7

Buffy finished her story and gazed expectantly into the faces of Spike, Angel, Willow and Dawn. She had finally touched bases with her sister and best friend and had had to dodge their expectant glances ever since the meeting started.

"So, you're sure it's the Morha demon? I mean technically, you only saw him for a few seconds." Angel asked, pacing nervously.

"I'm sure." Buffy said, her eyes following his every move.

"And when he killed Angel and me, we just collapsed? No poof?" Spike asked, various emotions fighting for control of his face.

"No poof" Buffy confirmed. On her left, Dawn squirmed uncomfortably and broke in.

"Okay, I get that there's yet another evil to contend with, but I still don't understand the whole situation about Buffy visiting Angel in L.A that time."

"Yeah, me neither" Willow added, looking confused.

"All you said when you came back was that nothing much happened, you didn't mention anything about any extra-curricular activities with Angel" Spike, too, looked at Buffy, curiosity blazing in his eyes, but unwilling to say anything.

"Well, long story short, I went to L.A, got attacked by a demon, Angel's blood mixed with the demon before he could kill it, the blood turned him human, we were. . . ." here she paused, Spike had turned away, unwillingly to hear all the gory details of her and Angel's relationship, Buffy continued.

"We were together for a while, until the demon came back, Angel went to face it, as a human, I saved him, he went to The Powers That Be to see what our relationship had in store, they told him I would die if he stayed human so he asked them to turn him back which they did but they only way they could was to turn time back, make it so we had the day back and only Angel would remember what happened."

"But how did you suddenly remember?" Willow asked.

"Well, I had a dream" Buffy admitted.

"Wait, when did you have this dream?" Spike asked, looking at her once again, Buffy looked down before answering.

"Last night."

"Last night?" Spike stood up and looked down at Buffy.

"Last night? You had a dream about Angel while you were sleeping with me?" Now Dawn stood up.

"You slept with Spike?"

"Well, I didn't sleep with, I slept with him"

"Oh thanks for cheering that up" Dawn added sarcastically.

"Nothing happened, we just slept"

"Apparently something did happen, if you were dreaming about Angel cakes. I guess after all this; Forehead still has the upper hand." Without another word, Spike strode from the room and Buffy stared helplessly after him. Angel noticed the look on her face and said softly;

"Go after, he needs you more than I do right now, we'll talk later" Buffy smiled in gratitude and hurried after the blonde vampire.

A few hours later found Buffy walking the streets alone, a dark shadow separated from the others and moved to join her. Quickly, her Slayer senses went on alert and she whipped out her stake and positioned herself. Her pursuers face caught the light from a nearby streetlight and Buffy saw that it was only Angel.

"Hey" she said, pocketing the stake.

"Hey, how did it go with Spike?" Angel shoved his hands into his pockets and carefully matched Buffy's stride.

"Fine, I think his ego was just bruised. All his life, he's always been, I guess you could say, playing second fiddle to you and it was all just a little too much. He's fine now; he was watching TV when I left." Buffy exhaled loudly.

"This isn't going to be easy is it?"

"Love never is, if it was it wouldn't be worth having." Turning his head, he noticed something and started to steer Buffy towards it.

"Hey, come here, there's something I want to show you." Buffy went willingly as Angel pushed open a heavy steel door. A blast of cold air blew into her face, disrupting the pleasant warmth of L.A's streets. It took her a second to realize where she was, but when she did, she was shocked.

"An ice rink?" and it was indeed, the large oval of ice stretched out in front of her, seemingly unending, with giant bleachers surrounding it on both sides. Angel smiled, enjoying her reaction.

"Do you remember?"

"Of course I do" Years ago, when they had first started dating, Buffy had confided in Angel that she had wanted to be an ice skater and he had taken her to a rink as a sort of a date. Of course, their night had been marred by a demon attack, but then what was a night without one? But Buffy remembered it as being the first time she had seen past Angel's demon face and seen what he really was, a lonely soul, yearning to be loved.

"What are we doing here?" Buffy asked, amazed.

"I know the owner" He motioned with his head, "Come on, let's get you some skates". After finding a pair for each of them, they strapped them on and stumbled onto the ice, giggling. Once they had circled the ice a few times without falling, Angel said;

"So about this whole choice thing . . . ." Buffy cut him off quickly.

"Let's not, Angel, this is perfect, just like this." Her hand slid down to meet his and clasped it tightly.

"Let's not ruin the moment" Angel obliged, seeming happy just to be with her.

Buffy crawled into bed that night, alone. Spike had left, probably thinking she needed some time to herself. As the realization of the enormity of the decision she had to make finally sunk in, Buffy started to cry, knowing that her heart, along with someone else's, would break no matter what she did. Her door creaked open softly and was closed just as quietly. There was a dip in the bed as someone crawled in next to her.

"Buff?" came Willow's voice.

"Hey, Willow" Buffy replied, her voice cracking.

"I have a feeling you need a friend right now."

"A little bit" Willow placed her hand on Buffy's shoulder, the warmth calming her down. The door creaked open once again and Dawn's voice floated over to them.

"Hey, I'm all alone over there" Buffy sighed.

"Come on, Dawn." Dawn closed the door behind her and snuggled in next to Buffy on her other side. Buffy smiled, her friends always knew how to make her feel better. She didn't a big speech or anything, all she needed was to know that she was safe, that she wasn't alone.