Disclaimer: Not even in my dreams do I actually manage to own these characters.

A little while later, the Jeffersonian was remarkably calmer. Spike had kicked up his feet on one of the couches in Brennan's office and was cheerily explaining to Angela why scotch was a better alcoholic beverage than whiskey. Hodgins was having fun torching the squid demon, and Cam had thoughtfully catalogued everything that had happened to show Sweets later in case it turned out to be likely that he was crazy. Brennan was doing what she normally did when she didn't understand a situation and couldn't come up with a logical explanation. She was waiting for Booth to explain.

However, the person Bones though of as Booth was a bit preoccupied with holding Buffy, and marveling. Buffy was trying very hard to control her tear ducts but they didn't really want to cooperate with her. She breathed deeply to try and control her pulse and breathing. She knew that Angel could hear both perfectly and wanted to make this experience as none embarrassing as possible.

When she felt calm enough she looked up to meet Angel's eyes. "Hi," she murmured softly.

"Hi," he replied. "Are you okay?"

Buffy nodded and looked at him more closely. She frowned slightly. Angel looked like he hadn't slept in weeks, possibly longer. Even powerful vampires needed to sleep. She reached up and touched the shadows under his eyes. "You look like hell."

"Hell is a little more painful," he said stiffly

Buffy's frown deepened. "When was the last time you slept?" she asked. Angel frowned and tried to mentally calculate the number of hours that had passed. Buffy's mouth came up in a sad smile. "That long huh?"

"What about you?" Angel spiked back, as his gaze took in the circles under her eyes. "When was the last time you got some sleep?"

Buffy grimaced. "I don't even want to think about it. Normally I can catch a couple of hours every night but ever since I dusted The Immortal his henchmen haven't let up for a second. Not to mention that Giles moved us on top of the only other Hell Mouth on the planet..."

"Did you say you dusted The Immortal?" Angel interrupted in disbelief.

Buffy narrowed her eyes at him. "Yeah. I did it while Dawn and I were living in Rome last year. It was nice really, we did some great touristy things while we were there, and Willow totally drained his bank accounts, so that was fun too. We used the money to set up a slayer headquarters in Cleveland." Buffy sat up straighter. "Angel, why does it look like you'd be having a heart attack if you had a circulatory system?"

"Nothing," Angel lied.

"Angel," Buffy said warningly. "Don't lie to try to protect me. I'm sick of it."

Angel was still reluctant. Buffy sighed. "I'm a big girl Angel. I can handle the cold hard truth. I would have thought that you of all people would know that."

They both flinched at the host of painful memories that those words triggered. Memories of the forgotten day, Buffy's death, and the heartbreaking sewer talk from before the prom.

"I went to Rome," Angel finally answered. "I saw you with the Immortal. I thought-"

"Oh," Buffy said in realization. There was basically nothing else to say. They sat together in silence for several moments. "You still have to explain all of this you know," she told him.

Angel merely nodded.

After a few more minutes, Angel could hear from Buffy's heartbeat that she was asleep. He looked back towards Bones's office and saw Bones, Angela, Cam, Hodgins, and Spike all waiting. He sighed and shifted Buffy off of him and in to a comfortable position on the couch. He got up and walked towards the office to be intercepted by Spike.

Spike gave a crooked grin. "'ello Peaches. You've got some explaining to do."

"Could you not call me that?," Angel asked in annoyance. He looked back at Buffy. "I have to handle this. Can you...?"

Spike rolled his eyes. "No problem Peaches. Look I may still detest you, but while your here Buffy is happy. Don't screw up," he looked back at the still shell shocked scientists. "Good luck Peaches. Don't get dusted."

Angel nodded. "Right." he walked towards Doctor Brennan's office and Spike leaned against the railing to stand watch over Buffy.

He entered the office and was greeted by several moments of awkward silence. "Um... hello," he tried.

"Oh no way does that come even close to cutting it," Angela informed him. "Who are those two? And what the hell was that thing that you stabbed in the eye?"

Angel shifted uncomfortably. "It's a long story. A really long story."

"We're listening Seeley," Cam said stubbornly.

Angel shot a quick glance at Doctor Brennan. There was no way on earth or out of it that her rational brain would ever be able to cope with the real story. Cam and Angela wouldn't get it either he knew. Why should they? His life was painful and confusing to him and he had lived it. Hodgins would start rambling about government. In all likely hood, they would try to get him committed to a mental hospital, which meant that it was time for some creative lying.

