***AUTHOR'S NOTE*** I AM SOOOOO INCREDIBLY SORRY THAT THIS HASN'T BEEN UPDATED IN LIKE A MONTH...OR MORE! I have been so busy...try 2 research papers, 2 Speech tournaments, and a tournament at State with an 8 hour bus ride sitting next to the most annoying person in the world...trust me, if I had my computer, this would have been updated and she would have been dead....ok, so back to the story... here ya go!

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As Buffy began to tell her tale to Xander, it seemed as if the taxi cab melted away and those eight years vanished...

Buffy reluctantly began to open her eyes. Warm, muscular arms surrounded her. She was safe and warm. Sunlight began to pour through the window onto the white luxurious bed. Buffy never wanted to move; she wanted to stay like this forever.

"Good morning sleepyhead." Said the voice to which the comforting arms, now hugging her tighter, belonged.

"Mmmm...my Angel." She responded.

"It's only 7:30. Go ahead and go back to sleep." Angel said in a whisper.

"And miss this moment with you?"

"I'll always be with you." Her lover told her.

"Promise?"

"Promise."

And with that he gave her a passionate kiss and she drifted back to sleep in her lover's arms. She opened her eyes again several hours later, to find the warm body that was next to her when she awoke last time, no longer there. She looked around the room and then heard the banging of pots and pans and knew that he must be making...or at least attempting to make...breakfast.

This was the happiest she had been in awhile. She had been married to Angel for slightly over a year, but the last three months had not been the happiest ones. When she had met Angel, he had been in his last year of law school, and she was simply a waitress at Déjà Vu, one of the most popular nightclubs in L.A. She began to think back to that time when they first met. He came to the club with some of his buddies for a post-midterm party, or simply a chance to get boozed up and snag a couple of girls. The group was completely wasted by 1:00 AM, but luckily Angel was able to hold his liquor a little better than the rest. As Buffy began to walk out to her car the group was right behind her, laughing and stumbling, and one of Angel's buddies decided it would be fun to bring Buffy back to the dorm with him. He caught up with her and began pestering her in almost incomprehensible slurred language, but she could tell what he wanted. Buffy continued to ignore him and began to rummage through her purse for her keys and walk at a faster pace towards her black volkswagen bug. She reached it and fumbled with the key in the hole when he decided to send her the message by giving her ass a firm squeeze. That was it, she had been hit-on by drunken men before, but it was late, she was tired, and she wanted to go home. She turned towards him and smiled.

"I bet you're looking for some, right?" she said in a sweet, flirtatious tone, but he just looked back at her with a hungry stare.

"Well, I don't usually like to do this, but because you want it so bad...alright." She said in the same tone. She reached in her bulky purse and pulled out her pepper spray and squirted its burning contents into his eyes. He stumbled backwards into another car and screamed out in pain. As he fell into the side of the car parked next to Buffy's, the car alarm went off causing the group to look back and realize that one of its members was gone.

Buffy got her key in the door and opened it. She was about to get in, when the agonized man sprang up and decided to try a forceful approach this time. He shoved her up against her volkswagen and pressed himself against her. She struggled to get him off and whack him with her purse, but he was too strong. He took both of her tiny wrists in one of his hands and pressed his chapped lips against hers. She was angry that she was letting this happen, but the more she struggled, the more he pushed back. She tried to scream, but his rough lips muffled the sound. What could she do? Everything seemed hopeless. She wasn't ready to give up in her struggle when a large hand took the shoulder of her oppressor. The hand pushed the man off of Buffy and then threw a punch to the drunkard's head. The blow knocked him onto the cold asphalt and he appeared to be unconscious. Buffy looked at her savior. His dark eyes met hers and the panic that had stricken faded away.

"Thank you." She said meekly.

"I am so sorry that Ford acted that way. Normally he is a respectable guy, but there was no excuse for that. Are you alright?" Angel asked.

"I will be. I wouldn't have been if it was for you, Mr...?" Buffy asked.

"O'Connor, Angel O'Connor."

"Wow, your parents named you truthful." She chuckled trying to
lighten the situation.

"I get that a lot." He responded.

"Do you need any help miss? Anything I can do...God! I can't believe Ford did that. I wish I had realized what was going on... I wish I..." Angel continued.

Buffy saw Angel began to sway and he had a glazed look in his eye. "Are you okay?" she asked

"Yeah...I think. One too many beers...I need to pace myself next time. I'll be o..." At that moment Angel passed out and fell forward onto Buffy.

"Great" she thought. She looked to his friends to take him, but they were already way ahead, and too drunk to leave her unconscious "Angel" with to take care of. She stood there for awhile to think about the possibilities. She could leave him here or possibly take him to the ER, but none of those ideas seemed good enough for the man that saved her life. She decided that she would take him back to her apartment and let him sleep it off.

She shoved him into the backseat of her tiny bug and got in the front seat and pulled out of the parking lot. As she pulled onto the freeway, she began to think about what she was doing. Was she kidnapping this man? No, of course not...she knew him...for about two minutes...but she did know his name. That was good enough...as soon as he woke up though she would have to explain what was going on. She hoped that he would sleep it off until morning though. She pulled into the parking garage of her apartment building and dragged him out of the car. His feet scuffed against the rough cement and she hoped that none of her nosey neighbors were awake otherwise she would have a lot of explaining to do. She opened up the door and began to drag Angel down the narrow hallway. She was glad that she had the first apartment in the hallway.

