A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed! Muchos gracias!

Chapter 2

"Where's the clipper?" Spike called out from the bathroom. Angel looked up.

"The what?"

"Clipper! The clipper!" He shouted back.

Bemused, Angel suggested, "Look in the cupboards."

"I'm not an idiot!" Spike retorted. "I've already checked the bloody cupboards!"

"Then look in the drawers!" Angel called back irritably.

He walked away from the hall and into his office before Spike could throw another comment at him. He sighed and dropped into his plush chair and turned to look out the magically altered window. He closed his eyes and let the tampered sunlight fall onto him.

"Ahhh..." He said, relaxed.

Remember your first taste of sunshine? A voice inside him said thoughtfully. Not when you were mortal... Back then there wasn't such thing as the sun. Everything was all gloom and doom and gutter rats. Nothing changed after you got sired either. But there was that one day. Remember? The day she came back.

"I don't want to remember." Angel said to himself painfully. And he didn't. Every time he thought back on that day, he felt like throwing himself into the light, even though he knew it would kill him. And a part of him felt he had the urge because he would meet his death. If he were dust, everything would be so much easier than it was now. It would be easier than it ever had been in the past.

Every time he touched a stake, every time he saw a young girl walk past with blonde hair, he would think of her. He would purposely buy fresh berry apricot shampoo, simply because it was the lovely scent of her hair when she lay in his arms, quietly resting in tranquility.

Late at night, instead of sleeping like the others, he would sit in front of his large paned window and just stare out into the Los Angeles night. He would see cars roar by Wolfram & Hart, rushing to be somewhere urgent. He would hear laughter and honks and police sirens. He would calmly sigh as the postmortem vampire dust settled onto the alley grounds.

That was his city. And he loved it. But he could never forget the sight of the warm, usually peaceful hours of the night in Sunnydale.

Well, he couldn't be nostalgic now. Sunnydale was gone. She was gone. The forgotten day was gone. He had nothing else to hold onto except the memories, and he'd have to survive off of them. They kept him sane and driven to do what he did. They were just enough to keep him from falling off the edge so what else did he need?

Buffy.

He sighed and stood up, pulling the shades down. He couldn't take it any longer, he'd have to find some way to distract himself from thinking about her all the time. But what?

-

Suddenly, the phone rang.

Ring... ring... Angel picked it up.

"Hello?" He said gloomily.

Silence.

"Hello?" He repeated.

"Hey." A female voice said back. A voice he had yearned to hear for too long.

"Buffy?"

"Yeah. Hi... Angel."

"D'um... Hey. What's... what's up?"

"Nothing. Europe."

"Oh. Europe. That's nice."

"It really is."

"Where... in Europe?"

"Italy. Uh, Rome."

"Rome's nice."

"They have gelatos."

"Which are nice."

"Yep."

He hesitated. "So what... why are you... I mean, not that it's not... nice."

"Oh, I just, um... I had some... spare time and I thought to myself, 'Hey, let's talk to Angel!' Because I thought that would be... nice."

"Well, it is nice."

"I'm glad."

"Me too."

Silence.

"So uh... How's the law firm going?"

"Law f--? Oh, it's going great!"

"That's nice." She said.

Spike's head poked out from the bathroom door. "Who's that?" He yelled.

"A, uh... an advertiser!" Angel called back, covering the mouthpiece.

"Oh, why are you talking to them?"

"Because they're cutting me a deal. Go look for your clipper." When Spike had returned to the lavatory, he took his hand off and apologized.

"Was that Spike?" Buffy sneered. "And... did you just tell him I was an advertiser??"

"I might have." He replied coyly, beginning to relax. "Would it be so bad if I did?"

She paused. "I don't mind." Another pause. "I think I'm um... coming back to visit."

"Oh?" Angel stood a bit taller, letting a hopeful grin escape his lips. "Uh... whe-when would that be?"

"I don't know. Not toolong from now, that I know for sure."

"How?"

"Because I'm sort of standing right outside your door."

Angel stopped, then slowly looked at the great oak door. He hung the phone up and walked to his door, opening it to see Buffy lower her cellular phone.

"Hey." She said quietly.