"The people are named Spike and Buffy. Spike is an old, well not exactly friend. Buffy is someone very important to me. I've known them both for about eight years now." Hope is a strange thing. No matter how futile it is, humans still find it in their ability. Angel would have thought he would know better given how most of what he hoped for ended up in pain. However, the knowledge didn't stop him from hoping that the squint squad would just let it go.

"How did you meet?"

"What the hell was the giant squid thing?"

"Wow hold on," Hodgins said. "Eight years ago you would have been still working for the bureau."

"Eight years ago I had just gotten back from being a sniper," Angel lied. The time stamps basically added up. He would just have to hope that no one checked to carefully. "I have no idea about the squid thing, and now if you'll excuse me, I have to go." Angel left before any other questions could be thought of.

Cam, Hodgins, Bones, and Angela watched him walk away. All of them were thinking different thoughts but Doctor Brennan's were the only ones that were voiced. They were also the only ones that really mattered at that moment.

"He's lying."

Cam turned towards her. "How can you tell?"

Bones shrugged. " I've known Booth long enough to recognize the physical signs of when he lies, and he just did."

"Well then their's only one thing to do," Hodgins said. They all turned towards him. "Find out what the truth is."

"So how did it go?" Spike asked with a grin.

"Well I'm not dusted and they don't think I'm insane," Angel answered.

"So you lied through your arse," Spike inferred.

Angel shrugged and leaned against the wall next to Spike. "I guess you could try calling it creative truth-telling."

Spike scoffed. "A lawyer answer. You sure Evil Incorporated didn't rub off on you a bit Peaches?"

Angel glared at him. "Why don't you do something useful, and tell me what happened after the battle?"

Spike looked at him incredulously. "Do you really not remember anything?"

Angel shook his head. "I remember killing the dragon and fighting. The next thing I knew, I woke up here in a hospital bed with a head full of memories about the life of someone named Seeley Booth. Who apparently worked at the FBI. I had this vision from the Powers That Be before waking up that this is something they wanted me to do."

Spike whistled. "That's quite the tale Peaches. Well, after you killed the dragon, the slayers showed up. After that, things started looking up. We killed off most of the hell army. When the battle ended none of us could find you. We looked for ages but we had to clear out. Me, Gunn, Illyria, and Wes went back to Cleveland with Buffy and friends. We've helped keep the Hell Mouth under control. Buffy and I were tracking Big Squidy when we got zapped through a portal to here."

Angel nodded and absorbed that information. He was still watching Buffy and listening to her heartbeat. It was unique, always beating a bit faster than a normal humans.

"She cried for a week," Spike told him. "She tried to hide it but I could smell the tears."

Angel let his head knock back into the wall. Had he been human, he would have had a concussion. "I just keep screwing up her life don't I? I hurt her by being too close, and I hurt her when I tried to get out of her life."

"Thus going down as the stupidest thing you have ever done in nearly two and a half centuries of doing stupid things," Spike said in his typical blunt fashion. "Why in the bloody hell did you do that anyway?"

Angel looked at him strangely. That last comment had pretty much convinced him that Spike had finally lost the fragile hold he managed to keep on his sanity. "You were there for when I turned into Angelus weren't you? Or was that just your equally as crazy, and annoying doppelgänger? In case you somehow missed it; I made it my personal mission in life to brutally kill, torture, terrorize, and maim, anyone in her life! And, that was before I tried to suck the world into hell. That's not really the kind of crap you can fix with chocolate and flowers."

Hey hey don't take my credit. Angelus scolded indignantly.

"And that she forgave you and loved you anyway just what? Escaped your notice?" Spike said, sarcasm dripping from every syllable. He watched Angel clam up and sighed. "Jesus mate. I swear our lives are more dramatic than bloody Passions! Look, I know you left so she could have your retarded fantasy about what her life should be like, with sun and kids and all that,"

"Yeah I did," Angel cut him off. "I can't give her a normal life, or anything a normal girl would want."

Spike rolled his eyes. "Yeah yeah fine. But did you ever stop and think about the fact that Buffy doesn't want any of that? Look at the facts mate, you left so she could have a normal relationship, and the only long-term ones she has in nearly five years are with Captain Cardboard and me. Does that scream, 'I want a normal relationship with sunshine and daisies' to you? Because if it does than you really need to get your hearing checked."

