Jay and Buffy walked through the graveyard to where Buffy knew a new vamp was going to rise. He had listened to all of the advice and knew to stay out of the way. Walking silently side by side they enjoyed the quiet of the night. Buffy held up a hand and listened then pointed one way while she walked another. Jay found a comfortable gravestone and sat to wait.

Buffy stood and a hand groped up through the dirt followed by a new vampire. Buffy waited until it was free before she staked it.

Jay was fascinated by the puff of ashes that it exploded into. "Why does it do that?" he asked curiously.

Buffy stood and thought, "I never really asked. You need to ask Giles that." He nodded and filed away the question.

Buffy dusted 6 more new vamps using various acrobatic maneuvers that impressed the hell out of Jay before they headed home.

Horsing around Jay walked backwards, relying on Buffy to not let him fall. "Come on Buffy, right or left?" then he staggered playfully. Buffy was laughing as he pretended to fall, or to go blind and they were both laughing when they came into the house. Jay headed to the basement to check and see if all of the laundry had been done when suddenly a noise came out of the dark.

"Who the hell are you?" came a quiet voice. Jack turned slowly around to confront the man who was there. He was about the same height as Jay, broad shouldered in a dark jacket, black t-shirt and slacks, pale skin, brown hair and eyes that spoke of loss, anger and pain.

"Hi, You must be Angel." Jay said amiably. He crossed his arms and stood his ground, arching his eyebrows, watching the suspicious vamp as he was inspected as thoroughly as any new recruit.

Angel looked the other man over, tall, muscular and tanned, black hair and dark eyes, military all over and he grimaced. Stopping in front of the man, looking him in the eye. What he saw were eyes that were weary from many battles. If you desired to look deeper you could see bravery, humor and a steadfastness that shook Angel to his shaky soul. This man was dangerous, not to Angel physically, but by being everything that Buffy had ever wanted. To cover how shaken he was Angel held out his hand to be shook.

"Nice to meet you."

Jay returned the handshake, "Jay Coburn."

Angel nodded, "Is Buffy upstairs?"

"Yeah, we just returned from patrolling."

"Thanks." Angel said and walked up the stairs to see Buffy. Jay stood in the basement and shook his head, checked the dryer and took up a load of hanging clothes.

He came up in time to see Buffy and Angel standing in the kitchen and talking. Jay continued through the dining room and hung the clothes on the hallway closet door then circled back into the kitchen. Buffy unconsciously reached for his hand and Jay saw the hurt that flashed on Angel's face.

Taking Buffy's hand he regarded Angel thoughtfully. "What happened between you two? Why didn't it work out?"

Buffy glanced at Angel and smiled to see the shock on his face. 'Good old Jay, never one to beat around the bush'. She spoke, "Too many things in the past to get over."

Angel looked vaguely ashamed but nodded, "I was an idiot. Enough said." A noise from the stairs caused them all to look and see Dawn wander down. She stopped, her eyes wide as she saw who was in the kitchen with whom.

"Oh hey. Sorry, bad timing?"

Angel shook his head, "Hello Dawnie, how are you?" affection plain in his voice.

"I'm good. Just getting some juice." She said and smiled at Jay and Buffy. Angel, with the ease of long familiarity chatted quietly with Dawn as she poured the juice, drank it and then placed the empty glass in the sink.

"Night Buffy and Jay, you too Angel." Dawn said, smothering a yawn before disappearing upstairs.

Jay looked at Buffy. "I'm headed for bed too, 'night."

"Ok, see you at breakfast. Angel and I have Slayer stuff to talk about."

His eyes moved to Angel, standing beyond Buffy and he nodded, "Scrambled eggs in the morning?"

"If you add bacon it sounds great." She said, her eyes soft on his.

"Deal."

She watched as he walked to his room, entering then closing the door with a quiet click.

"You're sleeping with him." Angel accused.

Buffy sighed and wandered into the living room. She moved a teen magazine and sat down, watching as Angel came in and sat in Giles chair.

"Yes, I am. You made it clear that you and Cordelia were going to be a couple. So in my book that means you butt out of my personal life."

Angel stood and paced, "It doesn't mean I don't care about you anymore."

"You broke my heart again Angel. 3rd time is not a charm. It's taken two years for me to be able to look at you without wanting to accidentally stake you. You chose Cordy, deal with it."

Standing she glared at him, "There's room in the basement if you need to stay. If not we'll talk tomorrow about sending the Slayers to you in LA." And she deliberately walked to Jay's door, knocked quietly, and let herself in.

Angel was very unhappy and left the house, leaving a note for Giles and making sure the house was locked before he went to the cemetery and decided to take out his aggression on some fledgling vamps.

The next morning Jay acted as if everything was normal, but he couldn't hustle everyone (except for stubborn Faith) out of the house fast enough. 10 minutes after Buffy and Dawn had left construction workers descended on the house like bees and started working. The tear off of the roof went smoothly and the new roof went on with no surprises. The back deck was fixed and the new windows were primed. Jay and Xander fixed the gutter and Faith lounged on the grass flirting with the construction crews, almost causing one to fall to a certain death until Jay sharply reminded him where he was. Faith just laughed and he had to smile back at the irrepressible woman.

Jay was checking his watch more frequently as the afternoon wore on.

At 3:30 he clapped his hands and said, "Ok folks. Thanks for everything, it looks great!" The foreman came up and Jay spoke with him quietly and the other man nodded. Jay looked at the house with quiet satisfaction at a job well done. Faith came out to stand on the curb beside him.

"Well J, it looks like you didn't do anything." She said looking puzzled.

He nodded and grinned, "Exactly."

Buffy and Dawn came home a half hour later and Buffy looked upset. "Faith!" Buffy hollered.

"B?" came the muffled reply from upstairs.

"Come down here!" Buffy bellowed and Jay came out of his room, rubbing his wet hair with a towel slung low around his hips, his chest bare, a few bruises still visible in the rib area and water beading on it. Buffy opened her mouth to bellow but totally forgot what she was going to say when she saw Jay. She never even noticed Faith had come down, all of her attention was on Jay and his towel hanging so precariously from his hips.

"Oh for goodness sake. Colonel, go get some clothes on or Buffy's brains will implode." Came Giles disgusted voice and Faith's belly laugh. Jay smiled at the stunned Buffy and walked back into his room.

Buffy turned with a pout on her face, "Faith, what did I call you for?"

Faith laughed again, "B, you got it bad."

Buffy stood looking at the ceiling thoughtfully then snapped her fingers, "Oh yeah! Robin said that you fought some new demons the other night, why didn't you tell me?" asked Buffy. Giles smirked at the women.

Faith shook her head, "I told Giles B. He said you fought them in Sunnyhell. Nothing new over the hellmouth."

Buffy nodded, "Oh."

Jay came out in a dark green t-shirt and black jeans and looked at Buffy. "What's up Babe?"

Buffy sighed, "You look edible."

His face pink he was about to say something when she continued, "Oh, by the way, the house looks nice." And she jogged upstairs, leaving him gaping like a fish.

Faith burst into laughter, "Not a dummy, our B."