"Where do I begin?..." he took a sharp breath of air in and let it out slowly."Uhm, well...the, uh, m-murderer last night was my...well, I knew him."

Buffy looked puzzled. "Wow. How'd you know him? He was your..." She prodded.

"He was my...step-brother." He replied. Buffy took a good look at his hands, which were shaking. He appeared calm and casual on the outside, but to her, he looked like a nervous wreck. She gently took both of his hands in hers.

"And?" She pushed softly.

Angel stared at their hands entwined. He took another deep breath and continued, this time his voice sounded more steady. "Well, my real mom died when I was about two and my dad re-married three years later to the woman I call my mother. She already had a child, my step-brother, Derek." He seemed to cringe saying his name. "When my parents were killed by vampires two years ago, Derek's emotional stability collapsed and he became a complete wreck." He paused.

"Wow." Buffy breathed. Then her hand quickly flew to her mouth. "Oops." She mumbled. She forgot she wasn't supposed to interrupt.

"Ah, it's okay. Don't worry about it." He grinned warmly, then continued. It was tough...And things went from bad to worse when Derek decided to go after the vamps who killed our mom and dad. I would've tried to stop him from going, but I was out with a friend." He took yet another stabilizing breath, before diving into something that was probably hard fro him to tell. "He was killed that night- and turned into a vampire."

Buffy comfortingly tightened her grip on his hands. "I remember his funeral. Everyone was sad, and mourning...but I was angry and repulsed."

"Repulsed?" She whispered incredulously.

He just nodded. "I knew what he would become at sundown the day. And I should've been waiting right there with a stake to end it all...But I couldn't. Not to my own brother. Even though he wasn't my real brother, it didn't mean..." He trailed off.

"I understand." Buffy said softly.

"I already knew about vampires and the undead here in Sunnydale. I found out when Derek and I moved here to live with our aunt and uncle. We had lived in Sunnydale all of our lives, but two years ago, when all of this happened, we moved closer to the center of the town.

"Not a good idea. In doing that you moved yourself even closer to the hellmouth..." replied Buffy.

"Yeah, but...it moved me closer to you, too." He said softly. She smiled sweetly at him. Slowly he moved in closer when...

RRIINNGG!

Buffy backed away, groaning. ♦Stupid phone.♦ She grabbed her cell phone out of it's case on her hip and flipped it open.

"Hello?" She replied less than cheerfully. pause. "Oh." pause "No, it's fine." pause "Ok, I'll see you then, bye." She hung up the phone.

Angel looked at her questioningly.

"It was Dawn. She just wanted to let me know that she was going to be a little late coming home. Apparently hanging out with your friends is way cooler than hanging out with your older sister." She mentally debated whether or not to try to kiss him, but she let ot go. The moment was gone.

Angel shrugged. "It's normal."

"Yeah, I know." replied Buffy. "Now C'mon. Let's hear the rest of your story. Pleeeease?"

"Well, since you asked so nicely..." He gave her a small grin. "After he was turned he kept coming after me. He was most likely trying to turn me too. But that's how I found out about you. One night he just mentioned the Slayer, and then told me about you. "

"Li'l ole me." said Buffy.

"Yeah. That's pretty much it."

"Wow. I'm...sorry. Lame, yes, but there's not really anything else to say..." She trailed off.

"I understand. I-"

The shrill ring of her phone interrupted him.

"Sorry." Buffy said before flipping her phone open.

"Hello?" pause "Oh, ok." pause "I'll be there in a sec." pause "Bye." She flipped her phone shut.

"It was Willow. Dawn's back and I have to go be big sis and yell at her for spending too much at the mall." Buffy got up off the bed.

"How do you know she spent too much?" Angel asked.

"I just know. We have weird sister vibes or something. Like ESP." She grinned as she headed to the door. "Do you want me to, like, not tell anyone about this?"

He shrugged. "I don't mind." He paused. "And thanks for listening to me. It was a good way to vent. I needed to tell someone and.." He trailed off.

"No problem. But promise me one thing." She said.

"Sure, what?"

"No more secrets."

"Agreed. No more secrets." He replied.

"Ok, well, I'll talk to you later..."

"Bye."

"Bye..." Buffy walked out and closed the door behind her. She wished they had decided to seal their little promise with a kiss.

♦ It would've been more official...♦

She was slightly upset that he didn't kiss her, yet she couldn't keep a silly grin from spreading across her face at the mere though of him.

♦I've got it bad.♦ She realized. But maybe that wasn't such a bad thing after all.

♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦

Pleeeeeeeeeeease review. Yup. That's what I have to say. ;)