Buffy had long since fallen back asleep, but Angel stayed with her. He wished he had stayed overnight and not let Riley have his way. The last thing Buffy needed was another shock in her world, although she seemed to take the news of their breakup better than he had expected.

It hadn't occurred to Angel that Buffy could lose her memory as he waited day and night by her side. He was just grateful she was alive, and grateful her condition wasn't more serious. He was glad the truth was out in the open. Angel could never stand for lying to her and keeping up the pretense. Buffy had to know the truth of what happened the past year, and that included his leaving.

As he watched her sleep, he couldn't help but mull over everything Buffy had said. She still believed they had a future, but what kind of future could they possibly have? They couldn't really pick up where they left off…could they? The more he thought about it, the harder it was to resist staying away.

He certainly wasn't leaving her now, and that was at least one thing he was sure of.

A soft knock on the door pulled Angel out of his thoughts. He looked up to see Cordelia poking her head in the doorway.

"Hey. Is this a bad time?"

"No, she's sleeping," he whispered. "Come in."

Cordelia hadn't visited Buffy much when she was in the coma. Buffy had had enough visitors anyway with all of her close friends holding a constant vigil at her side. "She looks much better," she whispered, taking a seat on the other side of the bed.

"Yeah."

"How are you holding up?"

"I'm fine."

"How did she take the news?" Cordelia had heard about Buffy, about how her mind was stuck in 1999 and how she believed she and Angel to still be together.

"She took it okay. She said she understood my reasons but that she didn't have to be happy about it."

"Well that sounds like Buffy."

Cordelia and Angel both looked to the door as it opened again.

A nurse smiled politely at them. "Some flowers for the patient," she said, indicating the vase of daisies.

"I'll take them," Cordelia said, taking the vase and sitting them on the table.

Once the nurse left, Cordelia turned the vase of flowers around until she found the card tucked inside. She took the small envelope out and began to open it.

"Cordy, what are you doing?"

"I'm just seeing who they're from," Cordelia shrugged her shoulders. "Yes, I'm a little nosy. So what?" Cordelia took the tiny card out and read it aloud.

"'Buffy, hope you feel better soon. P.S. Tell Angel he owes me half a twenty next time he sees me. –W.'" Cordelia handed the card to Angel. "'W'? Who's 'W"? These can't be from Willow or Wesley…"

"Willy."

"Oh, right. What's the part about the half twenty?"

"Nothing important."

"You're paying him?"

"If he gives good information, yeah."

"You know you could just beat him up. You don't have to pay him."

"He'll cooperate more if he knows cash is involved." Angel rose to his feet and looked down at Buffy, still sleeping. "Can you sit with her for a while? I don't want her to wake up and be alone."

"Yeah, sure."

"Thanks. If she wakes up, tell her I'll be back soon. I've got to go see what this is about."

The bar was completely deserted at the noon hour, which was a good thing, Willy thought. He didn't want or need an audience.

"Angel, you got my message. Wow, that was quick. Hey, I heard the Slayer was doing better. I called the hospital and told them I was her Uncle Willy. The broad who answered the phone totally bought it."

Angel walked over the bar. "What information do you have for me?"

Willy looked around his empty bar, double-checking to make sure they were alone. "You didn't hear this from me, understood? If my patrons around here found out I was spilling all their secret plans to the Slayer's friends, they'd have my head in a heartbeat. It's amazing what some of them will say once you give them a little alcohol."

"Willy…" Angel said, urging him to continue.

"Right. So last night, this group of rough looking demons were hanging around here. They were saying how they couldn't wait until they had free reign of this town, like they had all sorts of plans to cause trouble."

"What else did you hear?"

Willy leaned in closer, lowing his voice. "One of them said something about opening a Hellmouth? How phase one of the plan was almost complete. I don't know when this is all going to go down. A month? Maybe two? But it looks like they're gathering their forces and getting ready for something around here. Something big."

"Hear anything else?"

"That's pretty much it. Up to you to make heads or tails of it but I thought you might want to know."

