maybe when you get back...” said Buffy.

“Sounds like a good plan.”

Buffy drew him into her arms. They hugged for several moments.

“Buffy... I... “ started Angel, before two vampires suddenly jumped at them from some cargo netting.

One pulled Buffy off of Angel and threw her back. Buffy rolled to her feet. The vampire swung at her, but missed. She grabbed him and started pummelling his gut. Buffy ducked a swing, lifted herself up on the dock railing and kicked her assailant in the chest with both feet, sending him staggering back into the gangplank. She ran after him and grabbed him by the back of the shirt and hair. The minion growled. Out of the corner of her eye Buffy saw Dru’s minion, the one she had fought for the box the first time dropped out of the cargo netting run over to the box, grabbed it and started to run.

“Angel! The box!” Buffy called.

Buffy's attacker shook free of her and shoved her into a stack of crates. The minion tried a roundhouse kick, but she ducked it and he hit the crates instead. She went to grab for him, but he punched her in the face. Buffy's opponent grabbed her by the jacket and roared as he swung her around, over the railing and into the water.

“Buffy!” shouted Angel as he jumped over the railing after her.
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Angel carried Buffy into his apartment. She was soaking wet, he was soaking wet.

“Angel, you can put me down you know.“ Angel lets her down and takes off his jacket.

“You're shaking like a leaf.”

“Cold.”

“Let me get you something.”

Angel walked over to an armoire and took out some things for Buffy to wear.

“Put these on. Get under the covers, just to warm up.”

Buffy took the clothes from him and walked over to his bed. Sitting down on the bed she looked up at him wondering if he was going to keep looking at her while she changed.

After a moment he faced away to give her privacy.

“Sorry.”

With freezing fingers and sore muscles Buffy removed her top shirt and winced at the pain.

“What?” asked Angel concerned.

He probably smells the blood, she thought.

“Oh, um... It's okay. I just have a cut or something.”

“Can I... Lemme see.”

Buffy clutched her shirt to her chest. Good idea? Bad idea?

“Okay.” she whispered.

Angel turned around and sat down on the bed behind her. He gently touched her back and looked at the cut.

“It's already closed. You're fine.”

Buffy leaned back into him and cuddled her face to his. He put his arms around her.

“You almost went away today.”

“We both did.”

“Angel...” sobbed Buffy, “I feel like I lost you... Everyone leaves me, I don‘t want you to dust, I can‘t lose you like I did Spike.”

“Shhh. I... “ he trailed off.

Buffy turned around to look at him.

“You what?”

“I love you. I try not to, but I can't stop.”

Buffy touched his face tenderly. She knew she didn’t return his feelings, but she wanted the feelings of loneliness to stop.

“Make me feel, Angel, I’m tired of being numb.“
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Buffy woke up to find that Angel was not in the apartment. Par for the course, she thought. She had been asleep for about an hour. Time to get back to Giles and the Scoobies. She just didn’t want to think about what she had just done. She had had sex with Angel. Not Spike, Angel. She felt awful. She had betrayed Spike, the memory of Spike. Buffy bolted out of the apartment, she needed a shower, she felt so dirty.
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Buffy walked into the Library dressed in dry clothes. Fun times being rescued by Angel from drowning, Angel wasn‘t there either. Wonder where he is? Really need to talk to him. Big mistake.

“ Xander...” warned Willow.

“And she cries?” continued Xander with his fascinating story.

“What happened?” asked Giles.

“Dru's guys ambushed us. They got the box.”

“Where's Angel?” asked Giles.

“Uh, no clue. I lost track of him when I went to get dry clothes”

“And you needed clothes because...” asked Xander.

“We got wet. Giles, what do we know?”

“The more I study the Judge, the less I like him. His touch can literally burn the humanity out of you. A true creature of evil can survive the process. No human ever has.”

“What's the problem? We send Cordy to fight this guy, and we go for pizza.” smiled Xander

“Can this guy be stopped? Without an army?”

