Thank you kind reviewers; your encouraging comments are very much appreciated as always. To my first ever flamer – please go someplace far, far away and just grow up!

It's a longer chapter for me – I took note Arobow! Hope you like!

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Angel smothered a grin as his brand new girlfriend ducked behind a low table bearing a large potted plant in response to a door slamming somewhere out of sight ahead of them. As he attempted to walk past her his elbow was clutched and he was pulled down beside her. He opened his mouth to protest but she shushed him nervously and peered between the leafy fronds trying to spy the source of the noise.

"Buffy..." he began softly.

"Shh! Someone might catch us!" she mumbled.

"Uh huh, because god knows it's totally illegal for two fully dressed adults staying in the same house to happen to be strolling down the same hallway in broad daylight. Personally I think we look more suspicious huddled up apparently communing with this plant!"

He watched with tender amusement as her cheeks flushed and she grinned weakly at him, "Well, it is a nice plant."

Angel grinned back and tucked a loose wisp of hair behind her ear for her, his fingers lingering lovingly on her still flushed cheek "Come on James Bond, lets go."

"Uh, guys? What are you two doing?"

Buffy froze and Angel snatched his fingers away from her face as if they had been burned.

Xander and Anya stood nearby looking down at them curiously.

"My earring!" Buffy blurted quickly, snatching at the first idea to pop into her racing brain.

"Yeah, her earring, she lost it." Angel backed her up.

Xander nodded, "Okay."

Buffy and Angel breathed again.

"But you have both in your ears," Anya pointed out looking puzzled.

"The ones she wore last night." Supplied Angel quickly, "She lost one of those, she had it on her way upstairs but she didn't have it when she went to take it off."

"But why are you looking in the plant pot?" Anya asked innocently.

Buffy gritted her teeth, "Well its not in the middle of the floor is it?"

"Might've rolled under the base of the table," Xander offered without interest, before fixing his stare on Angel, "How come you're crawling around on the floor helping Buff look?" he inquired.

Buffy bent to grovel under the table; things were just going from bad to worse. Angel had apparently exhausted his ability to tell clever fibs and was wildly elaborating about having just bumped into her when she was searching. Drastic times called for drastic measures.

"Ooh, Angel." She cooed sweetly.

Angel nervously shifted his attention from Xander to Buffy. "Yeah?"

"Your mom might want to look into getting a new maid or something, the dust bunnies under here are practically mating!"

At which declaration Anya predictably squawked and Xander was immediately fully concentrated on consoling her.

"Oops! Sorry!" Buffy trilled loudly before grabbing Angel by the hand and beginning to haul him away, "I just thought about where I might've left that earring, Thanks for helping, Bye!" With that she hurried away dragging Angel in her wake.

Her mad dash didn't ease until she had both herself and Angel safely shut away in her bedroom. Then she released Angel and looked up at him with a sheepish grin.

He smiled down at her, "You." He told her shaking his head in mock disappointment, "Are bad."

Buffy pouted, "But you still love me right?"

For an answer Angel pulled her into his arms and kissed her breathless. "Always." He gasped as he raised his head.

Buffy snuggled her head under his chin and grinned to herself; "I can live with that." She said softly.

"Good, I'd hate to think I was the only one feeling so..."

"Overwhelmed and out of control." Buffy finished for him. "It's scary Angel, what I feel for you. Not bad scary, but sort of like getting on a really big roller coaster, a fun exhilarating kind of scared."

"I was going to say completely invested in this but all of the above fits too."

Buffy smiled and tilted her head back to look up at him, at this man she had felt connected to from the moment she had laid eyes on him, "We'll make it work right?" She whispered, suddenly uncertain.

"We will."

Reassured by his unwavering certainty she pulled his head down to hers for another one of those mind blowing kisses he seemed to specialise in.