"Thanks, Willy. I trust you'll let me know if you hear anything else?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Good."

Angel started to walk away when Willy stopped him. "Hey, aren't you forgetting something?"

Angel turned around and dug into his pocket. "Right." He took out the half twenty, along with a five dollar bill for tip, and placed it into his greedy palm.

"Cordelia?" Buffy blinked her eyes, still drowsy from her nap.

Cordelia looked up from her magazine and over to Buffy. "Oh, you're awake. Angel said he'd be right back. He had some kind of errand to run. How are you feeling?"

Buffy sat up slowly, ignoring her question. "Where did he go?"

"He went to see that Willy guy at the bar? I guess he had some information. Oh look, he even sent you flowers." Cordelia indicated the vase of flowers on the table.

"Willy the Snitch sent me flowers? Well, I guess stranger things have happened."

"Yeah, speaking of strange, I guess I'm probably the last person you'd expect to come visit you, huh?"

"Truth be told, yeah actually. How are you, Cordelia?"

"Better than you it looks like. I'm so sorry about everything. Is there anything I can do for you?"

Helpful Cordelia? Buffy shook her head. "I just wish everything was normal again." Buffy laughed, the irony of that statement. "What am I talking about? Things were never normal for me in the first place. I just wish I could remember." Buffy tried to think of something Angel had told her. What had he said about Cordelia last night? "Angel mentioned you last night. He said something about…oh what was it? Oh yeah, he said you had a vision or something? But I don't really understand what he was talking about."

"Oh, right. I guess you wouldn't. Well, it's kind of a long story."

Buffy gave her a pointed look. "I don't think I'm going anywhere for a while."

"Right. Well, he told you about AI didn't he?"

"What?"

"Angel Investigations," Cordelia clarified. "Our business?"

Buffy shook her head. "He said he was living in L.A. He didn't say anything about having a business."

"Oh. Well, we have this detective agency you see. Angel, Wesley, and I. Not like cheating spouses or anything like that, I mean, unless we're desperate to get some bills paid. But mostly it's paranormal cases we take—"

"Wait, did you say Wesley? As in my watcher Wesley?"

"Oh yeah, that's right. You wouldn't remember that either. He got fired from the Watchers' Council. I don't remember why exactly. But he ran into us in L.A. Said he was working as a rogue demon hunter."

Buffy couldn't help but laugh out a loud. "A what?" When she thought of Wesley, the words "rogue" and "demon hunter" didn't exactly come to mind.

"Yeah, I know. Anyway, he's really smart, especially when it comes to demony-type things, so now he works with us."

Buffy thought of her former watcher, and the image of Wesley Wyndam-Pryce with his sophisticated wardrobe and immaculate manners didn't quite mesh with a brooding vampire and former high school cheerleader.

"I know what you're thinking. What an odd group, huh? But we work surprisingly well together. And Wesley's changed…a lot. I mean, he's still the same old Wesley in some ways, but there's a different side to him. Did you know he rides a motorcycle?"

Buffy laughed again. "Now I know you're kidding!"

"I wish I was! I had to insist we rent a car to drive up here. I wasn't about to show up in Sunnydale to see old friends with helmet hair."

"It sounds like you three have a good thing going."

"Yeah, we really do. We're like family now. So anyway, like I was saying, we have this detective business. Paranormal investigations mostly, like if you have some crazy demon after you or something, people call us. Or if I get a vision of someone in trouble, we go help them out."

"So you had a vision? A vision of me?" Buffy shook her head, still not understanding what Cordelia was saying.

"Yeah. The visions are…a gift I suppose. Or a curse, depending on how you look at it I guess. Before Wesley came along, Angel and I worked with this guy named Doyle. He was half-demon, but he was a nice guy. A really good friend actually. Doyle would get these visions of people in trouble. The down side was that the visions would be followed by these mind-numbing migraines, but whenever he'd get a vision, Angel would go investigate and help whoever was in trouble. But then Doyle died, and somehow, his gift transferred to me. So anyway, that's the story in a nutshell. Now I get the visions and I had a vision of you, and that's why Angel came to Sunnydale."

