Charlton and Buffy went into the magic shop and set up for the spell. Then, she stood in the circle, clutching her bags of clothes bought courtesy of the Watchers' Council.

"It was a pleasure and an honour, Miss Summers." Charlton said. She smiled at him.

"Same here. Stay safe, OK?"

"I'll try." He smiled back. "Close your eyes." He asked. She did so and listened as he chanted. When she no longer heard his voice, she opened her eyes.

"Buffy!" Xander's voice cried out.

"You're here!" Willow added.

"I am." She said, biting her lip, trying so hard not to cry. "I'm back. How long was I gone?" Giles checked his watch as Xander and Willow enveloped their friend in a bear hug.

"Six minutes. My tea is still warm."

"Good. I'm glad." She said. She was exhilarated to be back, yet utterly sad to leave behind that cosy pastel coloured world.

"You got clothes." Anya said. Buffy nodded.

"All paid for by the Watchers Council of Great Britain." She said.

"All went well?" Giles asked. She nodded.

"Yeah. Thanks to a couple of friends. Speaking of... Willow, you don't happen to have an aunt or someone called Peggy-Sue, do you?"

"Peggy-Sue? My mom's sister. Why?"

"Nothing. Xander?"

"Yep?"

"Tell your uncle Rory that Buffy Summers says thanks for the dance."

"What?"

"He'll understand. Willow, does your aunt like Ricky Nelson?"

"Absolutely! How do you know all this?"

"They helped me save the world. If it weren't for them, the Hellmouth would have actually opened." Two mouths fell open.

"Really?" Willow asked.

"No! Rory? My uncle Rory?"

"Absolutely." Buffy smiled. She looked towards Giles. "Dawn? How's Dawn?"

"Buffy, although you spent nearly two weeks there, you've only been gone six minutes." Giles reminded her.

"I'm fine, by the way." Dawn appeared at the door of the Magic Box.

"What are you doing here?"

"Spike brought me along." She said, coming into the shop followed closely by Spike.

"Hey there Slayer. Have a nice trip down memory lane?"

"Great thanks Spike." She said sardonically. Then, the sadness returned. She'd been with Angel for nearly two weeks and it had been fun and wonderful.

"Xander, I need a favour." She said.



Some time later, Buffy was cruising down the freeway towards LA in a powder blue car still owned by an old friend of hers. She had gone with Xander to his Uncle Rory. Rory nearly had a heart attack when he discovered that Xander's best friend was his old crush. He'd also been more than happy to lend her his car for this very special trip. She pulled off the freeway into Los Angeles and found the Hyperion Hotel. She pulled in and shut off the engine. She grabbed her bag and ran up the steps. She checked her reflection in the glass. She was still wearing her dress from the dance with the matching sandals and her hair was still in it's fifties ponytail. Taking a deep breath, she went in.

"Buffy!" Cordelia exclaimed. Angel looked up from the book he was reading. He looked as if he'd seen a ghost.

"Buffy?" He asked softly. She came down the steps towards them.

"Did you just go to a Grease theme party or something?"

"Something like that." Suddenly, the Beach Boys song Barbara-Ann came into her head and she suppressed a smile.

"Are you OK?" Angel asked.

"You should know. I was just with you." She said. "And I wonder why you didn't tell me about this when I called earlier." She asked.

"You called earlier? I get it now! Angel was way more cheerful than normal." Cordelia said. From Angel's look, she picked up her book.

"I'll just go and see how Wes and Gunn are doing upstairs." She said, running up the stairs.

"I didn't want to tell you in case...."

"In case what? I didn't nearly have a heart attack when I saw you at Walker's?"

"Sit down?" He offered. She did so, and he sat beside her.

"I... When you first came to Sunnydale, I didn't say anything, because I didn't know what was going on. I'd spent forty years thinking about that beautiful blonde girl I fell in love with. I didn't believe it was the same person, because it seemed impossible. But then, when I got an opportunity, I spoke to Giles about it. We looked through the Watcher Diaries and found that you'd come back in time. But we didn't know exactly when from, and knew that we couldn't tell you."

"Why?"

"Because we weren't really meant to know. As usual, I screwed up the plan."

"You didn't screw it up."

"It made so many things much clearer. For years I wondered why I couldn't ever see you again. When I discovered that was why, I felt a lot better. I thought you just didn't want to see me again."

"That would never happen." She insisted.

"I know now."

"Angel, when I got back to the present, I just wanted to cry, because I wanted to be with you. I didn't care if it was Angel in 1958 or 2001. I just want to be with you." Tears began falling down her cheeks.

"If memory serves, you've done a lot of crying today." He said with a smile. She swatted him lightly.

"I'm very stressed at the moment." She said. He put his arms around her.

"Does that help?"

"Pretty much." He planted his lips firmly on hers.

"How about that?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I feel better now." She said with a smile.

"Did I tell you how beautiful you look?"

"You know, I don't think you did."

"Well, you do. You look so beautiful." He said.

"I brought all my clothes back."

"Why am I not surprised?"

"Shut up! But I figured you know, it couldn't hurt to pretend we're back then?"

"No, it couldn't." He said. Then, he stopped. "But Buffy..."

"Don't even think about 'But Buffying' me. I know you have a curse, I know that you're a vampire, and newsflash Angel, I don't give a damn. We're going to make this work if it kills me."

"But Buffy, it could well kill you."

"I'm a Slayer. I have the life expectancy of fresh bread."

"That's one way of putting it."

"I'm not letting you talk your way out of this. I don't care if you stay here and we commute to each other, I don't care if I never have sex again for as long as I live." She paused for a second to contemplate this. He raised his eyebrows and smirked.

"Or, we could find a way around the curse." She rectified. "I don't care if I get old and wrinkly and you don't. There's always Botox. I don't care, I don't care, I don't care." She went to speak again, but he cut her off with a kiss.

"I agree." He told her. He pulled away for a second and picked up the remote of the CD player. He pressed a button and on came Brown Eyed Handsome Man by Chuck Berry.

"Nice song."

"I know. I've been listening to this stuff all night. Be Bop A Lula's next." He murmured.

"Dance?" He asked, extending his hand to her.

"Sure." She took his hand.

When Cordelia ventured down the stairs, she saw Buffy and Angel dancing together to the words:

Well flying across the desert in a TWA

I saw a woman walkin' 'cross the sand

She'd been walking thirty miles en route to Bombay

To meet a brown eyed handsome man

Her destination was a brown eyed handsome man

Way back in history three thousand years

In fact ever since the world began

There's been a whole lotta good women shedding tears

Over a brown eyed handsome man

A lot of trouble was a brown eyed handsome man

Well the Milo de Venus was a beautiful lass

She had the world in the palm of her hand

She lost both her arms in a wrestling match

To win a brown eyed handsome man

She fought and won herself a brown eyed handsome man

Well a beautiful daughter couldn't make up her mind

Between a doctor and a lawyer man

Her mother told her daughter

Go out and find yourself

A brown eyed handsome man

Just like your daddy was

A brown eyed handsome man

Well a two three the count with nobody home

He hit a hi' flyer into the stand

A rounded third he was headin' for home

That won the game it was a brown eyed handsome man

It was a brown eyed handsome man.