"Well, look who finally decided to grace us with his presence."

"Good morning, Cordy," Angel said as he entered the kitchen.

"Morning."

"It's a beautiful morning, isn't it? Not that I've been outside or anything. But it feels like it's a beautiful morning outside."

"Oh god," Cordelia moaned.

Angel walked over to the coffee pot and poured himself a cup, oblivious to Cordelia rolling her eyes, then joined her at the table.

"So, I heard you and Buffy were back together. And look, before you say anything, I'm not going to give you grief about it. I'm actually okay with it, just as long as you two don't get all groiny with each other. But don't you think parading around naked at her house is just asking for trouble?"

"What? I wasn't parading around naked! Who said that I was?"

"Good morning all," Wesley said, walking into the kitchen.

"Morning," Cordelia said.

"I wasn't parading around," Angel whispered. "I was in the shower!"

Wesley stared at the stove for a moment, seeing the empty tea kettle. "You didn't make tea?" he asked, turning to Cordelia.

"Of course not, British boy! Here in America, coffee is the morning beverage of choice!"

Angel smiled. "Buffy likes coffee."

"Oh god," Cordelia moaned again. "Nothing worse than a lovesick vampire."

"I was a fool before. I don't know why I ever thought things would be better for her if I left."

"So you two are really back together?" Wesley asked as he joined them at the table.

Angel smiled. "Yeah, we're really back together. Look, I don't know what this is going to mean for us now. Obviously I'm going to be staying in Sunnydale for a while. I know this is all a little…unexpected."

"I wouldn't exactly say it was unexpected," Cordelia said, smiling. "I totally saw this coming."

"Well I didn't," Angel said. "Getting back together with Buffy wasn't exactly what I had in mind when I came back to Sunnydale. I've spent months trying to shut off my feelings for her. But it's as if the more I tried to forget her, the harder it was to stay away."

"The heart wants what it wants," Wesley said with a smile.

"I was fooling myself to think I could stay away from her."

"Angel, while I'm thrilled for you and Buffy, I can't help but feel, well, a little concerned," Wesley stammered. "Your curse…"

"He wants to know if you plan to get physical," Cordelia finished for him. "And frankly, I'm a little concerned about that myself."

"You guys, I do have a little self-control! It's not like I think about Buffy and I together that way all the time." Or at least he tried not to.

"We tried the spell three times!" Willow said as she handed Giles the spell book the next morning. "Page twenty-three. And every time, same thing happened! The little ball of light went to the middle of the map, then poof! So, you know a little about magic, Giles. Do you think I did the spell wrong?"

Giles straightened his glasses as he examined the text. "No, it doesn't appear the spell was done incorrectly. Perhaps Maleficus simply doesn't want to be found."

"You mean like some sort of cloaking spell?"

"Perhaps."

"Maybe this is wishful thinking, but could he possibly not be in Sunnydale anymore?" Buffy suggested, overhearing their conversation.

Willow turned to Buffy, shaking her head. "No, if that were the case, the light would have moved off the map." Willow stood up and walked over to the bookshelf. "I'll see if I can find some sort of counter-spell."

"Thanks for trying, Willow."

"We'll find him, Buffy. One way or the other."

"My guess is he's hiding somewhere near the Hellmouth," Buffy said. "Not that I plan to go seek him out or anything, or at least not until we exactly know who we're dealing with. Hey, Giles, any progress on that front?"

"Well, we've narrowed down the list some, but unfortunately, the suspect list is still rather long."

"So more research, huh?"

"Yes, afraid so. How was patrol last night?" Giles asked, changing the subject.

"Oh, you know, the usual. We ended up dusting eight vamps before the night was over, which isn't really odd for Sunnydale."

"Only vampires?"

"Yeah. Nothing…demony. Just a lot of vamps. Of the regular variety that is. No vamps on steroids or anything."

Giles looked at her in confusion.

"The warrior vamps? The ones with all the super strength?"

"Yes, of course. Speaking of strength…shall we begin our training session?"

"Now?" Buffy whined, but followed Giles to the training room anyway.

"You have to remain on top of your game, Buffy."

"I find it hard to be on top of anything until I've had at least two cups of coffee. And I just realized how that sentence sounded. Training now?" Buffy smiled widely.

Giles opened the weapons cabinet and handed Buffy a sword. "We'll use this today."

"Hey, Giles? There's uh…something I should probably tell you. And if I don't tell you, you'll just hear it from someone else, and you'd probably rather hear it from me. I don't want any secrets to be between us."

Giles glanced at her with a furrowed brow. "Is something wrong, Buffy?"

"No, nothing's wrong." Buffy took a deep breath. "It's just that…Angel and I are seeing each other again. We, you know, tried the break-up thing for a while. Decided it wasn't for us. So we got back together."

