Buffy and Angel spent the entire today together again. They had their amusing breakfast date with Cordelia and Jesse then they'd spent the rest of the day back at his place. They had taken it easy for the most part, cuddling on his sofa watching a few movies, lounging around and talking. There had been a few times they'd also wound up back in bed together making up for some of their lost time.

When night fell, Angel hated to see the weekend come to an end. They'd ordered a pizza and set up an indoor picnic spot in the living room in front of the fireplace to top the evening off but he still felt a little bit of dread in the bottom of his stomach the more time went on. He knew eventually they'd have to be apart again for one reason or another but that didn't mean it didn't suck all the same.

Angel drove Buffy back to her apartment knowing they both had work to return to come morning. She stuck her bottom lip out in a pour as they stood together in her doorway. "This feels harder than it should," she told him.

He nodded in agreement. "I could swing by and take you to work in the morning?"

Buffy rolled her eyes. "That would be ridiculous. You go in too early for me to be doing any of that and you'd be driving back and forth way too much for that anyway."

"Worth it though."

Buffy laughed. "Did you know that there's an ice rink in town?"

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

"Hmm. Well, Wednesday's they have prices half off and slightly extended hours."

"Is that so?" Angel asked, getting amused. Buffy nodded. "Don't supposed you'd want to go with me?"

"When is the last time you went ice skating?"

Angel thought for a moment. "About nine years ago... maybe longer?"

Buffy's smile grew. "Oh, yeah, I wanna see your grand return."

"So, it's a date?"

"It's a date," she confirmed. Angel drew out leaving as long as he could but finally kissed her goodnight. "I'll see you Wednesday," she whispered.

OoOoO

Cordelia Chase was all smiles come Monday morning. Buffy knew she was in for a long day at the first glance at her friend. Most of the day had been gossiping about the newly mended couple but Buffy honestly didn't mind, she needed to gush to someone.

She'd already talked a little to Willow but it was nice to just lay it all out there.

"You know, normally I'd say you two are moving way too fast - even for a couple I got together," she added with a wink, "but I don't think the same rules apply to your unique situation. It's more a feeling like you need to kind of rush into some of it and make up for the time apart but also just get back to knowing one another, you know."

Buffy debated it but then told Cordelia about Angel asking her to move in. Cordy's eyes widened and asked for more details about that news. "Is it crazy that I almost want to tell you to just go for it?" she said with a laugh.

Buffy sighed and told her how yes, it was crazy, but even she kept thinking about it.

OoOoO

Sunday night, all of Monday, Tuesday and on through Wednesday seemed to drag on endlessly. Buffy had spoken to Angel via phone calls and text messages but she was beyond ready to see him again. She'd had to will herself not to grab a taxi over to his house several times or not to just ask him to come over the past few days. Additionally, she had gone through an extreme amount of up and downs when it came to her emotions, her excitement and worries.

"Was it our third date when we first went skating?" Angel asked, watching her show off for a few moments.

Buffy nodded and smiled at the memory. "Yep," she said. "And you landed right on your ass about five seconds in."

"I feel like we're about to have history do a repeat of itself."

Buffy laughed, telling him to come on. It was busy tonight and Angel almost did fall down as soon as he got onto the ice and a small girl almost knocked him over. Buffy laughed harder as he gripped for the side wall earning some dirty looks.

"I feel like I am too old for this."

"You probably are," she told him, holding back a smile. "But you're already here so you've got to make the most of it. Do you want one of those training poles?"

Angel shot her more dirty looks as he tried to regain his composure. It took nearly the entire time they were there for Angel to get comfortable in skates again and he'd only fallen once in the three hours they were there. She decided to call that a win.

"I'm going to be sore as hell tomorrow," Angel complained as he got into the driver's side of the car.

Buffy was sure she would be as well, it'd been about a year since she'd even been out here. "Aww, poor baby," she teased.

"That's right, poor baby. I was going to try and get you to go out and with me again Friday but I think my ass is broke and I'll be laying up in a bed trying to recover from this date."

