Riley was talking to her, she could somewhat hear him but it sounded far away and muffled. She was too busy dealing with the sudden on set of a flashback as she stared off into the direction Angel had taken, feeling her stomach drop.

She knew it was wrong. Very wrong.

She knew it was in fact a pretty awful thing to do.

She knew it, she really did. She just didn't want to care.

Riley Finn was a sore subject when it came to Angel and she could use that to her advantage, that's what it came down to. Riley had been more interested in her than she'd been in him back when they'd met and later tried dating some. And she knew that Riley had carried that same torch for her every since and she could use that even now.

She knew eventually Angel would find out about the two of them and she knew it would hurt him.

And that was exactly what she wanted and why it had to be worth it.

It'd been almost cute back in their earlier, happier days... Angel being jealous of the fact of Riley having been her first lover, that he had something of her no one else could. Angel had many women in his lifetime so it was understood how ridiculous it was on that level, too... but it'd still been cute.

But those days were over.

Riley had been so excited when she had called that first afternoon and when she saw him she about called it all off. That boy scout grin... the flowers and chocolate he showed up with... She was sure she probably would have told him to just turn around and go far, far away from her if her phone hadn't blown up before she got the chance with angry text messages from The Cheat.

They'd been arguing through their phones for hours.

And so, it'd begun.

She started going out on a few dates and spending time with Riley again.

And as expected, it didn't take too long for word of such a thing to reach The Cheat.

She was out on another date with Riley when she heard a commotion going on and when she looked in that direction she saw him. She didn't want to admit it but she felt a rush run through her at the look in his eye. But also, a winning-out anger grabbed hold of her as he pushed his way into the dining area, stalking over to their table.

"What the hell, Angelus?" she said angrily.

He shot her one hell of a look, then one at Riley. "Get up," he growled out. Back to her. "Both of you."

"Go away, Angel. We're having dinner. Which is none of your concern."

He growled low in his throat. "Get. Up."

"Go to hell," she spat, her voice just above a whisper.

"Look... why don't you take a breath, calm down a little..." Riley started to say as he held his arms out in front of him, standing out of his chair. He didn't get a chance to say anything else as Angel's head tilted, he growled again and then the next thing anyone knew he was on top of the blonde man, his fist connecting in Riley's face.

"Jesus fucking Christ, Angel!" Buffy shouted, pulling him off. They had gathered the attention of every single person in the up-scale restaurant. "Go outside," she ordered. "Just go."

His eyes flashed.

She pointed at the door. "Go!" He left after they stared off at one another and she helped Riley to his feet. She apologized to him, to the staff of the restaurant and everyone else who was there to witness everything that'd happened, quickly paying for the meal they'd not gotten the chance to finish.

When outside, Angel stalked back toward them. "What the hell do you think you are doing?" she yelled at him before he got a chance to do or say anything.

"Me?! What the fuck do you think you're doing?!" he shouted back at her. His arms wildly flung toward Riley.

"I am out on a date," she said matter-of-factly.

He barked out an unamused laugh. His eyes getting wilder by the second. "A date?" he repeated. "A date? In case you have forgotten, Elizabeth Anne O'Connor, you are my fucking wife." He's pressed hard on her surname from marriage.

This made her temper flare right through the non-existent roof. "Excuse me?"

"I thought you said you were separated," Riley's voice came out, a groan in there.

Angel's head nearly snapped off of him as he looked at the banged up blonde man. "Separated. Not divorced," he ground out. "As in we are still motherfucking married."

"You really are something else, aren't you?" she said, stepping toward him.

"Don't you start," Angel warned, fury in those brown eyes when his murderous glare when from Riley back to her.

But she held her own. "You want to come in here, guns blazing, when we are legally separated? Yes, maybe we are still technically married-as of right now-but not for long. And even so, separation does stand for something none-the-less, Angelus. Unlike, say, the shit in which you pulled."

"Buffy. Don't start," he warned once again.

"Carrying on with your little slut while we were still very much married and supposed to be together..."

"You look good," Riley's voice said.