Giles turned back to the weapons cabinet and picked out several knives.

"I just thought you should know. And we're not going to do anything…you know. We're going to be careful. We already have one apocalypse on our hands. We don't need another one by bringing out Angelus."

Giles closed the weapons cabinet and began setting up for their training session.

"Okay, this is the part where you say words, Giles."

He placed the weapons on a nearby table, then turned to Buffy. "I'm glad that you told me."

"But you're not exactly thrilled about it, are you?"

"I've long since realized I have no control over your personal life, Buffy, but I can't help but caution you when it comes to Angel. The risks—"

"I know. You don't have to tell me. I've heard it all before. Just trust me, Giles, okay? Trust that I'm well aware of what Angel and I are doing."

"I do trust you, Buffy. But I worry about you."

"You don't need to worry about me."

"I worry that Angel will be a distraction, and with Maleficus out there—"

"He's not a distraction. If anything, having him keep his distance was an even bigger distraction." Buffy sat down on the bench and stared up at him. "Do you have any idea what it's like to lose a year of your life? To wake up and not remember what's happened in the last twelve months?"

"No, I can't say that I have."

"I don't know what I was like before my accident. Maybe I felt like I was over Angel. Maybe I was in a place where I felt like I could start to move on with someone else. But then someone pressed the rewind button on my life, and I'm back at the beginning. I lost my mom. Angel left me. Everyone and everything around me was just…different. And for a while there, it was really hard for me to adjust."

"I know."

"You say that he's a distraction, but not having him around….it's like I've lost a part of myself. I know it's hard for everyone to understand my relationship with Angel, but he gets me in a way that nobody else can. He's the only freaky thing in my freaky world that makes sense sometimes. And when I woke up and realized we'd gone our separate ways? Well, quite honestly, that was more upsetting than the fact that I had almost died. I just wanted things to be…normal again. As normal as they could possibly be anyway. So when Angel apologized for the way he treated me, and he told me he wanted things to work out between us…well, it's the happiest I've been since I woke up."

The corner of Giles' mouth slowly turned up. "Well I could hardly argue with that." He joined her on the bench. "I don't intend to give you a hard time, Buffy. I hope you know that."

"You just care me about. It's understandable that you'd be concerned."

"It's more than just concern, Buffy. If I had a daughter, I'd imagine she'd be a lot like you. And I can't help but worry about you as if a father would."

Buffy smiled at him. "Are we having a Hallmark moment?"

Giles smiled back at her. "I just want you to be careful, Buffy."

"I will."

"And quite frankly, it doesn't matter if it's Angel or Riley or someone else. I'll never believe anyone is good enough for you."

"Spoken like a true pseudo-father."

"Shall we get to work now?" Giles suggested. He stood to his feet and walked over to the weapons he had selected. "I think it's time you've practiced with a variety of weaponry. You're quite adept at using stakes, however, it certainly won't kill every demon."

"I like how you switched into Watcher-mode, Giles," Buffy teased as she walked over to the table and took a look at the swords and knives before them. "My real father would freak out if he saw me playing with knives."

"Hey, vamp! The 70s called! They want their polyester suit back!"

The vampire Buffy was fighting paused for a moment and looked down at what he was wearing. "Huh? What's wrong with this suit?"

Buffy raised an eyebrow. "Seriously? It's the year 2000 and that outfit reeks of the disco days. I mean, that look went out of style before I was even born! Where'd you get it from anyway? Your parents' closet?"

"No, I got it out of my own closet. And I happen to like—"

Buffy staked the vampire before he finished talking. "Evil vamps are bad enough, but one with a bad fashion sense as well?"

"Buffy! Behind you!" Angel called from across the way as he fought another vampire.

Before she could turn around, the vampire grabbed her arms, holding her in place.

"Think you're so strong now, Slayer?"

"As a matter of fact…yes!" Buffy kicked the vampire in the shin. She managed to get out of his grip, but she dropped her stake in the process.

Buffy spun around and hit the vampire in the jaw. He returned the gesture, throwing a punch at her. Buffy ducked her head, narrowly missing his fist.

"End of Days has begun!"

"Yeah, end of your days maybe!" she said, kicking him in the gut and sending him flying against a headstone.

As the vampire got his bearings, Buffy grabbed her stake from the ground. The vampire charged at her once again, but met the end of her pointy stick instead.

Seconds later, the vampire Angel had been fighting turned to dust as well.

"Is that it?" Buffy asked, catching her breath.

Angel looked around. "Yeah, I think we got all of them."

Buffy checked her watch. "And in just under two minutes."

Angel gave her a smile as he stepped closer. "I always knew we worked well together."

"Like a well-oiled machine." Buffy tilted her head up as he pulled her into his arms and kissed her lips.