Buffy bust out laughing. "Awww. I could always come over and take care of you," she playfully offered.

"And you probably will need to," he countered. "I'd already put that down in your schedule," he continued. "Now, where do you want to get some food from before I probably need to take you back to your apartment?"

Buffy glanced at the clock in the dashboard, it was later than she usually intended on being out on a weekday. Buffy bit the side of her lip for a moment. "Can we stop there for a minute but I stay at your place tonight?" she asked in a rush. Three and a half hours together after days apart didn't feel like enough. "We can get something along the way, whatever you want is fine."

Angel glanced over at her. "Yeah," he told her, seemingly taken aback a bit. "We can do that."

Buffy wasn't far from the skating rink which she was thankful for, she rushed up to her apartment and grabbed some clothes for work tomorrow and any additional overnight items she might need such as her toothbrush and phone charger. They got some food from a drive thru and then were on their way back to Angel's before long. Buffy took control of his radio, singing along and feeding him fries as they drove along.

Walking into his town house felt more like coming home than her apartment had since she'd moved in. Buffy breathed it in as she walked into the kitchen and on into the dining room. It'd felt like a lifetime since she'd been here despite it only being a few days. Angel went to put their coats up and her bag into his bedroom while she sat the food up at the table.

"What time do you need to be in tomorrow?" Angel asked as he returned. He asked if she wanted to be dropped off early in the morning or wait for Cordelia but Buffy was fine with going in a little early, maybe she'd get a little more caught up with a few things she'd thought. He fiddled with his phone for a moment before putting it away and setting down at the table with her to enjoy their quick meal. "I missed you."

Buffy smiled, looking over at him. "I missed you, too," she told him. "It somehow felt way longer than basically three days."

Angel nodded in agreement. "I don't know what the hell you're doing to me, woman."

OoOoO

Buffy decided to try and get ahead some of the ache that was bound to take over a good portion of her body come morning and go soak in Angel's large bathtub before going to bed. While she let the water fill up, she took that little extra tour of these last two areas of his bathroom and his walk-in closet that she hadn't paid much attention to over the weekend. Buffy's fingertips danced along various items inside his medicine cabinet and she peeked in the cabinets ad small corner linen closet. His closet was deep, he had a lot of plastic totes along the bottom and it was about half-filled with clothes. Buffy's eyes raked over the suits, the tee-shirts, the shoe rack in the middle.

She walked deeper inside, flipping through some of his shirts until she found one she liked and took it off its hanger and brought it back into the bathroom with her. She turned the water off then went to stick her head out to call Angel in to join her.

Buffy was sure she could fall asleep right there in the tub, it was so warm, Angel was so comfortable. He put her hair up and started to massage her scalp, neck, shoulders and she was sure she probably did pass out for a few minutes in there somewhere. Angel kissed her neck and she let out a happy sigh, leaning her head back more.

The pair sleepily discussed bits and pieces of their day that they'd hadn't gotten into earlier but for the most part they just laid there together enjoying each other's company until the water started to get cooler. Buffy groaned as she moved to get out, already missing the nice, hot bath. She got dressed in one of Angel's old shirts which earned a look from him but he didn't comment. He did smile at her before disappearing from the bathroom briefly. When he returned he was in a new pair of boxer shorts and the two finished getting ready for bed together.

Buffy felt like her body was almost floating as she laid there in bed with him. Angel wrapped her up in his large arms, holding her tight as they both drifted off to sleep. Everything was soft and warm, she felt safe, happy. Her final thought as she fell under was how this felt like exactly where she was supposed to be and what she hadn't even realized she'd been missing.

OoOoO

Angel was finishing getting dressed when he walked back through the master bath seeing Buffy doing the same. He was about to comment on how beautiful she looked when she suddenly said, "I have months still left on my lease."

Angel stilled, his hands pausing at his neck. The let her words bounce around his mind for a moment. "Okay," he finally said slowly, unsure where this was going. He finished getting his tie on.

