I do not own the characters in this story, nor do I own any rights to the television show "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". They were created by Joss Whedon and belong to him, Mutant Enemy, Sandollar Television, Kuzui Enterprises, 20th Century Fox Television and the WB Television Network. Una is mine.



Angel gazed into the fire. This was torture. All his life he'd known her, waited for her to find him. Then realised she wasn't coming, that it was just something he'd made up to keep him company in his darkest hours. He'd decided to forget her, it didn't quite work but then he met Buffy and that helped.

The book he'd given her, and the word, "forever". He'd meant it at the time, but now it just sounded crass and fake.

He did love Buffy, he supposed, this had just thrown it all up into the air again. It was amazing how quickly your whole world could fall apart, just one night. He still couldn't believe it was real. It seemed like a dream. Maybe he'd just imagined it. Like now, he could swear he could see her face reflected in the fire. She gave him a look of disgust, then she was gone. He couldn't say he blamed her.

He got up just in time to see the door bang shut.




A/N: Sorry this chapter's barely longer than the disclaimer - more coming soon. R&R!!!! - please