Authors notes- I am so sorry this took so long. Real life got in the way. Hope this was worth the wait. Thank you all for the support you've given. Also great thanks to QueenGwenyvere, my beta-boo and to Katy for threatening to kill me if I didn't write more and to my sister Amy, for hooking me on Buffy.

Disclaimers and goop are on the first page.

~*~

Angel slowly made his way down the snow-covered side street that led to his apartment. He didn't burrow into his duster, shivering, as most humans would have when the icy wind hit his exposed face, nor did his breath form miniature white clouds when he exhaled. After all, vampires couldn't freeze to death—they were already dead; and Angel hadn't drawn a real breath in over two hundred years. But the winter weather made his already cool skin uncomfortably cold to the touch. Angel hated it. He hadn't really noticed the difference between his flesh compared to that of a living person until Buffy came along. She was the first person he'd allowed to touch him, intimately, in almost a hundred years. She was always warm, and when he held her close some of her heat would penetrate his skin and he could pretend that he was normal, human just for a moment. But then it faded, and he felt the cold return.

Blinking against the snowflakes that still fell, he glanced up at the sky. "Probably close to two, maybe two-thirty even. Hard to tell with the snow and the cloud cover." Angel thought silently. "Buffy's probably asleep. These last few days have been a welcome break for her. She was pretty fried from that big test the other week. It's been fairly quiet on the slaying level too." Looking up Angel ruefully smiled. His feet had automatically taken him to Revello Drive, even though his mind had been elsewhere. His heart was always with Buffy. Looking up at her window, he noticed her bedroom light was out and smiled at the thought of her asleep in her bed. Were it not for the coat of ice and snow he would have considered climbing the tree and looking in her window. But the thought of slipping and injuring himself was not a welcome concept.

Walking along, Angel thought to himself, "I know she's enjoying the snow too." The collection of snow angels and a slightly lopsided snowman in the front yard indicated Buffy and her friends had been active.... and the snowball marks on the windows spoke of a mighty battle.

Shoving his hands into his pockets, Angel headed back the way he had come.

~*~

Angel wandered around town for another hour, loosing himself in thought. He was in no great rush to go home. He wandered through Weatherly park, past the high school and downtown. He thought about dropping by Willy the Snitch's bar, but decided not. Repeated visits that didn't include beating Willy to a pulp lessened the weasels fear of pain whenever he and Buffy needed information. Better to stay away.

Angel crossed the street and headed down a branch-off street, then turned left into the ally, taking the back entrance to his apartment building. The dirty street was lined with dumpsters and a large amount of trash from the restaurant at the corner of the ally. Snow covered everything, making it seem cleaner then it really was, although the show wasn't the brilliant white it was in the park.

Angel glanced towards his apartment door. Something was sitting in the snow at the foot of his door... it looked almost human....

"Oh my God!"

Angel ran as fast as he could, his unbeating heart giving a pretty good impression of a heart attack. Angel dropped to his knees in front of the snow covered form. Quickly he brushed off the layers of snow, and his heart shattered in fear at what he saw beneath the frozen blanket.

"Buffy..."

~*~

TBC.

::ducks rotten fruit:: I know I know! Cliffhangers are evil and so am I because I wrote one. But never fear, chapter 4 is coming asap! Please review!

-LadyCallie