"The more time that I spend with you... the more that I want to spend time with you," she said. "And it's crazy... but I almost feel like I want to get out of the lease and just be here. I miss you when we're apart, especially after just getting you back. And then I think about how fast all of this and everything but... I don't know... I know we can't nor should we be together every second of the day but I really like the idea of not having to go days without seeing you as we do this whole dating thing. I like the idea of coming home - here - and you being here. I like the idea of... not saying goodbye to you in the door way of my apartment, of eating most meals together, relaxing after work, falling asleep beside you as much as I possibly can..." Buffy paused after letting all that spill out and then got a horrified look on her face but he was there in a flash, kissing her, stopping any of those negative thoughts that swirled around as soon as she let all of that out.

"I will figure out how to get you out of your lease if you will move in with me," he told her gently.

"Angel... this is..."

"I know," he told her and kissed her again. He paused for a moment, letting his forehead rest against hers. "I put in a form saying I am no longer willing to relocate and will accept a permanent position Monday," he told her. Buffy's eyes widened as she took a step back. "I am also probably going to buy this house... unless you think you'd want something else... but I put in an offer to go from this whole rent to own thing to actually just buying it outright."

Buffy let out a slow breath. "What is happening? This so isn't a conversation to have before work..."

Angel reached an arm out to her, pulling her back to him. "No, probably not but timing hasn't always been our strong suit. But I'm trying to work on that. I fucked everything up before and whatever Powers That Be gave me a second chance and I don't want to mess that up. I don't want to be anywhere else, Buffy. I want to be home - make a home - with you like I should have done in the first damn place. I want to prove to you it won't be like it was, that I won't ever let that happen and that I am sorry - endlessly sorry - that I ever let us fall apart in the first place. I am all for the fun and games and I will be up for that the rest of our lives but it's more than that for me, too. Everything is moving fast and I know that and that is scary... it is... but it also feels right. You being with me, you being here, us diving into this and getting through the things that split us up before and coming back together and doing this right this time? That's all I want and I want to start now, yesterday, hell the second I even saw you again I think part of me had the urge to. You're what I want, all I want."

OoOoO

One thing Buffy decided she needed to do before actually moving in with Angel was revisit the past. On a three day weekend they both shared Buffy and Angel had made their way back to where it had all started: Sunnydale, California. The trip was mostly to go visit Willow and Tara and other good friends still living in town but Buffy felt she needed a good sign from what was before she went through with such a huge decision.

"I thought about marrying you the second that I saw you," Angel told her as they parked on the side of her childhood home. "I don't think I ever told you that," he continued. "But I remember the first time I saw you, you were in a white little sundress just walking along the sidewalk as we'd drove in to town. I don't know why, the image just struck me as we drove past and I kept watching you in the mirror until I no longer could."

Buffy's heart did a little extra hard pitter patter listening to him. She remembered the first time they had met, spoken, but she hadn't known he'd seen her before for all those years.

On their trip they had spent most of heir time at Willow's, she and Angel getting back to knowing one another and making their own amends, they'd seen Xander briefly, spent several hours one afternoon with Giles and Jenny which had been emotional all on its own. They'd driven around the small town, stopped to relive some memories at some of their favorite spots, gone to the The Bronze for a walk through and dance... They had another long talk about what their past together had held, from the early days to it becoming serious between them and then the end and what came next. The really hard part they waited to talk about though back near their old rental home. Buffy hadn't even gone near it if she could avoid it ever since, it hurt to even look at.

Their first home had held many great memories and those did make her smile and she was happy to have them, to laugh about with him, but there was s much sadness that surrounded that place. It remained empty to her.

Buffy felt some sort of relief though as the trip ended and they were bound for home. It felt like a goodbye in many ways but made her more open to the next chapter in their lives. Buffy could feel the difference being there from being a teenager to an adult as she looked around the small town, she could remember how lost she felt but she could also see how much she had grown, how much Angel had grown, she had a lot of blind trust in them once upon a time but a lot of that was just hope and not following through on the hard times and they both had learned the hard way that it's not always enough and both understood if they gave this another go everything had to be different on that end of things.

