"Dawn, I really don't want to..." Buffy's words trailed off abruptly as she saw it was Angel entering her room and not Dawn. "Look, I know this is your hotel and therefore the whole 'you need an invite to get in' rule doesn't apply, but it is still common courtesy to wait for me to tell you it's OK to come in you know. Barging in like this is just...rude."

"My father always did tell me I had no manners." Angel said with a shrug. To his surprise, Buffy laughed at his joke and relaxed a bit in his presence.

"I guess it's time for me to head out there then?" She assumed, gesturing outside, "fight the bad guy? If I can find a bad guy to fight that is..."

"So far no good." Angel said with a sigh. "Gunn and I couldn't find anything."

"Hopefully I'll have better luck then."

Angel nodded and the two of them stood in the room awkwardly, wanting to say more to each other and yet both unsure of how to broach the subject. Finally Angel spoke.

"I want to apologize to you Buffy."

"For what?" She asked, blinking in surprise. An apology was the last thing she had expected from him.

"For what I said to you before....about Dawn. I was harsh and I was wrong."

"You were harsh Angel," Buffy agreed with a shuddered breath, "but you weren't wrong. I was being selfish and it got my sister into trouble. I blamed your son when I should have been blaming myself for not watching more closely. For being too caught up in...well, in pain."

"Buffy I..." He started to speak, but she cut him off.

"Don't apologize OK? It really can't be helped....for either of us. I know that whatever I may be going through, you're probably going through it too." She looked up into his eyes, suddenly terribly afraid of what might lurk within them. "You are going through it too right? Cause if you're just skipping through the tulips here while my heart is getting trampled on by wild boars I'd like you to tell me now before I make a complete idiot of myself."

"Believe me Buffy," he whispered, his voice ragged, emotion strong in his eyes. "I feel it all. No tulips here."

"Good." She said in slight relief. Then, realizing her mistake, hastily amended her words. "Not good that you hurt, but good that I'm not alone with the hurt, cause for a while there it was really beginning to feel like I was and then that leads to anger and anger leads to the dark side or something along those lines that I'll have to ask Xander about later and I'm totally babbling aren't I?"

"You are," Angel said with a warm smile that reached the very depths of her heart. "I like it. I missed it."

"I haven't run on like that in a while." She admitted. "Usually keep very tight control of myself and my reactions. Less pain that way."

"Less you that way." He clarified. "You shouldn't do that."

"Easy for you to say." She said with a sigh. "I should really get going on that patrol."

"Yea," he agreed, resigned that the conversation they were having had to end. He stepped aside for her to leave the room. She started to go, then turned back to him as if something else had just occurred to her.

"Dawn said something to me earlier, that....well that made me think." She paused, gathering her thoughts and Angel waited patiently as she did so. "She said that I was jealous of her and Connor because the two of them could have what we never could, and never will. She said that's why I didn't trust him....because I was jealous."

"Buffy that's..."

"Absolutely right." Buffy told him, refusing to allow him to argue Dawn's words. "I was jealous. I know it sounds stupid, but....I was. Dawn cares about him a lot Angel. I'm not sure how much. I'm not even sure if a sixteen year old is capable of loving someone, but..."

"You were," Angel reminded her.

"I wonder." Was all she said. Looking at him, she smiled. "Was I ever sixteen Angel? It doesn't feel like it. I look at Dawn and I see a child. Was that what you saw when you looked at me? A child?"

"You were never a child Buffy." Angel assured her. "I know it hurts to hear that, but it's true. You didn't have the luxury of being a child. I was attracted to the woman I saw in you anyway. The woman I knew you could be, and it wasn't just because you are the slayer. It was because of who you are. Maturity comes from the person inside Buffy, not from a sacred birthright. When I look at Dawn or any other sixteen year old I see children. When I looked at you though...I saw you and I fell in love. It was that simple."

"I guess that's why I was so jealous." Buffy told him honestly. "Because they can be children. They can be together and explore what it's like to fall in love without anything holding them back. I guess I just wanted you to know that I wasn't really angry with you."

"I love you Buffy." Angel said, for no other reason than he felt it needed to be said. "You know that right?"

"I know." She replied with a smile. Tilting her head upwards, she kissed his lips softly, refraining from going any further for fear of getting too lost in him. "I should probably go try to kill something big and bad."

Angel nodded, and as Buffy stepped past him to head downstairs, Fred's voice could suddenly be heard loudly, clearly and urgently.

"Everyone, come down here quick!"

"Then again, maybe not." Buffy said with a shrug. Both she and Angel headed downstairs to see what Fred had discovered.