They stayed like that for a while until a familiar voice interrupted the moment.

"Ahh…reunited. And it feels…so good." From out of the shadows, Spike emerged. He walked over to them, smiling at Angel. "But not too good, right? You wouldn't want to lose that pesky soul of yours, now would you?" Spike leaned in closer. "I bet you want to shag her so bad and say the hell with the bloody curse, don't you?"

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Go away, Spike."

"I'll go wherever I damn well please. And the last I checked, this was a public cemetery."

"So find another one," Angel said, glaring at him.

Spike just laughed. "Don't want me horning in on your fun, eh? Not even if I knew where a nest of vampires are hiding?"

"Too late. We already killed them. Come on, Angel. Let's patrol somewhere else. The stench of cigarette smoke is overwhelming around here."

Buffy turned on her heel and walked away, Angel close behind her.

"You're going the wrong way," Spike said, sidling up beside her. "The nest is back there near the forest."

Buffy stopped in her tracks. "I don't remember inviting you on our patrol."

"Oh, is that what you two were doing back there? When you had your tongues shoved down each other's throats?"

"I thought you said you didn't want to help us anymore."

Spike shrugged his shoulders. "What can I say? I got bored. Vampires see me and they turn the other way. But with you…well, no vampire can resist fighting a slayer."

"Isn't there an elsewhere you should be?" Buffy said, walking away.

Spike moved in front of them, blocking their way. "Look, is it so hard for you to believe that I'm on your side for once?"

"Yes," Angel said.

"Well I don't care what the lot of you think of me anyway. Now do you two want to find this nest or what?"

"Is that a sword?" Angel asked, noticing for the first time a shiny metal object in Spike's hand. "Where did you get that from?"

Spike held up the sword, grinning proudly. "Got it from a Mohra Demon," he said proudly.

"You killed a Mohra?" Angel asked.

"Well don't look so surprised. The bloody ninja came after me, and I'm never one to turn down a good fight."

"Did you kill it?" Angel demanded.

"No, I let him get away. Of course I killed it! He lost his sword. Then he lost his head. Courtesy of yours truly."

"You idiot!"

"Well that's gratitude."

"You didn't kill him!"

"Well he looked dead to me when I left him!"

"You don't understand, Spike. You have to kill them a certain way. Mohra demons regenerate themselves, and when they do, they come back stronger."

"Well how the bloody hell was I supposed to know that?"

"What's a Mohra demon?" Buffy asked.

Buffy's question threw Angel for a moment until he realized she wouldn't have remembered. "You've seen them before. They're assassin demons. They target warriors like us."

"So that's why he was chasing me," Spike said.

"Or they just like to kill anything that's annoying," Angel added. He looked down at the stake in his hand. "We need to go back and get better weapons. And you," he pointed to Spike. "You're going to show us where you supposedly killed this demon."

Twenty minutes later, Angel's '67 Plymouth pulled into a parking space.

"Wow, it's weird to see this place so deserted," Buffy said as she looked around at the empty parking lot. She caught Angel's look of confusion and explained. "We're at the beach. Usually a lot more crowded in the daytime."

"Oh, right. Well it's a good thing not many people are around." Angel pulled out a giant axe from the back seat of the car. "These Mohra demons are dangerous. They may target warriors but they'll kill humans too."

"Spike?" Buffy asked, checking to see if he was ready.

He stood outside the car with his sword, sniffing the air. "He went that way. I can smell him."

"Let's go kill a Mohra demon," Angel said as he and Buffy fell in line behind Spike.

The only thought Angel had, other than wanting the Mohra demon dead, was that it would be a really bad time to become human again. And there were no Oracles to turn back the clock this time around.

Here he was, once again, facing the opportunity to become mortal. It'd be so simple really. Cut the demon. Cut himself. Mix their blood. Become human.

But he wasn't going to do that, not if he could help it. As much as he would like to become human, he'd never be able to help Buffy fight that way. Nothing had changed since that perfect day last fall, and his reasons for being immortal remained the same.

Besides, Angel had a bad feeling about things to come. The forces of darkness were gathering their armies, and Buffy would need all the help she could get.

Maybe even Spike's, he hated to admit. Provided he had really changed, of course.

Angel glanced at Buffy as they walked on the beach, her face illuminated in the moonlight. She caught his gaze and smiled at him. She was a strong fighter, and he'd make damn sure he was just as strong.

"Now remember, these demons regenerate," Angel said as the three made their way through the tunnel of a nearby cave, which was conveniently lit, more evidence of a demon's presence. "Smash the jewel on its forehead. It's the only way to properly kill them."

"Are you sure this is where he went?" Buffy asked, turning to Spike.

"Positive."

"Spike's right. I can smell him too."

"Handy sense," Buffy said. "A little gross, but handy."