She wasn't clear of her worries, of wondering if this was actually going to work out, if they weren't making some huge mistake and being scared to death what to do if everything turned bad along the way... but she found a comfort in all the weekend had held. As they made their way back home, Buffy felt like moving day couldn't come quick enough.

OoOoO

Angel wasn't sure what made him wake up but he opened one eye and looked over to Buffy, knowing right away she was awake, too. "Hey," he whispered.

Buffy gasped a little, her arm flying to chest. "Jesus," she said harshly. "You scared me half to death."

"Sorry," he told her as he rolled over to his back like her. "What's going on?"

Buffy reached over, her fingers making small designs on his arm then chest. "Nothing, I was just thinking. I think my mixture of excitement and anxiety are making it hard for me to sleep the past few nights. I keep trying to visually see how everything is going to go and stuff like that."

Angel smiled, taking her hand and bringing it up for his lips. "We still have a few days, and we can always figure all of that out as we the weekend gets here and we start actually getting everything squared away." His smile grew, knowing they were just days away from this officially being their home.

Buffy turned over to her side to look at him. "I know. I'm just excited and my mind doesn't want to be quiet."

"Well, I'd offer to try and get your mind on something else but I feel like you'd still be there thinking about curtains and pictures frames or something."

Buffy laughed at him. "That is very possible," she admitted.

Angel leaned over and kissed her. "Well, while I work on getting back to being sleepy enough to fade out, tell me all about these plans you are coming up with..."

OoOoO

Moving Day had been a very exciting day but also a very long one Buffy decided. It was almost midnight now, all of their extra helped had left, all of her things were here in one way or another. Buffy smiled as she glanced around, happy to see the bigger items in their new places around the house. It made the place look more homier. They had also been buying various things together since she'd been released from her lease and those helped make it feel more lived in now as well.

There were some of her chairs added to the living room, book shelves, knick knacks and other decorative pieces around the place, she'd started putting up some picture frames around the downstairs. She had decided on a new dresser for their bedroom, not liking the idea of them being so mismatched so hers had been taken upstairs to one of the otherwise empty bedrooms. She knew there would be more items probably going up there as she went along organizing and putting away some of the smaller items.

Buffy had started unpacking some throughout the day. She had most of her clothes squared away, the bathroom was mostly done, and the kitchen. She'd about driven Angel crazy in the process at first, asking him if it were okay if she did x, y and z, put something here or there until he finally stole her away for a few minutes away from everyone else and told her to stop asking permission and to just do whatever she wanted, reminding her this was their house, that he wanted her to feel free to do whatever she wanted rather than act like a guest. It'd still be an adjustment but she relaxed some the more she worked.

Buffy walked through the house turning lights off as she went, any more unpacking could wait until tomorrow. She knew she was about done for the day in general. While Angel finished up in the garage she took the opportunity to slip into a sexy lingerie set she'd bought new for celebrating tonight.

Angel had come into the room mid-sentence and whatever he'd planned on saying fell off to the wayside as soon as his eyes landed on her laid out in the bed. Buffy felt any exhaustion get revved up as his brown eyes darkened taking the sight in. His head cocked to the side as he stepped deeper into the room, slowly letting his eyes rack over every inch of her. "Do you like?" she teased, feeling her heart racing.

"Is that all for me?" he asked and she nodded. "Mmm, well now I feel bad that I didn't get you anything."

Buffy gave him a lusty look of her own. "I'm pretty sure you have something you can give to me." Angel gave her a dark smile, she could already see him straining against the fabric of his pants. Buffy sat up in the bed and beckoned him to come closer. Angel was up and crawling over to her moments later. "Hi," she said softly after he kissed her for what felt like an eternity.

"Hi there," he told her in a dark voice. He kissed her again, his hands finally reaching for her body. "I like this," he told her as his hands roamed the lace and silk.