Eventually he raised his head and gazed at her lustfully, "Unless you want to be hauled into bed and kept there until dinner time I suggest you get your beautiful self into the bathroom and start getting ready."

Buffy grinned wickedly, "What if I decide I need someone to scrub my back?"

Angel groaned and pulled away, "Then you won't get ready on time and they will probably have to send a search party for us because we'll be half drowned and cavorting naked in the bathroom!"

Buffy licked her lips and smirked up at him.

"You think I don't mean it?" Angel chuckled, "I need to go now or we really will still be fooling around at dinner time; besides there are practical considerations such as a lack of protection because we used up what we had."

Buffy pouted as her boyfriend pressed one last kiss against her mouth, disengaged himself from her embrace and walked towards the door. Once again he was right, but it still felt wrong.

"I love you." She called softly.

He paused in the doorway with that luscious hint of a smile playing around his mouth, "I love you." He echoed. Then he was gone.

Buffy snorted, and he thought he was getting away with that? Hah, not likely. She marched into the bathroom, snagged her shampoo, conditioner and shower gel from the shelf, swept her essential items of make up into their bag and plonked the armful on the bed. Next she advanced upon her wardrobe and pulled out the dress and shoes she had chosen to wear before rummaging for her sauciest underwear. Angel didn't know it yet but he would be having company in the shower. Next stop Willow.

Buffy cracked her bedroom door open and peeked out before rolling her eyes at her own stupidity. Angel must have thought she was going insane when she hid behind that plant; pretty soon everyone was going to think she had mental problems if she kept up this cloak and dagger bit. "Note to self, kill Spike as soon as possible." She mumbled as she made her way to the room Willow and Oz were sharing. She was about to go and shock the pants off her poor sweet natured buddy; hopefully Willow would be too surprised to be angry.

Willow was snoozing on the bed with Oz beside her scribbling song lyrics in a tattered notebook, tapping out rhythms with a pen as he did so when Buffy banged on the door. Willow shot upright blinking stupidly and Oz calmly finished tapping out the tune before making a notation and walking to open the door.

"Oz! Hi!" Buffy squeaked with a huge hyper smile.

"Hi Buffy." Oz turned to Willow, "It's Buffy. She's hyper."

"Wow, it's normally me who has coffee and then goes bouncing off the walls!" Willow joked sleepily as she slid off the bed and walked towards her jittery looking friend.

Buffy laughed hysterically, "Believe me Will, he's way better than coffee!" Then she flushed and clapped a hand over her mouth as she eyed Oz maniacally.

"You know I could write these songs just as well downstairs." Oz murmured shuffling together his things.

"No! That's okay! You should stay and write songs I just have a favour to ask Willow!" With that Buffy grabbed Willow and hauled her un-protesting into the en-suite bathroom and shut the door.

Oz shrugged and sat back down, seconds later he had his eyes shut and was hearing a spectacular riff play itself out, his fingers twitched and he grabbed a pen, blissfully unaware of his girlfriend's state of shock in the bathroom.

Willow allowed herself to be manhandled into the bathroom by Buffy who faced her with a strange look on her face.

"You look as if you're going to go pop if you don't ask me for this favour," Willow prompted, "So you'd better tell me because I don't want to be splattered in little Buffy pieces if you do burst."

Buffy grinned, "Okay, try not to pass out."

"Okay." Willow agreed a little uncertainly.

"Angel and I spent this morning making love."

Willow's mouth opened and closed, "I'm sorry," she mumbled faintly, "I must still be asleep because I thought you just said you made love with Angel."

"I did, but it's okay Will, I'm so in love with him and he's just so wonderful and he loves me too, so it's all just amazingly perfect." Buffy began to babble, glad to have the chance to pour out her heart to her best girl friend.

"I think I need to sit down." Willow mumbled as she sagged down onto the edge of the bath. "Isn't there kind of like a major fly in the ointment of perfection though Buffy?" She prompted dazedly.