She managed to get the door open and drag Angel's limp body into the living room and lift him onto her spotless couch. She then got up and shut the door. She didn't want to turn on any lights as she walked towards her room. Angel moaned and she turned around to look at him and for some reason she was drawn to him. She walked slowly towards the couch and then took a seat on the wooden floor right next to the sleeping man. She sat there for what seemed like hours and stared at his angelically perfect features. The way his hair fell across his forehead and his perfect body. He was just entrapping. Her eyes couldn't leave him. She just had to stay there. She found a throw-pillow that had been thrown off the couch when she had laid him on there and laid her head down on it. She sat there staring up at him and fell asleep.

She awoke early the next morning to find him staring right back at her.

"Hello?" She said.

"Mmm...good morning. God, my head is pounding." He responded.

"I imagine it would be." She chuckled. "Listen, I wanted to thank you again for saving me last night."
"Last night?...Oh! Ummm...it was nothing...I should be the one thanking you for... wow....how'd I get here?"

Buffy laughed. "You passed out, right after you saved me."

"Oh! Wow...I'm sorry...I feel like a complete idiot...well, thank you for letting me sleep it off. I'll try not to drink so much next time. Last night's very fuzzy...but thank you again."

"It was no problem. You did more for me than I did for you." She said

Angel tried to stand up, but was unable.

"Umm...I think you should keep sitting for awhile." She recommended.

"I think you're right." He laughed.

"I'll get some coffee." Buffy got up and walked towards her kitchen.

"That would be great." Angel said. "I don't know if it's just that the alcohol has wiped my memory, or if you just haven't told me, but, may I know your name miss?"

"Oh...haha...I'm Buffy, Buffy Summers." She yelled from the kitchen.

"Hello, Miss Summers. It's very nice to meet you."

"Well, since you probably don't remember introducing yourself, it's very nice to meet you Angel." She said walking back with a tray and two coffee cups.

"Ahh...so I was at least gentlemen enough to introduce myself."

"Actually, you were quite a gentleman last night." She said.

"So I didn't...?"

"No, no not at all." She said giving him his coffee.

"Good...good...I'm glad..." Angel said.

"I'm sure that was supposed to be a complement, but am I that...?"

"Are you kidding?"

Buffy just stared him blankly. Angel stared back into her deep blue eyes and moved his lips towards hers. He kissed her deeply and passionately. A week later, Angel moved in and four months after that, they were married on a beach in Hawaii at sunset. They were the perfect couple...for a while at least. Three months ago, Angel was hired by L.A.'s biggest law firm, Giles & Associates. At first it was the simple 9 to 5 shift, but then 5 o'clock turned to 7 o'clock and 7 o'clock turned into 9 o'clock and soon, Buffy was asleep before Angel ever got home. They no longer ate dinner together, or did normal things that newlyweds are supposed to do. Angel continued to tell Buffy that it was just more cases that Mr. Giles was giving him because he was testing him for a promotion, and that excuse worked for awhile, but soon Buffy began to become suspicious. Would Mr. Giles really have Angel working that late? Buffy began to wonder if there was someone else. She was extremely happy when Angel was around, but that was rare and there was always the thought that there might be another woman, waiting off in a hotel room for him. About a week ago Buffy had told Angel that she was worried about their marriage because they weren't spending enough time together and Angel agreed. He decided to make it up to her by planning a romantic evening every night. Last night was the first of their plan to rekindle their marriage and Buffy began to think that this was going to work.

Buffy sat up and took the sheet from the bed and wrapped it around her. She walked slowly towards the kitchen. The wooden floor was cold against her bare feet. She peeked around the corner and saw her handsome husband rambling around the kitchen. "Wow, did he look hot in those black boxers of his" she thought. She stared for several minutes and then decided to go say hello to her lover.

"Mmmm...Something smells good." She said in a flirtatious voice.

"Good morning, again lovely. That goodness would probably have to be the eggs that I'm making and bacon that is in the oven.

"Actually, I was thinking more of you." She said as she wrapped her arms around Angel and kissed him.

"Mmmm...I see. I love you, sweetheart." He said completely smitten.

"I know. I –" Buffy was cut off by the phone ringing. She sighed as Angel picked it up.

"Hello? Yes Cordy...haha...ok...mhmm...ok...be there soon."

"Work?" Buffy asked.

"Yeah...uh...sorry...that was Cordelia. There is a client that is going out of town and needs to speak with me before he leaves this morning."

"Of course, right now?"

"Yeah, sorry baby. I wish I didn't have to, but you know that I need to for this promotion."

"Yeah I know. When will you be home?" Buffy asked.

"It depends on Cordelia." He replied absentmindedly

"Cordelia?" Buffy asked with a shocked tone.

"Yeah hun, she's got my schedule."

"Oh of course." She huffed.

"I'll try to be home as soon as possible. I promise darling." He kissed her on the forehead and ran into the room to change.

Buffy stared at the eggs burning on the stove. As they sizzled smoke began to rize and through the smoke, Buffy could think of only one thing...Cordelia.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'll try to update again soon! I PROMISE! O! And don't worry! For all you Spikey fans, he should be showing up next chapter, bleached hair and all! I hope you liked this chapter and you review and again I'm sorry it took so long!