Buffy moaned as his shirt went flying off the side. "I was hoping you would," she told him and then she grabbed hands full of his dark locks as his hands returned to her breasts, squeezing and his head bent to kiss a trail down her stomach. He started to make his way back up but she groaned, pushing at him. "Lower," she whispered.

His eyes looked at her for a moment then he smirked. His lips made their way back the other way, going to the top of her tiny underwear. He took a moment to admire them on her one last time before all but ripping them off of her body. His palms slid up the inner side of her thighs, opening her up to him. Buffy closed her eyes as his tongue touched her, sliding along the slit of her womanhood.

Angel held nothing back as he devoured her, Buffy screamed, arching against her own will as he tipped her over the edge once then twice. Her legs shook as he continued to suck on her pulsating pearl, the sensation almost too much for her to deal with.

Buffy pulled at his hair until the took the hint, smiling before kissing her roughly. Buffy's hands went to his pants, working the button and zipper open and grabbing him. "Off," she told him breathlessly, pushing them down.

Angel stood, freeing himself of the rest of his clothing. Buffy's hands returned to him, stoking his shaft several times. Angel swore before pushing her gently back to the bed. Buffy flipped him onto his back and climbed on top of him though, wanting him to get the most out of this little outfit tonight.

OoOoO

"Soooo..." Cordelia started.

Buffy looked over at her. "Sooo?"

"It's been a week, how's life with you and Angel?" Cordelia asked.

Buffy smiled, settling back into her chair more. "I feel almost like we're on a cloud most of the time," she admitted. "It feels almost too natural."

Cordelia laughed. The brunette and her had started carpooling to and from work weeks ago, it just seemed to make sense with Angel and Jesse usually having earlier and longer hours than the two of them, especially once Buffy was officially moved in just a few blocks over.

"Jess and I were like that when we moved in, too," Cordelia told her. "It seemed so chaotic when we both had our apartments but then we were under the same roof and it was so less stressful. There wasn't figuring out the next time we'd see each other or time driving back and forth between our places or overnight bags and all that nonsense."

Buffy nodded. "It's been nice. He tells me goodbye every morning and I usually wake up for a moment then pass back out until my alarm goes off then we're just both at work. I get home, start dinner when he's working later and just wind down. He comes home and we catch up and eat and just enjoy the evening together."

Cordy smiled. "Simple things in life right?" Buffy nodded. "We'll have to work out a time soon to all get together though. The boys usually have weekends off so that's helpful I've found. Doing too much during the week just wears us both down but then there's Friday night and the whole weekend to go out and have fun, see friends or go out to eat or just relax... do whatever we want. We should set aside like one Saturday a month or something for us to do something. We need a collective hobby," she said with another laugh. "Get Fred and Gunn in on it too and some other couples."

"Speaking of such," Buffy said, "I heard you and Fred talking earlier..."

Cordy glanced over at her. "About what?"

"Marriage."

"Oh. About when me and Jess are going to take that leap?"

Buffy nodded. "Exactly. What's taking the two of you so long? You're over here all getting in everyone else's business - such as mine - but what's going on with that situation?"

"Well the jackass has to ask me first now doesn't he?"

Buffy laughed. "You could always ask him."

"Girl, please," Cordelia countered.

"Didn't he ask you before?" Buffy asked, recalling to a few years ago.

Cordelia made a sound, pulling into Buffy's new little neighborhood. "That didn't count. He didn't ask to ask, he asked for stupid reasons and I told him no because of that. If he asked me properly that would be another story. But I'm not telling him that." The two girls sat out in the driveway for a little while gossiping before Buffy bid her goodbye and started getting out of the car. "I'm pretty sure you and Angel will remarry before me and Jesse will even have a conversation about that."

Buffy made a face at her friend. "Don't even start," she warned. Buffy was mad at herself already for even having the idea of if the two of them maybe getting re-married popping into her head not long ago. She was pushing all of that away for now, not ready for go there.