Buffy's head turned to look at him again. He'd been talking for who knew how long, said who knew what. Obviously he was uncomfortable standing there. He was trying to hide it but it was there.

"What are you doing here, Riley?" He was after all the last person in the world she expected to see.

She had fought with Angel forever and a day out in the alleyway behind the restaurant.

It wasn't pretty.

A verbal lashing at high damn volumes was going on outside, neither one of them giving an inch. She wasn't surprised when they were told they needed to leave or the police would be called. She was only surprised no one hadn't come out sooner or the cops hadn't already been called with all of their shouting and more so the damn ruckus from inside when Angel showed up to begin with.

She got into Riley's big ass truck, cursing as she tried to figure the damn thing out. She didn't trust Riley driving with how damn loopy he looked and the blood coming from his nose. Angel had clocked him pretty damn good.

Angel had beaten her back to her house and she started cursing him before she even parked the truck. Getting out of it, she threw Riley's keys, her bag and both of her shoes at his damn head while shouting at him.

It wasn't long before she was letting her emotions get the best of her. In all ways. She started throwing it out there into the damn open as to why she was even bothering with Finn in the first place. It wasn't about anything but revenge, about using him, about hurting her damn ex-husband. And she smeared it all right in his face.

Unfortunately, Riley's too in the process.

But she hadn't cared much at that time, too caught up in her craziness with Angel right then.

Riley looked embarrassed, staying for a very short time after that before taking his leave without another word.

She had tried apologizing to him twice after that night but had never heard anything back.

"I, uh, I heard you'd been in a pretty bad accident," he said, looking down at his feet. "I was back in Sunnydale for the night so I thought I would swing by and just see how you were."

Buffy put a hand up to her head. "That's very sweet, Riley. It is. And I appreciate the concern, but I am doing better now," she told him, not wanting to get into it any more than that with him of all people. "Slow but steady progress."

He nodded and looked down the road for a minute. "You and him, huh?"

Buffy sighed. What could she even say?

He gave a tight smile. "You don't owe me or anyone else any kind of explanation on that. I just hope you know what you're doing."

"What?"

"I just mean... things were pretty, um, intense with the two of you from the last I saw."

Buffy sighed. She so very much wanted to be anywhere else right now. She tried to thank him again for his concern and tried to find some words to apologize for the shit that had gone down before but he wasn't having it. He held up his hands and just told her it was alright. Sighing again, Buffy told him softly that he should probably leave.

It didn't take any more than that to get him to bid her farewell.

Buffy sighed, waving as he passed her by from the driver's side of that damn truck. She looked up and down the road for any sign of Angel then went back inside.

She didn't make it far though, shutting the door behind her and taking a seat on the bottom step of the stairs. More of the past came to her when she walked inside, still from that night.

And Angel had not been kidding when he'd told her that night was bad.

She could remember the two of them shouting outside after Riley had left, tempers flaring to all new heights. She could remember telling him off, grabbing her bag and her shoes and heading inside. How it took mere seconds for him to follow her.

Once inside, it'd started to get real ugly between them. She had tears in her eyes as it replayed in her head... all the awful, hurtful things she had said to him, and all the one's he'd said right back. It was nothing but low blows that night, saying whatever came to mind that could hurt the other.

Absolutely nothing was off-limits as they tore into one another. They'd both started to lose their voices from all the yelling and emotion taking their toll. At the time, there were no tears, no sadness, no guilt. Only impossible fury.

He ended the argument that night. His hand on the door, tapering his anger down enough to speak in a clear, soft voice. His words were biting and the tone he used only made it worse. He was almost shaking at the end of it and she was so exhausted after everything that her own armor was cracking.

After he'd left, she fell to the floor and cried until she passed out.

OoOoO

Buffy paced around the living room as she left another voicemail for Angel. She knew he either had to be deleting them, listening to them or not, or his mailbox was going to be filled soon without how many calls, texts, and voicemails she had left him all day. She'd used every number she had been given to reach him at and there was nothing, she also knew he had to be back at work tomorrow so she would try there then if she didn't hear from him first.

