As expected, Doyle was waiting outside the New York Herald offices for Buffy. She obliged and told him to get in to her SUV and she would take him to Angel. She drove over to the shelter where Angel was working. She wasn't about to take him to their apartment. They didn't want him to know where they lived so he can come barrage them every two hours about not slaying. It was a silent drive. Doyle kept staring at her. Finally she got agitated.

"What!?"

"Nothing." Doyle said defensively.

"You keep staring at me. It's a little creepy."

"You don't look much different from the last time I saw you."

"That's because it was yesterday."

"No, I meant when I first met you."

"I've grown up on the inside."

"Hair's longer. Looks good."

"Whatever. I'm not very comfortable with you here right now. I've still got Slayer strength and if you piss me off, I'm going to use it."

"Why are you so uncomfortable?"

"Because I quit. I made a vow that if Dawn died, that was it for me. She died, I quit. I've been living a really great life for the past two years here. I really don't want anyone coming in here and fucking it all up for me and Angel."

"It wasn't my decision to come here. If I had it my way, you'd be able to go on living like this."

"Then why are you here?"

"The Powers sent me. They say it's been long enough."

"Long enough for what?"

"You're grieving. They understand that your sister was special to you both, but they need you back."

"They have Lita. And they Faith."

"Faith's in jail. Lita isn't as good as you and neither is Faith. The Powers have huge plans for you and Angel and they really don't like that you're both ignoring that."

"Well sorry, but I quit taking orders from everyone a long time ago. Didn't they tell you that? I quit the Council because I was sick of their orders. I quit the Powers because I was sick of them stringing me out like a puppet that they could throw apocalypse after apocalypse at me and expect me to be ok with that. Especially after my sister died."

"And what about Angel? Why did he quit?"

"Same reasons. It was all full of shits and giggles for the Powers and he knows that as well as I do. When Dawn died, the giggles were a lot more scarce. We left because we were BOTH tired of it all. We've survived eight apocalypses and we don't have anything to show for it anymore. That was taken away because someone decided Dawn was going to be a higher being. And then another someone decided that they didn't want that, so they killed her. Took her away from me and Angel, the only family she was truly happy with."

"Even though she had a father in LA?"

"Yes. Even though. She was happy and now that's gone. And how is it that you can get me to open up about all of this?"

"It's just the Irish can listen when they're not drunk off our asses and I think you know that."

"Angel's Irish. We never talk about Dawn's death and why we quit. We've just gone on with our brand new, wonderful little lives."

"Are you changing your mind about slaying?"

"No. My vow still stands. It always will until I get proof, real solid proof that I'm seriously needed for something major that can't be stopped by any other person." Buffy slammed on the brakes and pulled into a parking garage across the street from Angel's shelter. She got out in a hurry and ran across the street, Doyle doing his best to catch up. Buffy opened the door to the main lobby and looked around. Kyle and a couple of his friends were lounging on the couch. "He in his office guys?"

"Hey Buffy!" Kyle said in his Puerto-Rican accent. "Yeah, he's in there. Been in there almost all day. I was starting to get worried."

"Yeah, you looked it." Buffy joked.

"Hey, when are you gonna do a column on me?"

"Whenever you send in a letter and I get around to reading it." Buffy smiled and walked to Angel's office. She knocked lightly and then opened the door.

"Hey!" Angel said, standing and walking over to her.

"Hey, he uh.. He's here."

"Who?"

"Doyle."

Angel looked up and saw the Irishman standing in the doorway. "Oh. Come in and have a seat."

Doyle nodded and sat down in a chair facing Angel's side of the desk. Buffy sat down next to Angel in a chair she pulled around the desk. For the longest moment, they just sat there looking and feeling uncomfortable. Doyle broke the ice.

"I had an interesting chat the other day."

"With who?" Angel asked.

"The Oracles. They speak for the Powers."

"And what did they have to say?"

"They say the Powers have given us enough time to get over Dawn's death." Buffy said. "They want us to go back to Sunnydale and pretend nothing ever happened."

"Now I didn't say that." Doyle defended.

"But that's exactly what it sounds like the Powers want."

"Listen, you made a lot of sense on the way over here. And I really feel bad about coming here to tell you this. I don't want to force you to go back to a life that holds nothing for you anymore."

"Then why are you here?"

"Because you're the best this world's got. The Powers know that something big is coming sooner or later and they need you. Both of you."

"Contradict yourself much?"

"Excuse me?"

"You just said that if you had it your way, you wouldn't be here because you understand. But hey, here you are saying that we're the best and we have to go back."

"Buffy.." Angel warned.

"No! I'm tired of being everyone's puppet! Leave me alone! Leave US alone. I want to live my life out with my husband by my side. No demons, no vampires, no apocalypses. As normal as I can ever get."

"Is that what you want Angel?" Doyle asked.

Angel looked Doyle straight in the eyes with a confidence that would rival Angelus. "Yes. It's what I want."

Doyle sighed. "The Powers are going to be pissed about this, but.. Pretend I never came here."

"We can't do that." Buffy said. "You know where we are. You know where we work. If the Powers are that desperate, they'll send you after people in Sunnydale. I don't think I could talk to them and say no. I miss them more than anything, but I'm NOT going back to that life. For once I was able to quit and stay that way. We're retired." Buffy and Angel got up and left the office. They headed out to the SUV and drove away to their apartment. As they walked in, the phone rang. Buffy groaned and walked over to it, picking it up.

"Hello?"

"Buffy?" Xander's voice came over the receiver.

"Xander!? How did you get this number?"

"I looked you up. I'm, uh.. I'm in town."

"What?"

"Yeah. A construction job downtown. I thought maybe I could see you. Just between us. I won't even tell the others."

"How did you know I was here in New York?"

"I didn't. I was reading the paper this morning and: Hey! There was your picture. Seems your pretty popular around here. The guy that holds the doors open at my hotel was talking about how you helped him with his wife."

"I.. I can't."

"Can't what?"

"See you."

"Why?"

"It's too much."

"Buffy, I'm sorry Dawn died, but when you quit, you also neglected your friends. We all love you and Angel very much and we miss you."

"I know, but we can't."

"Why not?"

"We.. We just can't."

"Buffy wait!"

"Goodbye Xander." Buffy hung up the phone and turned to Angel. "What is this, a scavenger hunt!? They're everywhere!"

"Shh, if you want, we can leave." Angel said, wrapping his arms around his petite wife.

"What about your shelter? It's doing so well. And so is my career."

"I can give the shelter to Sandra. She's been helping out a lot with the funding and everything else. I'm sure she'd love to have it. And you can still have your career."

"How?"

"We'll talk to Sam. You can have somebody send you your letters through e- mail and then you can answer back. It'll look as if you never left."

"No. They'll be able to track us. Willow's good like that."

"So..?"

"I hate to leave all this lovely furniture behind."

"We'll take it with us."

"Where will we go?"

"Where do you want to go?"

Buffy went to the sofa and plopped down. "Um.."

"I know." Angel went over to her and sat down. "It's a place you said you wanted to stay there forever. Nobody knows exactly where it's at."

"Ireland?"

"Yeah. We never gave anybody the place where we were staying. We own it! You loved it."

"It's already furnished."

"Not a problem. I can make a couple of phone calls and have all of this stuff moved there and all of that stuff moved here. We own this place too. If we want, we can always come right back here. Maybe use it as a vacation spot. What do you say?"