"Well, yeah, that's partly why I'm here." Buffy confessed as she ended her rambling monologue listing Angel's many and varied perfections that would have made him blush furiously if he'd been witness to even half of it, "We've run out of condoms and I wondered if you have any spare, I know it's a cheek but please." She appealed.

Willow stared at her open mouthed for a moment before finding her voice, "That's not what I meant!" she managed in strangled tones, "I was referring to a Spike sized fly!"

Buffy gulped, "Oops, I sort of forgot that part."

"What part?" Willow asked warily.

"The part where Spike and I are calling the whole thing off because we didn't really get engaged in the first place and it only happened because of stupid Wes and bitchy witchy Cordy and Spike's mom's friends big mouth and..."

Willow heaved herself upright and held up a hand, "Whoa! Not making sense there. All I got was you and Spike...aren't a thing?"

Buffy nodded vigorously, "He's kind of cosy with Faith at the moment."

"And you're kind of cosy with Angel." Willow filled in slowly, trying not to display her immense shock.

"Very." Buffy agreed happily.

Willow shook her head, maybe afternoon naps weren't such a great idea, all this information was coming much too fast for her apparently sleepy brain to cope with. But she knew one thing; however much she had wanted Buffy to have with Spike what she herself had with Oz it hadn't happened, but Buffy had apparently managed to find that special something with Angel.

And if there was something Willow wanted it was to see her friend happy and in a fulfilling relationship. She reached into the bathroom cabinet and plucked out a small box, "I expect a full explanation at a later date, served up with luxury chocolates, good wine and many details." She warned as she passed it to Buffy. "Not those kind of details though." She added quickly.

Buffy threw her arms around Willow, "Thank you!"

Willow hugged her friend tightly, "No worries, but boy do you have some explaining to do later on."

"Godiva chocolates are on me," Buffy promised. "I have to go, there's an Angel just waiting to be further corrupted."

Willow shooed her out laughing.

As she closed the door behind her best friend she knew she'd done the right thing not demanding answers or making a fuss, she'd seen Buffy happy before, but never practically vibrating and glowing with happiness.

"Well that's one I didn't see coming," she remarked to Oz as he raised his eyes to meet hers. "I think dinner tonight could get interesting."

*

As Buffy left Willow's room she almost skipped down the hallway back to her own room. It didn't take her long to gather up the armful of her stuff on the bed and she slipped out of her own room to Angel's as silently as a shadow.

Without a free hand to signal her arrival and not really seeing the need to knock at her lover's door Buffy used her elbow to turn the door handle and bounced the door open with a swing of her hip.

The room was empty but she could hear the shower running in the bathroom, and with a smile she deposited her belongings on the bed. She took a moment to hang up her dress smiling at the elegant black gown with a tie back neck; she wondered if Angel would feel particularly moved to undo that ribbon fastening as he had confessed to fantasising about undoing her pink dress, worn for her fake engagement party.

Buffy smiled before beginning to remove her clothing, then she gathered up a few necessary things and walked towards the bathroom.

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Angel stood with his hands and forehead braced on the steamy tiles of the shower wall, letting hot water wash over his body, he felt incredible. Better than incredible. In a matter of days his life had made a huge U-turn and was changing from somewhat lonely and unfulfilling to indescribably wonderful, and it was all down to Buffy. The more he thought about it the more he felt sure that he had found the one. His soul mate. The feeling of almost recognition he had experienced when he had first laid eyes on her should have tipped him off, but he'd been too busy fighting what he was feeling then. Now he'd stopped fighting he could admit they really were made for each other.

He sighed happily; life was great.

Then slim arms encircled his waist and soft breasts pressed against his back, "Hey." Whispered a familiar and beloved voice.

He lifted his head and smiled to himself as she ducked under his arm to come up in front of him without un-linking her arms. "Miss me?" she asked pertly.

"Of course." He murmured hungrily, as rational thoughts left him, "I missed you the moment I stopped touching you."

