A/N: I would just like to say thank you for all of you who reviewed, but especially to whoever nominated this fic over at Shattered Frames. If you want to vote for me, go here: . I'm up for Best AU and Best B/A.

Once again, a big thank you to all of you!

~~~

Angel walked the halls of the hotel, unseeing and unthinking, only barely aware enough to avoid the random patches of sunlight. He missed Buffy. He wondered if she was okay. It was strange; he'd gone for so long without her, and without thinking about her very often, but now that he had her back again, he couldn't stand being apart from her. She was his everything; he didn't know how he'd survived without her.

Though he imagined she was pretty mad at him right now. He knew what it must have looked like to her; him attacking her only friend for no apparent reason. He wished she knew how crazy he got when her safety and wellbeing was in question.

And then he saw her. She stood at the end of the hallway ahead of him. Between him and her were squares of light streaming in through the windows. He couldn't get to her without burning, and the irony didn't escape him.

Buffy's lower lip trembled and she walked slowly through the light and toward him. Angel's throat seized up. She was beautiful. His hand came up and she took it into her own. Her warmth heated him from the inside, and when she kissed him, he knew she'd forgiven him.

"Angel, why did you do that? Why'd you attack him? I mean, I thought...but then I realized I wasn't being fair to you. What happened?"

Angel took a deep breath, and looked down at the floor. "His scent. He smelled like you. And he said..." Angel looked up. "He said that he'd been sleeping with you."

She snorted. "Well, that explains a lot." She ran a hand through her hair. "Well, but what am I going to do about him? I mean, I can't exactly beat the crap out of him like I want to." She looked into Angel's eyes, and clasped his hand to her heart. "Angel, he was a really good friend when I thought you were...when I thought you were dead. He helped me to cope."

Angel nodded and hugged her small body to his chest. He wished this hadn't happened. She didn't deserve any more pain.

She pulled back to look up at him. "You know I wasn't, right?"

"Wasn't what?"

"Sleeping with him."

"I know," Angel said, and kissed her on the top of her head. She relaxed back into him, relieved to finally be able to rest. She knew she could trust Angel to take care of things. To take care of her.

"Let's go back to our room. You must be hungry."

She nodded in tired consent and they held hands on the way back to the room.

***

"I didn't know what to get," Angel said, balancing several trays of food. "So I got it all."

Buffy stifled a smile. He was just so cute.

He set the plates down on the bed in front of her and went to sit in the chair in the corner. "Aren't you going to join me?" She asked. "There's no way I can eat all of this by myself."

Angel curled his lips into a sardonic smile. "Can't taste anything."

"Oh," she said, somewhat deflated. But then she caught sight of the bacon and cheese omelet and her spirits rose again.

She had just finished eating when a sharp rapping came at the door. Angel growled softly, but it was Buffy who moved to answer. She had a feeling she already knew who it was. And the last thing she needed was another testosterone-fueled fight between him and Angel.

"Hey, Matt." She said, opening the door. She tried to keep nonchalant, not wanting to get all crazy like she had before. Damn hormones.

"Buffy. Why'd you...oh," he said, catching sight of Angel in the background. The vampire still had not moved, no doubt restraining himself from hurting Matt again. The dislike between the two was palpable. "I found a doctor for you, Buffy. Actually, she's a midwife. Her name's Millicent, and she's on the first floor, in room A15. She said you should come down there today or tomorrow, and she'd check you out." The whole time he was speaking, Matt was fidgeting. It made Buffy uncomfortable as well, and all the more eager to get him out of there.

"Thanks, Matt." She ran a hand through her hair. "Listen, I'm really tired. I think I'm gonna take a nap. Thanks again."

And without worrying about being rude, she closed the door in his face.

Angel stood and came to her. He took her hands in his own and said, "Buffy, you really need to get rid of that guy. He's a definite creep, and I don't want you to get hurt any further by associating with him." He was being heartbreakingly earnest, and Buffy wished she could just listen to him and do what he said.

But she couldn't. She needed Matt. He was her connection to the refugees. He was one of them. His father was friends with many of them. She couldn't just 'get rid' of him, like it or not. And though she'd have loved to confront him about his piggish pretensions, she couldn't afford to have that friction in their friendship. Or, more accurately, she couldn't afford to piss him off.

She sighed and wished it wasn't all so damn complicated.

She sat down on the bed. Angel stood up and came to sit next to her. "You know I can't do that, Angel. So please, stop asking. You're tempting me." She finished with a smile to try and lighten the atmosphere.

Angel grunted, which she supposed could be taken as a yes. "Now, I have something else to ask you: what are you trying to do to me? All this food...I'm gonna be so fat by the end of this!"

"That's kind of the point. Have you never seen a pregnant woman?"

Buffy stuck her tongue out at him and started in on her scrambled eggs.

***

"Buffy," Angel started as she was halfway through her hash browns, "I think we need to go see the Oracles."

"But why, Angel? I've already been. I don't think they've got anything new to tell us. And if they do, well," she snorted softly, "I'm not sure I want to hear it."

"Well, then what do we do now?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. It does seem like we should be doing something else. Something important."

"Maybe we're just supposed to wait until the baby comes. They did say that he or she would save all of us, right?"

"Not exactly. They said he or she would carry my burden. Whatever that means. Maybe you're right; I don't feel like I know enough."

"Alright. After you're done with breakfast, then. But we'll need to bring a gift. I don't know why they let you in without one before, but it's likely that we'll need one now."

"How about Matt's head on a platter?" Buffy muttered sarcastically. "And I'm done now, if you want to go. Really." She dropped her fork, laden with sausage, to the plate.

"Are you sure? You don't want anymore to eat? Do you want to take a nap now?" Angel asked anxiously.

"No, Angel, I'm fine. I'm pregnant, not crippled, you know."

"I know. I just want to make sure you're alright. You're...more vulnerable now. You and the baby."

She grunted as she tried to get up, and then promptly fell back on the bed. "Yeah, well, if you keep asking annoying questions, you're gonna be the crippled one."

Angel gave a half-smile. Good to see that she hadn't lost her sarcasm. In fact, if anything, her raised hormone levels had boosted it. Lucky him.

"Well? Are you gonna help me up or not?" she whined. Angel extended his arm and masterfully kept the grin off of his face. That was his girl.

***

They ended up bringing an antique-looking vase from the hotel lobby. Buffy said it would look good with the kind of decorating motif they had going over there. All 'reflective and sparkly'. Angel had laughed and scooped it up off the table, tossing all but one of the flowers on the ground and tucking the last one behind her ear.

It was fortunate that they were so close to the Oracles' building because Angel ended up having to run there under a blanket. Buffy winced at the amount of smoke coming off of him. That had to hurt, and it was so sweet that he'd insisted on carrying the vase anyways. If he'd have broken it, though, she'd have been downright pissed.

Buffy grabbed the vase from Angel and started up the stairs. It had changed a bit from the last time she'd seen it, which was weird in itself. But when she held the vase up to shine it, she realized that she could see Angel's reflection in it. What the hell?

"Angel?" She asked, turning around to look at him. He hadn't noticed it yet. She turned and went downstairs, grabbing him by the hand.

After searching through the desks frantically, she found what she was looking for. A small hand mirror. She picked it up, clicked it open, and showed it to Angel. "Look at this, sweetie."

"What? What is..."He reached out to touch the smoky reflection. While the image wasn't clear, it was most definitely him. And absolutely not the natural order of things.

Buffy snapped the mirror shut and started to put it back, but Angel grabbed her hand. "I want to keep it with me. Just in case."

She shrugged and let him have it. Now she definitely had a bone to pick with the Oracles.