"So…help me understand. How exactly did you start this business?"

"Well, I left for L.A. after graduation. Thought I'd try my hand at acting. I didn't know Angel was in town until I ran into him one night. Boy was I glad to see him! I barely knew anyone out there and it was so nice to see a familiar face. And then he saved my life. He and Doyle. And that's how it all started. You know, it's funny, but I spent three years trying to get out of Sunnydale and away from all of the craziness that happens here, and now I'm involved more than ever before. And I actually don't hate it so much now."

The door opened, and Buffy was disappointed when it was only a lady with a food tray, not Angel. She moved the rolling bed tray closer to the bed and placed the food on top of it.

"I'm not hungry," Buffy told her.

"Well, honey, I can't help that," she replied. "I only bring the food when they tell me to."

The lady left the room as quickly as she came, and Buffy frowned, moving the food away from her.

"You really should eat something you know," Cordelia said. "I know thin is in but if you lose any more weight, you're going to disappear."

"I'm not hungry," Buffy said again. "You know, you don't have to stay here with me. I don't need a babysitter."

"I know. I'm just staying here because Angel asked me to. He's worried about you. He's a little overprotective sometimes when it comes to you."

"Yeah, I know. Look, I think I'm just going to rest for a while. You really don't have to stay."

"You sure?"

Buffy nodded. "I'm sure. I just want to rest for a while until Angel comes back."

"Okay." Cordelia rose to her feet. "If Angel asks though, you be sure to tell him that I only left because you asked me to."

Buffy watched as Cordelia picked up her magazine and threw her bag over her shoulder.

"See you later," she said, walking out the door.

Once alone, Buffy closed her eyes. She hadn't been lying to get rid of Cordelia; she really was tired. And before long, she dozed off to sleep again.

Buffy wasn't sure how long she slept, but it couldn't have been too long. Her plate of untouched food still sat on her bed tray.

Feeling his familiar presence, Buffy looked over to her side. Angel was sitting beside her in the chair.

"Hey," he said, smiling at her.

"Hey. You're back."

"You okay?"

"I'm fine. Just still so tired."

"Cordelia said you didn't eat your lunch."

"Not hungry. I thought Cordelia left."

"She left a little while ago." Angel reached across the bed and rolled the bed tray closer to Buffy. "You need to eat something."

"But I—"

"I know you're not hungry, and who could possibly have an appetite after all you've been through? But you still need to eat." Angel lifted the lid off the plate of food.

Buffy glared at him. "What are you, the food police?"

"I'm just worried about you."

Buffy eyed her plate, wondering what on her tray could possibly be edible. The mystery meat was definitely out, and probably too cold by now anyway. "The only thing worse than high school cafeteria food is hospital cafeteria food."

"Buffy…"

She picked up a small bowl of peaches to appease him. "I'll eat the fruit," she said.

"Good. That's a start," Angel said, who seemed to be pleased that she was at least getting a few calories from something.

"So did you find out anything from our pal Willy the Snitch? Cordelia said you went to go see him."

"Not much. You know how Willy likes to be vague and non-specific."

"No, you like to be vague and non-specific. Don't go all 'cryptic guy' on me now. What did you find out?"

Angel supposed there was no reason why he should keep this information from Buffy. She was bound to find out eventually. Although the last thing he wanted to do was to give her something else to worry about, especially when she was only just recovering from her latest attack. "Willy mentioned some demons that have been hanging around his bar. A rough crowd it sounds like."

"Okay, well that's not new. Willy's patrons are always such a…pleasant crowd," she said sarcastically.

"Well according to Willy, business has never been better. And a group of them last night were bragging about a plan to open the Hellmouth in a month's time, or maybe two."

"Great. Always something involving that damn Hellmouth," Buffy complained. "So how do we stop them this time?"

When Angel didn't immediately respond, Buffy repeated her question. "Angel, how do we stop them?"

"I'm not sure how we stop them," he admitted somberly. "But we're going to find out."