“Um, 'no weapon forged can kill him.' Not very encouraging. If we could only stop them from assembling him,” advised Giles

“We need to find his weak spots, and we need to figure out where they'd be keeping him.”

“This could take time.”
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The party was in full swing when Dalton returned with the box.

“Look what I have for you, ducks,” announced Spike to his Sire who was bobbing her head to the music that filled the factory.

Drusilla smiled and stepped over to him.

“Ahh... The best is saved for last.” Drusilla took the box from him and handed it to minions, who place the box in its place with the others.

As soon as all the pieces are in place, a bright light began to emanate from the cracks in the boxes. The Judge, a blue horned demon stepped out and gazed at the party goers.

“He's perfect, my darling,” Dru gushed. “Just what I wanted.”

The judge takes a moment to gain his balance. He pointed at Drusilla.

“You!”

“Ho, ho, ho. What's that, mate?” said Spike putting himself between Dru and the Judge.

“You two stink of humanity. You share affection and jealousy.”

“Yeah. What of it? Do I have to remind you that we're the ones who brought you here?” said Spike tapping the Judge’s armour.

“Would you like a party favour?” asked Dru offering her guests to him.

The Judge took in the whole assemblage of guests before letting his eyes rest on Dalton.

“This one is full of feeling. He reads. Bring him to me.”

Minions grabbed the poor Dalton.

“What's with the bringing? I thought you could just zap people,“ asked Spike from his wheel chair.

“My full strength will return in time. Until then... I need contact.”

The Judge stepped over to Dalton.

“No. No! NO!” screamed Dalton, looking to Spike for reprieve.

The Judge put his hand on Dalton's chest, and the poor minion began smoke. Drusilla watched with excitement in her eyes. The Judge's hand began to burn into Dalton, who quickly combusted, disappearing in a flash of flame and smoke.

“Do it again! Do it again!” giggled Drusilla gleefully.
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The party didn’t last long after the guests realised that the guest of honour was going to try to kill them all. What had started out to be a promising night, now was boring as hell. Even the judge was being contemplative and dire, sitting by himself.

“What's Big Blue up to anyway? He just sits there.” Spike asked Dru wheeling into the middle of the room.

“I am preparing.” answered the smurf.

Spike rolled his eyes. “Yeah. It's interesting to me that 'preparing' looks a great bit like sitting on your ass. When do we destroy the world already?”

“My strength grows, and with every life I take it will increase further,” stated the judge.

“So let's take some. I'm bored.”

The sound of Drusilla’s moaning filled the cavernous room.

“Dru?” asked Spike worried.

Spike turned his chair around just as Drusilla collapsed to the floor and began to cry.

“Angel...” moaned Drusilla.

“Dru? What is it? Dru! Darling... Do you see something?”

Suddenly she stopped crying and faced him with a deliciously evil smile. She took his hand and walked over to a table where she laid down.

“Are we feeling better, then?” asked Spike.

“I'm naming all the stars.” said his sire.

“You can't see the stars, love. That's the ceiling. Also, it's day.”

“I can see them. But I've named them all the same name. And there's terrible confusion.”

“Did you see any further? Do you know what happens to Angel?” asked Spike.

“Well,” comes a voice from the doorway, Angel’s voice, “he moves to New York and tries to fulfill that Broadway dream. It's tough sledding, but one day he's working in the chorus when the big star twists her ankle.”

“You don't give up, do you? Actually, why did it take you so long to show up?” said Spike as he spun in his chair to face his grand sire.

“As long as there's injustice in the world, as long as scum like you is walking... well, rolling the streets... I'll be around,” said Angel as he slowly walked over. “Look over your shoulder. I'll be there.”

“Uh, yeah. Angel, um... look over your shoulder,” said Spike gleefully.

Angel turned around as the Judge put his hand on his chest.

“Hurts, doesn't it?” said Spike.

“Well, you know, it kinda itches a little,” responded Angel.

“Don't just stand there. Burn him,” Spike ordered the judge.

“Gee, maybe he's broken,” taunted Angel.

“What the hell is going on?” asked Spike.

