"I love you...I try not to...but I can't stop..."
"Hello lover..."
"Great you moved on..."
"Let me worry about the neediness...I can handle it..."
"And Riley...I don't like 'em"
"The world wants me gone..."
"I'm older than you..."
"You have no idea what it's like to have done the
things I've done..."
"Next time, I'll apologize by phone."
"Everything's so muddled..."
"I'm not allowed to remember?"
Buffy sat in the darkness unending cryptic message
talking to her. As the darkness began to fade she saw
a flash of a sword being shoved into the belly of Angel.
"ANGEL!" Buffy sat up in her bed screaming, her eyes
adjusting to the dimly lit room. Looking around the
room she took in her unfamiliar surroundings.
A doctor came in with a silver flip board held loosely
in his hands. "Aah Mrs. Summers, I see you're awake.
I'm Dr. Harris. Now how are you feeling?"
"Like I walked into a wall..." Buffy brought her hand
to her forehead hoping to cut down on the throbbing.
"That is quite understandable." Gesturing toward the
bandage wrapped around her head. "Do you remember
anything that happened?"
"No the last thing I remember is being at the grocery
story with my daughter." Buffy's eyes grew in shock .
"Where's my daughter, is Mia all right?"
"Mia is fine, she is in the waiting room with Ms. Rosenburg."
"Willow's here...Is there anyone else?"
"No I'm afraid not...is there someone you would like
us to call?" Dr. Harris looked at her in confusion as
she looked frantically around the room.
"Where did it go? I knew I had it in my hand!" Buffy
began lifting up blankets and frantically looking around
her surroundings.
"What is it you are looking for Mrs. Summers?"
"His number...he gave it to me in the grocery
store...I picked it up off the floor after my
husband...Oh my god!" Buffy dropped her head into her
hands as she saw flashes of the incident at her home
earlier...but she was still unable to determine what
he husband hit her with.
"It's okay Mrs. Summers, he can't hurt you here...the
police are out looking for him now. But I would like
to persuade you to press charges, will you consider
it?" The doctor saw the look of hurt in her eyes as he
quickly changed the subject. "We did find a phone
number and address clenched into your finger when you
were brought in, would that be the number you are
looking for?"
"Yes that's Angels' number!"
"Would you like us to call him or would you like to
call him yourself...we can easily turn the phone on in
your room. Might take an hour or so though."
"You call him..." Buffy looked away and then looked
back at him. "I want to see my daughter...do you think
her and Willow could come in?"
"Of course I'll tell them you are awake right away."
Closing the clipboard Dr. Harris left the room leaving
Buffy to sit back and relax against her bed.
There was something about the dream she had with Angel
that seemed to familiar, maybe he would know what was
going on. That's all she could hope for.
***
Willow sat on the waiting rooms couch as she watched
Mia play carelessly with the children's' toys stacked
up in the corner. Her attention was pulled away when
Dr. Harris walked in his rumpled brown hair falling
loosely over his eyes.
"Ms. Rosenburg, your friend Mrs. Summers has woken up
and has asked to see you and Mia. We were able to stop
the bleeding and we gave her some liquid Tylenol and
she seems to be doing fine. It appears there won't be
any lasting effects but she may have a bruise on the
side of her face to her upper ear. But you can go see
her anytime, just remember visiting hours are over at 10 tonight."
"Thank you doctor. Did she say anything that happened?"
"No she didn't seem to remember about the incident
till she went looking for the paper with Angel's number on it."
"Whose Angel?"
"I assume it is a friend of hers for she was asking
for him when I was in with her. So I'm going to give
him a call. Are you sure she has no family we can contact?"
"I'm positive...I'm the closest things she has to
family now." Willow turned to Mia and smiled.
"Come on Mia we are gonna go see mommy."
"Yay!" Mia jumped up from her spot and ran to Willow
holding her arms up to be held.
"Thank you Ms. Rosenburg I'll probably see you again
when I do my rounds." With a smile Dr. Harris left the
waiting room, Willow and Mia following close behind.
"What room she in Aunt Willow?"
"219 which should be right around the corner." Willow
stood in the doorway seeing Buffy in the bed her hands
folded over her stomach. "Hey Buffy..."
"Willow...and Mia." Buffy's face lit up as she reached
for her daughter. "Hey sweetie how you doing?"
"I good mama...how is you?"