They came to a fork in the tunnels, and Spike paused for a moment. "There," he pointed, leading them down the left fork.

"Door number one then," Buffy said, following them.

They made their way through the cavern, following the Mohra's invisible trail.

Buffy began to wonder if they'd ever find this demon. "Kind of odd a demon would make his home a cave by the beach," Buffy mused aloud. "Don't most demons these days prefer the sewers?"

"It's not so odd," Angel said. "Mohra demons need a lot of salt to live."

"Oh. Well I suppose that makes sense."

"Will you two be quiet?" Spike complained, turning around and glaring at them. "I can't hear a thing."

Behind him, Buffy and Angel looked on as three Mohras appeared before them. The one in the middle looked especially angry.

"Uh…Spike?" Angel said, pointing over his shoulder. "I think you might want to turn around now."

"Foolish warrior!" the angry Mohra hissed as he lunged for Spike.

Spike dodged him. "Not so big and bad without your shiny weapon, huh?" he taunted, waving around the sword he'd stolen from him earlier.

The Mohra reached into his pocket and pulled out his morgenstern. He made a grand show of its metal spikes as he spun the weapon around.

"Bugger," Spike muttered.

The two remaining Mohras set their sights on Buffy and Angel.

"Of course he has buddies!" Buffy complained. "And with a bigger sword," she added as the Mohra brought out his.

"I prefer the axe myself," Angel said, aiming for the Mohra but missing him by mere inches.

Spike's demon, meanwhile, managed to throw him on the ground. Spike picked up his weapon again and was on his feet moments later. "Oh, is that the best you can do?"

Angel used his axe to cut the Mohra's arm, then used the opportunity to smash the blade of the axe into his jeweled forehead, killing him.

"You think you're better than me?" Spike continued to taunt, knocking the Mohra's morgenstern to the ground with his sword.

"Just kill it already, Spike!" Angel said.

"Lucky for me I'm really good at this," Buffy said as she hit her opponent's sword, causing him to drop his weapon as well. "Unlucky for you."

The Mohra charged Buffy and attacked, grabbing her weapon by the blade and tossing it aside. He picked Buffy up, sending her airborne for a few seconds against the cavern wall before landing to the ground with a thud. She looked up, seeing the Mohra looming above her. Not only was she without a weapon, but she was also without an immediate plan.

"Your weakness amuses me," the Mohra laughed, picking Buffy off the ground and holding her by the throat.

"Obviously you haven't seen how she operates," Angel said, slicing the Mohra from behind with his axe.

The Mohra screamed from the pain and loosened his grip. Buffy fell to the ground once again. This time, she spotted a morgenstern at his feet.

"You shouldn't leave your toys lying around!" she said as she grabbed the morgenstern. "Someone's liable to get hurt!"

Buffy swung the weapon around several times, gaining enough momentum to propel it forward. The metal smashed against the Mohra's jeweled forehead, and he screamed again in agony as a red glow surrounded him.

She suddenly realized she'd seen this happen before.

"You hurt my boyfriend!"

The Mohra disappeared, and Buffy stared at the empty space as she tried to make sense of her flashback.

Spike continued to fight the remaining Mohra, only to be thrown on the ground once again. He grabbed a rock as the Mohra picked him up. Spike abandoned his sword and used the rock instead, smashing the ruby.

"Easy clean-up," Angel remarked once all three Mohras were gone.

"Good weapons too," Spike said, reaching down on the ground and grabbing the morgenstern Buffy had tossed aside. "Anxious to try out this bad boy."

From the corner of his eye, Angel noticed Buffy as she stared blankly at the wall before her. "Buffy? You okay?"

Buffy turned to Angel and looked at him with a confused expression. "I think I remembered something. You said I've seen a Mohra before?"

"What do you remember?"

"I was fighting one, but the memory's kind of fuzzy. I guess Riley was there. He told me one of them attacked us at the beach. I didn't know what it was called before, but when you mentioned the ruby in its forehead, I knew it had to be the same kind of demon. I don't imagine there are too many demons that fit that description."

Angel stepped closer to her, putting his arm around her shoulder. "Come on. Let's go. It's been a long night."

"Yeah," Buffy said as she began to walk with Angel.

She looked over her shoulder one last time as they left the cave, staring at the space that moments before held three angry Mohras. As strange as it seemed, she couldn't quite shake the feeling that it had been Angel in her flashback instead of Riley.

A/N: So I decided it was time to bring Spike back into the story. I know he's sort of been on the backburner as of late. It's not that I've been ignoring him on purpose, but so much has been going on in the story that I just haven't had a chance to write about him much.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed. And yes, the flashback Buffy had was of "the day", but of course, Buffy doesn't know that! She's really confused anyway…

Until 27! :)