Buffy sighed with pleasure at his answer and pressed close, stretching up for a kiss he was already leaning down to give.

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Buffy giggled up at Angel as he mock glared at her for styling his hair into shampoo devil horns. After a moment she stepped back to admire her handiwork and burst out laughing. Her boyfriend looked so cute with frothy foamy lather everywhere and the dumb hairdo.

As he leant over to wipe the steamed up mirror trying to see what was so funny she began carefully applying conditioner to her own wet hair, she loved him so much and it was amazingly good that they were not only having a very passionate love life at one moment but could also goof about with each other the next. Buffy recapped her conditioner and tucked it onto the shelf next to Angel's shower gel, without a doubt she had just had several of the best moments of her life in this shower, had her life really been that sad up to this moment? She wondered briefly. Then Angel slipped back into the shower with his hair re-styled into a mohican and she cracked up. It was the sort of thing Xander might do and it wouldn't raise more than a smile from her, but because it was Angel it was hilarious. Nope, these were the best moments because they were ordinary moments made magical by an exceptional man.

After a lot more kissing and after all the bubbles had been washed away Buffy and Angel finally exited the shower. "You have fifty-five minutes to go from gorgeous, wet and naked to gorgeous, dry and dressed," Angel told her as he threw a towel over her head to wrap around her hair.

Buffy peeled up a corner of the towel so she could see out and grinned at him, "I like that you think I'm gorgeous even when I resemble a drowned rat, please do keep that optician."

Angel chuckled and kissed her on the tip of her nose, the only bit he could reach properly under the towel and walked out of the bathroom swinging his towel casually over his shoulder leaving Buffy to ogle his perfect rear view. "Yummy." She mumbled to herself before following his lead. With less than an hour to dress she couldn't get too distracted by her boyfriend's butt. But she still pinched it on her way to her hairdryer.

With about fifteen minutes to go Buffy was stamping up and down in her underwear and shoes, grumpy because her hair as she put it, 'Refused to style itself', Angel almost told her it looked pretty much the same as usual but wisely held his tongue, he didn't know that much about women but even he could work out the probable consequences of that one.

Before he knew what was happening he found himself enlisted to hold bits of hair and pass pins as Buffy tamed her hair into an elegant upswept style with a few tiny tendrils falling loosely around her face. At last she was satisfied and he bent to press a gentle kiss to the back of her neck. "I like this style." He mumbled between kisses. "I also like the underwear."

Buffy smiled and curved her neck into his kisses, "Sorry I flipped there for a minute but my hair was doing something really bizarre, you seeing it was bad enough, everyone else seeing it too – no way!"

"Buffy, even if you had a bad hair day every day from now on I'd still love you."

"And I still love you with devil horns, that was impossibly cute though."

Angel grimaced, "Cute? Don't you think I'm a bit big and manly to be cute?"

Buffy giggled as she shimmied into her dress and offered him the ribbons to tie it up, "Nuhuh. Definite cuteness, now tie me up and we'll get this show on the road."

"Tie you up?" Angel echoed in disbelief as he took the ribbons from her, "Why must you torture me? I had graphic enough visions of undoing the pink one, now I know what's underneath how do you expect me to make it through the evening without fantasising about what will happen when I untie this bow and probably coming over all caveman and carrying you off to bed?"

Buffy turned to burrow into his chest to hide her grin, before she became serious again, "I wish this evening were over, its going to be so hard, remembering that you aren't mine and that I can't just reach out and touch you."

"It's just a few hours." Angel tried to reassure her. "Just a few hours." He repeated to himself. It didn't reassure him either; it was still too long.

Then with a last glance at the hands on the clock he walked to the door and opened it, he stepped back to allow Buffy to precede him into the hallway. After a quick glance both ways they allowed themselves a final kiss before walking side by side, but not touching to the head of the main staircase.