"I'm doing good...got a sore head though."
"Oh mommy I make it better." With a little smile, Mia
leaned up and kissed her mother on the forehead. "No
more booboo." Mia smiled a little toothy smile and
rested her head on her mothers shoulder.
"Who's Angel?" Willow asked after positioning herself
in a chair next to Buffy.
"He's a friend of mine from school. He is a really
nice guy." Buffy suddenly remembered the dream she
had her eyes filling with sadness.
"What's wrong Buffy?" Willow asked.
"What do you mean?"
"Don't you try to play coy with me Buffy Summers I
have been your friend since high school."
"It's just that I've been having these really weird
dreams lately and I could have sworn I recognized the
voice then all of a sudden today I saw an image. When
before they were only ever words."
"I don't think I understand."
"Well I've been having a few dreams where I keep
hearing this voice of a man talking to me and they
were like clips and phrases of conversations. None of
them really seem to go together. But I know I have
heard them somewhere before. But then today before I
woke up I actually saw an image. More like a movie
actually. That was the first time that has happened
in these dreams."
"What did you see?" Buffy looked down seeing her
sleeping daughter before proceeding with her story.
"Angel being stabbed thought the stomach with a sword."
"Geez Buffy what made you dream a thing like that?"
"I don't know Will. The strangest thing is I could
feel the emotions and I felt love, and sadness and
utter dispair, along with confusion. Like I should
know what happened at that moment. It seemed so
familiar I swear I remember seeing the sadness in
Angel's eyes, the look of confusion that fell on his
face the moment he knew what happened."
"That is weird Buffy, maybe you should ask Angel about
it. After all it was him that was in your dream."
"Oh yeah that would make perfect sense. 'I know I
just met you, but I just had a dream where you were
just stabbed through the stomach' That's just the kind
of thing that will make him want to be my friend."
"You never know until you tell him Buffy. Besides by
the look in your eyes I know you want more then a friendship."
"How can you say that Will I'm married!"
"Oh please Buffy, don't give me that! If you even
think I'm gonna let you go back to that man after what
he did to you tonight you have another thing coming."
"I can't believe you are talking to me like this."
"Well it's something I've been wanting to say to you
for a long time. I am disgusted with the way he
treated your through your marriage. It is just not
right. There was many a time where I wanted to say
something but you always seemed like it never bothered
you to the way he was treating you. SO many times
when you called me up crying I wanted to run to your
place and beat the living shit out of him. So many
times Buffy. This is the last straw. If you want you
can come stay at my place. That way I know you are
safe from him."
"I don't know, I mean I don't want to intrude."
"What would you be intruding upon? Not like anyone
else lives with me...all I ever do is go to work and
sometimes hang out with friends. Besides you are like
my sister I wouldn't care if I had a houseful of
people I would always make room for you."
"I'll think about it."
"Good at least I got that. Sometimes I wonder what
makes you so stubborn. I swear sometimes I swear you
are gonna try telling me the sky is purple." Willow
and Buffy chuckled quietly trying not to wake Mia.
***
"I want my life to be with you..."
"See she wins again..."
"Close your eyes..."
"I love you..."
"I trust him!"
"I feel like I lost you..."
"The fork guy?"
"Maybe I don't want a friend."
Angel stood in the darkness as he circled every time
hoping to find the girl behind the voice. His hope
began o fade when the darkness seemed to get thicker.
His eyes quickly caught the flash of light. Quickly
he ran toward it as another flash happened on the
other side. As quickly as they came they would disappear.
"Quit playing games with me! Who are you?"
"Nobody is playing games Angel."
"Then tell me who you are!" Angel ran deeper into the
darkness toward the voice then he felt himself running
into a wall. Angel pulled back wincing at the sudden
impact running his hands along it's smooth surface.
Angel could have sworn this wall wasn't here before.
His hands quickly ran over what seemed to be a
door-knob. Slowly he turned it pulling it open slowly
as a beam of light seemed to light up the room.
Opening the door further Angel fond himself standing
in what looked like an old mansion. A large statue of
a something stood before him a sword sticking out of its chest.
"What is that?"
"You could say it's the end of one problem and the
beginning of another."
"I don't understand."
"Look closely Angel. Try and remember."
Angel concentrated on whatever it was still unsure of
what was happened. "I have no idea what this thing is.
It looks like some hideous demon thing with a sword
sticking out of it."