She was on edge though, throwing the phone down to the couch and running her hands through her messy hair. She'd spent just about the whole day trying to reach him and worrying her head off that things were ruined with the two of them. Fate seemed to still hate them after the wonderful day before and then this morning having the shit hit the fan over Riley showing up.

She still couldn't believe it.

Yesterday she'd been on cloud nine. Angel had returned. He kept looking at her the entire day like he wanted to strip all of her clothes off and do amazing things to her body. They'd had fun going out to the arcade... they ate, laughed, talked, played. He was "softer". He smiled, let his hands touch her like it was the most natural thing in the world, laughed.

They'd gone shopping for a few groceries which she was sure was something they'd done a million times but something about it made her excited. It was couple-y.

As was coming home, carrying their things in, putting them away. Conversation was easy, catching up on the news, sitting by one another on the sofa. When they'd started to go through photos, he was right there, going through them and walking through memory lane. It had been mostly fun, but gave her a few sad moments as she wished she could remember them better.

Then... the memory of one of their dates and things just started to snowball. She'd been surprised when he kissed her, not having expected that at all. But in no way was she complaining. And then she dared for more... and... so did he. And it was perfect. Angel felt like home somehow. Her stomach was in a tight flutter as he left a trail of fire with every touch. He knew her body, knew exactly how to get her worked up. He'd tried pulling back after giving an inch but she wouldn't let him. And we he gave in... it was like the entire world stopped.

He carried her to the bedroom, laid her town, kissed and touched her... making her body hum. Her body responded to him, remembering him where her mind failed her on such a subject. They moved together, undressing her, the teasing along the way. She could still feel his mouth on her, his hands holding her down as she bucked wildly from what he was doing to her.

Buffy could remember dating Riley, a few makeout sessions they'd had, and the stupid decision to sleep with him after being embarrassed earlier when having a discussion with some other girls in her class. She'd gone to bed with him one other time and that was it for them. And it had been nothing like what Angel was doing to her with just his mouth.

Falling asleep next to him was the most comfortable she'd been since as long as she could remember. He felt warm and smelled like heaven from his shower. He made her feel safe, loved.

But then she woke up, he wasn't there, and all hell broke loose.

After sending Riley away, she'd come inside, dealt with some demons of her memories that flooded back to her, and tried to get in touch with Angel. She'd stayed in her pj's all day, worried, hadn't eaten anything other than some grapes the entire time.

OoOoO

Buffy was on the phone with Willow when she heard a beeping noise. She hurried to tell Willow she'd call her back and switched over to take his call, her fingers shaking as she held the phone back to her ear. She rushed out an apology, telling Angel that she'd had no idea Riley was going to show up, that she in no way had invited him over.

Angel was quiet on the other end for a moment, then she heard him suck in a breath and tell her it was okay but he'd needed to get out of there. One reason being he thought he'd go after Riley again, and this time far worse, and the other reason he described had her trembling even more.

"A-Angel? W-where are you?" she staggered out.

She heard the sound of a glass being put down. "The Bronze," he answered.

"A-are you drunk?" That was the last thing any of them needed.

"No," he answered. "I have had a few shots, but I'm not drunk."

Buffy felt another shake rush through her. "W-would you come b-back h-here? Please?"

He gave a low chuckle. "That probably would not be the best of ideas just yet, Buffy."

"W-why n-not?" she asked.

His answer was on the same note of some of his statements earlier, jealousy gripping him, wanting to do delicious things to her that had her biting her bottom lip to keep from moaning at the thought. The thought of Angel going all cave-man and showing her she's his was not something she took any issue with if she was being honest.

OoOoO

Almost an hour later, a knock at the door had Buffy jumping. It was well into the evening by this point and she had trouble making anything out without the porch light on as she looked through the peephole of the front door. But she knew who it was.

Opening the door, Buffy sucked in her breath, a chill running through her as her eyes met his. "A-Angel," she breathed out.

"You need to tell me to leave," he said. His voice was dripping with sex and need. His eyes left no question to what he was wanting to do to her. His hands gripped the frame of the door. The two of them stared at one another for a long pause. Angel looked like he was barely holding on to his last rope. "You need to tell me to leave," he repeated. "I have been trying like hell to do the right thing here with you Buffy but right now..."

