Gigdgetgirl: Thanks for the comments, I know the dialogue needs work it was kind of hard to get Buffy talk in a serious conversation but it was the first thing I'd ever written hopefully I'm getting better in my other stories.  Thanks for the tips though.

As a purplish hue rose to the sky Buffy headed home.  Home.  It seemed such an empty word, fitting she supposed for an empty place.

Jess had no such thoughts, again fitting, as she had no such place she wanted to go.  Sighing she turned to go on a last ditch slaying outing before sunlight drove the vampires inside but found an extraordinarily handsome man right infront of her, blocking her way.

"Who are you?" spilled from Jess's mouth before she had even decided to say it.

"A friend" the dark haired man replied unblinkingly.

"Maybe I don't want a friend," threw back Jess, her earlier rebelliousness returning in full strength.

"Déjà vu" the man said, a smile playing around the corner of his lips.  "Why the hell not?  Might as well complete the sequence.  I didn't say I was yours."

"Ok a name could be so much more useful right now."  Jess was confused, she was sure she'd never seen this man in her life but something about him seemed so familiar and vaguely suspicious.  She also didn't understand how he could have got so close to her without her hearing him.  "So you got one?"

"The name's Angel."

Cue Buffy theme tune (Hee hee that would be fun)

            "Angel as in Buffy's Angel?"  Jess pulled out her stake sure that Angel, if that's who he was, had been called in only as reinforcements in the scooby's battle against her.

"Hey hey that thing can do some damage.  Put it away and we can talk."

"Talk?  I think I've heard enough.  Buffy's great and good and bloody marvellous and all Faith did was screw up and go evil yada yada yada.  I've heard."

"You really don't know why I'm here do you?"  Angel seemed to be upset about what Jess had said.  She didn't really understand that; the guy who loved Buffy was upset that her adoptive daughter had praised her and slated the girl who tried to kill her? Something wasn't right.  "I thought they might feed you that line. It kind of bite though, not literally of course."  Jess stared at Angel wondering if it was possible that he was on her side or if he was just taking a new angle on the persuasion thing.  So she was cynical, it didn't pay to be trusting particularly of vampire, even ones with souls.

"What do you mean that line?"

"You don't honestly believe that Faith was evil do you?  Come off it, her own daughter thinking the rogue slayer was bad."

"You don't think so, I thought you'd be all 'big up the blonde'."

"Yeah big up Buffy putting the slayer in a coma and trying to kill her.  Sure that was just a great chapter wasn't it?  Look I'm going to have a little problem soon in that the sun doesn't like me much.  Can we go inside somewhere? Or I'll meet you later."

"Uh I guess but I still don't get it.  I thought you and Buffy were all, you know…"

"Together? Yeah it didn't work out.  It wasn't just your mum she fought.  I couldn't really stay with a girl who killed me could I?"

"Miss morality killed her man?  No way.  You're still here mate, story doesn't really work."

"Long story and not long 'til dawn.  Briefly she sent me to hell.  I'm back and there's no way I'm letting her get you, it was bad enough she got Faith, she's not getting her daughter as well."

"Got Faith?  Buffy killed her?  What the hell?"

"Meet me here tonight, 10 o'clock.  Go to Buffy's now, pretend everything's ok, you haven't seen me, just be careful."  Angel walked off his coat collar upturned against the first rays of milky sunlight.

"Man, that was weird" Jess mused striding down the hill.  She didn't look back at the shadowy figure just disappearing over the other side.  It was a shame she didn't, she could have saved a life that way and maybe much more, she could have skipped a few chapters at any rate.

She didn't see 'Angel' with his game face on snacking on a pretty teen out on a morning jog. Soul? Don't be stupid, it was nowhere in sight.

Please tell me if you like where I'm going.  PLEASE.