By: Lucey

E-mail: littlelucey@web.de

Disclaimer: they are not mine...:o(

Rating: maybe R??

Pairing: B/R (still), B/A (finally, yay), X/A

Distribution:if you want to...ask me :o)

Dedication: To Netti :o) Thanks for the superrant! What would I do without you?

......................................................................................................................................

Part 3 Confusion

"And then he lost his memory?", Giles asked again, twisting his glasses between his fingers. The small group in his living room was silent. There were indeed some news for everyone.

"Not his complete memory", Wesley answered." He rather seems to have forgotten large parts of the last year."

"So what do you remember then?", Xander asked, facing Angel who had been placed next to Buffy, refusing to let her alone for a second.

Angel glanced at Buffy before he faced Xander, as if he was searching for assurance in her eyes.

"Mmh, I remember you being angry with us, after you saw us, uhm... kissing in the mansion. This other watcher was evil... I saved Willow. Uhm...I remember Spike coming to Sunnydale, kidnapping you and Willow. I haven´t talked to Giles yet, after...", he shifted uncomfortably.

"And I remember Buffy...", he faced her, watching the concern on her face. All he wanted to do was kiss her and make it go away. But the other guy was holding her hand, he realized with anger.

She had tried to explain part of the events to Riley on the way, but with Angel by her side she had skipped a more detailed description. He had asked her over and over if she was ok, not getting which truck was running him over at the moment.

She smiled at him encouraging, wanting him to continue, even if she knew how hard it had to be for him, part of his memory lost, seeing her with Riley... It wasn´t easy for her as well, seeing him again, realizing that her legs still went wobbly at the sight of him, butterflies in her stomach and – holding Riley´s hand.

Seeing the confusion and pain in Angel´s eyes, all she wanted to was kiss it away, hold him tight and never let him go again. But all she did was digging into his deep brown eyes, hoping he would read in hers what she still felt for him.

Cordelia realized the both staring at each other and continued her explanation. The others had already questioned her a lot, but Giles seemed to have some more. Besides, she loved being in the center of everyone's attention. Well, not everyone's, Angel and Buffy seemed to be busy with themselves, and this girl, Anya?, kept complaining that she was bored, but everyone else seemed to listen carefully.

"Buffy?", Angel asked softly, feeling all eyes snapping on him instantly.

"Yeah?", she detached her hand from Riley´s, laid in on his and smiled at him assuring.

"Can I speak to you for a moment? In private ?", he begged her.

"Sure. We can go outside." she offered, glad to escape the tension inside the room.

Both headed towards the door.

"Buffy...", Riley started. He did not like her going away with this guy. Alone. He did not like him. Even if everyone else here seemed to like him. Buffy had been completely different from the moment he showed up. She barely noticed him and she seemed to glow in a way that he had never seen on her before.

"It´s ok Riley. It´s just for a moment.", she told him with a weak smile. Then she opened the door.

"I´m sorry.", Angel started as they sat down on one of the benches outside.

"But it´s ok, Angel. I´m fine with it. And you don´t have to be sorry. You need help.", she replied quietly.

"I thought you were in danger.", he smiled at her.

"And you did not believe Cordelia.", she returned his smile.

"I didn´t want to disturb you. I don´t remember, but it seems like we´ve split up", he went on hoarsely.

"You left me.", she avoided his eyes. "But it´s ok, I mean I can deal with it."

"I can´t", he finally admitted. He shifted a bit to look in her face.

"I don´t remember leaving you. I can´t think of any reason ever leaving you. I know what happened between us is complicated, but I know that we can deal. And..."

"And what?", she forced him to go on, a bit frightened hearing his response, but captured again by his large brown eyes.

"And... I love you.", he whispered. "I tried not to but I can´t stop. I know that we can´t be together, but I can´t live without you..."

He stopped as he realized she was crying.

"Shhh, love", he slowly caressed her cheek.

"What is it?", he asked worried.

"I love you, too. I tried to forget. I know we can´t be together, too. I tried to live without you. I even have...But when I see you there are all these feelings and my first thought is to run into your arms and..."

He finished her sentence with doing the only thing he had in mind for hours. He pulled her into his arms and shut her lips with a kiss. First she tensed, but then she kissed him back deeply. She moved even closer and started to nibble at his lower lip as his tongue begged for entrance which she granted him instantly. Both were awash in the simple feeling of their contact, unable to get everywhere they wanted to be so badly. Their tongues were dueling in an endless dance, caressing, nibbling, tasting the other.

"What the hell is going on here?" a sharp voice interrupted them.

Both panted heavily when she finally broke the kiss, slowly opening her eyes, realizing what they´d just done.

"Oh god." she sounded shocked. "Riley..."

"Don´t waste your time. I´ve seen enough. You seem pretty busy, so just call me, if you´re no longer occupied with sucking the face of your ex-lover.", he spat out, before he stormed off, leaving the startled slayer alone, staring at Angel in disbelief.

To be continued :o)