"Well it is that but I was hoping for something
a little more specific then that. Here how about I
give you a refresher." In a flash it seemed like Angel
was in the room but he wasn't in the room. Standing before
him was...himself?
Angel watched as he fought with some blond girl as
they wielded swords against each other. Angel tried
to get a look at her face but her back seemed to
always be to him. "What is this?"
"Just watch Angel."
The fight got more intense as he saw the girl get the
upper hand holding her sword high above him. Then on
his own face he saw a rush of confusion. And if he
wasn't mistaken he saw a glow in his eyes.
The look of disorientation confused Angel as tried to
move closer, but was unfortunately held in place.
The one looking like him looked up at the girl and his
face lit up. "Buffy?"
"Whoa wait a minute, are you trying to tell me that
Buffy and I are going to get into a sword fight?
Cause if you are I have to say I don't believe you.
Cause first of all I only took a few basic Martial
Arts classes and I highly doubt I would be able to
wield a sword with that much accuracy as I was there."
Angel pointed to the now still scene before him. I
especially wouldn't lift one toward Buffy."
"No I'm not trying to tell you that you WILL fight her
with sword I'm trying to tell you that you DID fight her."
"You are just crazy."
"No Angel, I'm not, now can we get back to this please?"
"Whatever, not like a I have a choice in this anyway."
Angel watched as the man stood, leaning into the girl
he now knew was Buffy. Thought their words were
rather soft and hard for him to hear he knew he heard
them both say I loved you before she told him to close
his eyes. Angel saw the tears on the side of her
cheek as she pulled back and thrust a sword into his
stomach closing a portal that had opened up behind him.
"Now I KNOW you are lying there is no way I was sucked
into some portal. I think I would have remembered
something like that."
"I'll give you one thing Angel, being human all your
life has certainly changed her personality!"
"What in the hell is that supposed to mean? Why won't
you show your face! Who the hell are you?"
When he saw a shadow walk toward him from the opposite
direction Angel turned toward it to come face to face
with an oddly familiar man. A man appearing to be in
his forties stood before him glasses on his face in a
nice nit sweater.
"What you don't recognize me Angel?"
"No should I?"
"Well looks like and introduction is at hand." The
man held out his hand to him with a small smile. "Rupert Giles,
thought you apparently are being very
stubborn and refuse to open your mind and allow your
memory to return I have known you for a few years now."
"Whatever old man. I have never seen you before in my
life. And what was the crack you made about me being
human. Of course I'm human what else would I be."
"What is the point you wouldn't believe me if I told
you. You used to have such and open mind. Hell you
even gave up one day of happiness as a human just to
save the woman you love. Buffy. But you don't want
to remember that do you?"
"You are talking nonsense. I want to wake up now."
"Oh and how do you know you are sleeping? Maybe you
are completely awake."
"There is absolutely no way this is happening."
"On the contrary Angel. Sure you may appear to be
sleeping to someone on the outside world but when you
went to sleep you opened the way for me to do this,
for a sleeping mind is more open."
"You are talking like a god damned text book! What the
hell does this all mean? Why am I dreaming of Buffy
killing me? Why am I even here?"
"You have to remember Angel. You have to remember why
you are here. You have to remember if you want to get her back."
"Get who back there is nobody missing." Angel visually
began to calm down, to the relief of Giles.
"Angel you have to open your mind to different
possibilities. Different worlds if you want to return
to your own world. I know this is hard to grasp, but
the world you are in is not your own. But you have to
believe me, I would not make this up."
"I don't know why but I know you would never lie to me
it's just having to grasp that everything I know is wrong."
"It's not wrong Angel, it's just different. But if
you think heard enough I know you will remember. Just
try and remember. Remember the reason you are really here."
"What do you mean? Reason I'm really here?"
"I can't tell you that but your time is slowly running
out." Giles looked off into the distance then looked
back. "You might want to answer that."
"Answer what?"
In a flash the room faded as sat up at the sound of a
phone ringing. Angel looked around the room finding
himself draped across his couch. When the phone rang
again Angel got up and looked around the room looking
for where Ashen last left the phone. Finding it
barried under a blanket on the chair he turned it on
placing it to his ear.
"Hello?" Angel's face lit up with shock as he
frantically moved through the room the phone still
held tightly to his head. "I'll be right there. Thank
you for calling."
***
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