"Come on guys, please. Xander, you know it'll be fun." Willow pleaded with her two best friends. Her boyfriend Oz and his band, Dingoes Ate My Baby, had scored a gig in LA a few days before Christmas. Willow was going as moral support, but she needed some of her own.

"Sure, I mean, it's Oz right?" Xander replied, hands upturned in what seemed to Buffy to be a gesture of surrender.

And that was how Buffy came to be in the front of Xander's car following Oz's van along the freeway in the direction of LA four days before Christmas. She hadn't been back to the city since she and her mother had left 3 years earlier, and the prospect daunted her slightly. She shook it off, she was at college now, and college kids go to concerts. Of course they'd all had to group together to get Giles to agree to her having the night off from patrolling, but it was totally going to be worth it.

They arrived at the venue and Buffy and Xander got to helping the band unload, Buffy making the most of her strength on her off night, and then they sat with Willow to watch the soundcheck. The bar was decorated in as festive a way as could be achieved with some cheap tinsel and a few stings of fairy lights. There were clumps of mistletoe everywhere, and Xander had already done a thorough appraisal of the barmaids to see if any were likely candidates for a seasonal smooch.

After a break for dinner with the band, Buffy, Willow and Xander headed back to the bar which had now started to really fill up. They hurried up to the front and grabbed a table just in time to see Oz, Devin and the others take the stage.

Half an hour later the place was packed and Dingoes were coming to the end of their first set. The girls had gotten up to dance and Xander followed, breaking out his best funky party weasel moves.

"Hey, can I get you ladies a beverage?" Xander asked, leaning forwards between his two friends.

"Yeah, sure," Buffy replied.

"Yes please." Willow answered, her focus all on the cute guitarist on stage.

Xander hopped off his stool and headed for the bar, he looked back as he heard applause, the song had finished and the band were taking a break. As he turned back towards the bar he collided with someone who hadn't been there before.

"Do you mind? Calvin Klein will never forgive me for ruining this...." the woman Xander had collided with tailed off as she looked up at her assailant, "Xander?" she exclaimed.

"Cordy, what are you doing here?" Xander was stunned, his ex-girlfriend, in a bar in LA, in the most amazing dress he'd ever seen her in. He couldn't help but stare and Cordelia smiled, "Still the same old Xander huh?"

"But you're different. How's LA treating you? I mean, must be good right, if Calvin Klein is lending you clothes." Xander pushed his way up to the bar, Cordy by his side, "Can I get you a drink?"

Cordy nodded and Xander gave the bartender his order.

Back on the dancefloor Oz had come down from the stage and taken Will off to one side for some quiet time in between sets, Xander still hadn't returned from the bar and Buffy was left alone. She looked around, trying to spot Xander but couldn't see him anywhere. Suddenly she felt a prickling at the back of her neck, the kind of sensation that meant only one thing in her world. Vampire. Buffy slipped her hand into her pocket, part grudging and part grateful for the years of training that made her bring a stake to a social gathering. She scanned the bar, looking for signs of a predator on the hunt but found something else entirely. On the far side of the room, in a dark corner, so out of the way she almost didn't see him. Dressed as always in black, his wool coat hanging loosely about him despite the stifling heat in the venue, hair carefully spiked, face of an angel. Literally.

Buffy pushed her way through the throng, heading for the man who held the other half of her soul, her heart thundering in her chest as she desperately tried to think of something to say that wouldn't sound entirely lame. As she drew closer to him she took a deep breath, if possible he looked even more beautiful than he had that night in Sunnydale after he helped her defeat the mayor. The night he'd left her without a backward glance. Buffy finally came to a stop and opened her mouth to speak but she never had the chance. Angel leaned down, his lips pressing tenderly to hers and Buffy swore time stopped, just for that moment.

When Angel finally pulled away Buffy was speechless. She looked up at the man she had wanted to spend the rest of her life with, her eyes searching his for something that would allow them to carry on the way they had been. Angel smiled, and raised a finger, pointing above his head.

"Mistletoe."