“This one... cannot be burnt. He is clean,” declared the judge as he removed his hand from Angel’s chest.

“Clean? You mean, he's...” trailed off Spike.

“There's no humanity in him,” said the Judge with finality.

“I couldn't have said it better myself,” said Angelus.

“Angel,” breathed Dru with realisation.

“Yeah, baby. I'm back.”

“Is it really true?” asked Spike.

“It's really true,” Angelus laughed.

“You've come home,” noted Dru.

“No more of this 'I've got a soul' crap?” said Spike as he followed Angelus around the room.

“What can I say, hmm? I was going through a phase.” Angelus lit a cigarette

“This is great! This is so great!” said Spike enthused.

“Everything in my head is singing! We're family again. We'll feed. Grrr. And we'll play.” said Dru as she walked on tables, only to be taken down by her sire.

“I've got to tell you, it made me sick to my stomach seeing you chase after the Slayer,” said Spike, wanting no more than to bash his grandsire for smelling like Buffy.

Angelus growled and grabbed Spike by the shirt. Then he kissed him on the forehead and stepped back. Spike burst out laughing.

“How did this happen?” asked Dru.

“You wouldn't believe me if I told you.”

“Oh, who cares? What matters is now he's back!” said Spike.

“Psst. We're going to destroy the world. Want to come?” whispered Dru.

“Yeah. Destroying the world. Great. I'm really more interested in the Slayer.”

Spike perked up at that. “Well, she's in the world, so that should work out. But she’s mine Angelus, you’ve no mark on her.”

“Give me tonight. Hmm?” Spike felt that Angelus was ignoring him.

“What do you mean?”

“Lay low for a night. I guarantee you by the time you go public she won't be anything resembling a threat.”

“You've really got a yen to hurt this girl, haven't you? She wasn’t a threat before Angelus. It’s her bloody watcher calling the shots and your soulful alter ego. You stay away from her.“

“Maybe she can’t stay away from me? She made me feel like a human being. That's not the kind of thing you just forgive.”
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Buffy was starting to get frantic. She couldn’t find Angel anywhere. Visions from her dreams were flooding her mind, how Drusilla killed him. What if he had been captured? Buffy had even beat up Willy a couple of times to find out where Angel was. She shouldn’t have waited for him in the library last night. She shouldn’t have gone home for fresh clothes. They weren’t closer to finding out about the Judge’s weaknesses and were really sure that he had been fully assembled. Buffy headed back to his apartment again, just in case he had gone home.

Entering the apartment she could feel Angel tinglies. She let out a sigh of relief. The bed had been made and some clothes had been laid out on it. Buffy turned to face the direction that the tinglies were coming from.

“Angel!” she said happily.

“Hey!”

Buffy gave her, friend? Lover? a hug.

“Oh, my God! I was so worried!”

“I didn't mean to frighten you.”

“Where did you go?”

“Been around.”

“Ohhh. Oh, my God! I was freaking out! You just disappeared.”

“What? I took off,” he said nonchalantly as he heads to the bed for his shirt.

“But you didn't say anything. You just left.”

“Yeah. Like I really wanted to stick around after that.”

“What?”

“You got a lot to learn about men, kiddo. Although I guess you proved that last night.”

Buffy erupted into laughter. “What are you saying? Are you telling me that I was bad? That’s a laugh. You may have been fucking for over two hundred years, but I know when I’m getting the really short end of that stick.“

“Let's not make an issue out of it, okay? In fact, let's not talk about it at all. It happened.”

“I agree, it was a mistake. A fucking huge mistake.”

“Lighten up. It was a good time. It doesn't mean like we have to make a big deal.”

“Again, me with the agreement. I just think that after your whole, ‘I can’t help myself, I love you,’ speech last night, I might have had to break your heart. Too bad you don’t have one. Well it’s been a trip Angel, I’d like to say it was a good fuck, but I really can’t,” said Buffy turning to leave. As she passed the door way she turned to look at Angel once more. “Oh, and Angel, two words... G Spot...look it up.”
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tbc...