Angel used his normally reaction when he was swallowing large pills of information. This reaction was to go dead faced (no pun intended) until the information had been processed. His thought processes had always had trouble moving at the correct speed when he was in close proximity with Buffy. There had actually been several times while they were dating where he had had to simply suspend all other thought until she had left his presence.

Spike let him think. He idly wondered where he could find something to drink. As a vampire it took him a lot longer for alcohol to effect his systems. No circulation meant that the alcohol didn't actually do a lot of spreading. When Spike had first found out how long it would take him to get drunk he had nearly massacred an entire French town before deciding he would rather stay in and test the theory.

The two vampires just stood together watching Buffy sleep. After a moment a thought occurred to Spike. "Is it creepy that we watch her sleep?"

"I'd prefer to think of it as obsessively protective," Angel answered.

Buffy woke up at that moment and stretched. She turned over to find both vampires watching her. She smiled slightly. "You know, I'm having trouble deciding whether or not I think that's creepy and stalkerish or just obsessively protective."

"At least it's not just us," Spike said.

Seeing Buffy's look of confusion Angel stepped in, "I'll explain later."

"You've got more than just that to explain mister," Buffy told him sitting up on the couch and gestured towards the empty spaces. "Both of you sit and tell me what I've missed."

"Yes mother," Spike mocked.

Buffy stuck her tounge out at him. Angel and Spike sat down and explained what had happened while she was sleeping. When they were finished Buffy looked at Spike. "You haven't told him?" she asked.

"I thought that was down to you pet."

"Tell me what?" Angel asked nervously.

Buffy looked back at him. "Well apparently, if at first you don't succeed in getting any recognition from the higher powers for saving the world, try it another eighteen times, eventually you'll get a reward."

"Buffy," Angel gritted out between his teeth. 'What happened?"

"Well to make a long story nice and short;" Buffy started nervously. "Me, Faith, Willow, Xander, Kennedy, Anya, and Giles all got immortality and your soul is permanently bound." She rushed out. She watched Angel for a reaction. "Angel say something."

"You are immortal," he pronounced carefully.

"That's the part of that rant you picked up on?" Spike muttered.

Buffy ignored him. "It's turn offable though. We can all choose to keep on aging if we want to but for the time being I'm 23 forever. Now on to the subject of how your soul is permanent and how you should be happy about it..."

She was cut off by Angel hugging her. She enjoyed it for a moment before she really needed to breathe. "Um... Angel need to breath."

Angel loosened his grip to let her breath for a moment before kissing her hard. Buffy responded immediately. She felt her entire world slip away and wrapped her arms around his neck more tightly. Fortunately, Angel did not have to breath. Buffy broke away when she started seeing stars and the world started tipping. She laid her head against his chest until she caught her breath. "I take it your happy about this then," she panted out.

Spike tapped his foot impatiently. "If you two could find it in your hearts to postpone this happy little snog fest until later, I think you'll find that the scientist squad is staring,"

Angel took a deep un needed breath to martial his thoughts into a recognizable order. "Right, I'm taking the day off. Spike I'll tell ou how to get to my place through the tunnel system under the building."

"What about you?" Buffy asked worriedly.

Angel held up his hand so she could see the Jem of Amara nestled against his knuckle. "A gift from the powers."

Buffy nodded and Spike sighed. "Fine. Tell me how to reach the Casa de Poof."

Ounce Angel had given directions he pulled out his cell phone and dialed director Cullen's phone number. "Hello director Cullen. Yeah it's Booth. Look, I'm going to need to take a personal day.

"Is everything all right? You're not feeling sick are you? I swear to god half the bureau has the flu." Cullen said worriedly.

"No I'm not sick."

"Alright Agent Booth. I'll see you tomorrow."

With that Angel hung up.

"Do you have any bags or anything?" he asked Buffy as they started walking towards the exit.

She laughed a little. "I got sucked through a portal. I didn't exactly get the opportunity to pack."

Angel nodded. "We'll get you some clothes later then."

"Ooo. Color me spoiled." Buffy said happily.

With that the two of them left the building and Buffy was struck dumb by her first memory of Angel in the sun.

A/N: So how was it? I hoped I answered the demands of everyone. The squints will be having a bigger part in the next chapter as they try to work out more about Angel. I'm sorry about the spelling errors in the other chapters but the spell check on my computer was broken. I hope the explanations were satisfactory.