He never finished. With a long breath, Buffy stepped back. He knew it was an invitation. And she knew what would come of it.

Buffy's back was pushed hard into the door, closing it, Angel's hard body pressing against her. His lips were on hers, his tongue demanding to be let into her mouth. Buffy moaned as he tasted her, and shivered as his fingers quickly slipped into the waistband of her pajama bottoms. "Yes," she hissed as his fingers found their way to her, two digits sliding easily into her heat."Jesus," Buffy moaned, her head falling back. She parted her legs slightly, giving him more room.

With a growl, Angel tugged her pants down, along with her panties. His eyes looked almost dangerous as he glanced up at her. Sliding back up her body, he positioned himself between her legs then surprised her by standing up. Her legs squeezed at the sides of his head, her hands gripping onto his for dear life. "I'm going to fall!"

Angel easily moved her into a better position, her legs open wide enough, resting on his wide shoulders and hooking down at the knees. His arms hooked under her, holding her up, as did grabbing handfuls of her ass and bringing her mound up to his face. Buffy's hands flew back down to him, grabbing at his head and neck. She screamed out his name as his tongue formed a hard line and licked at her slit before finding it's way inside her silken heat.

Angel's mouth moved slow and steady against her, taking her to the edge more than once there in the foyer. He licked, nipped, teased at her. He darted his tongue in and out of her, drew circles inside of her, kissed and suckled on her swollen lips, devoured her until she was feeling numb.

He'd had to move them from their spot against the door when she got too wild for him to keep a handle on and she almost brought them tumbling over. He'd barely missed a step though, lowering them down to the ground, putting himself to the floor and having her practically sitting on his face.

Falling forward, Buffy swatted at Angel's head, needing a minute to catch her breath. He growled at her, licking at her one last, very long time, which made her whole body twitch. Sliding out from under her, his hands returning to her half a second later. His hands were light as a feather as he grazed the back of her thighs, danced over her buttocks, and up her back.

Turning over, Buffy helped him slip her tank top off and cast it to the side so she was entirely bare before him. His eyes looked at her with a raw hunger all over again. "You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen, Buffy Summers," he whispered to her. "And I swear to God, I cannot stand the idea of anyone else touching you. I don't want anyone touching you but me."

"O'Connor," she corrected. Both because she had never changed her name back to her maiden one and more importantly whether "Memory Buffy" liked it or not, she belonged to him. "And I don't want anyone else, Angel."

Angel was silent, then, "I want you."

Buffy climbed into his lap and together they removed his black tee shirt and she undid the front of his jeans. "Take me upstairs," she whispered.

OoOoO

Angel ground his teeth together, worried this was all going to be over before it started. Hell, he'd about creamed his damn pants when she opened the damn door to begin with and he had been on edge since. Looking at her, touching her, the smell of her... it was too damn much. Watching her face bliss time and again at his hands. And now the damn woman was insistent on touching him.

He had a fingernail digging into each of his palms as she studied his manhood. It was like their first time together all over again right now with her curiosity, damn near mirroring memories she'd lost. He ground his teeth together as her fingertips would dance up his shaft, grab him lightly and then begin to squeeze at different pressures, stroking him.

Opening the bright green packet, Angel slipped a condom on while she kept her eyes glued to him., he was a little less of a crazed maniac than he'd been all throughout the day, but that need was still overpowering any clear thought of reason. Angel propped himself up from the bed a little, cupping her breasts while she arched into him and squeezed her legs together.

Switching positions, Angel laid Buffy down on the bed and crawled between her legs. Somewhere in the back of his mind he still understood how wrong this was, but he just couldn't bring himself to care about that right now. Buffy wrapped her legs around him and he lowered to her, kissing her hungrily. It was her hand that reached between their bodies and began guiding his penis until he felt her jerk underneath him when there was a connection.

Angel let one of his hands meet up with hers, helping the rest of the way. They both moaned as he slid in her wet, hot heat, moving one inch at a time until he was fully seated inside of her. Both of Buffy's hands clawed at his back as he began to move his hips against her. He slowly pulled away, inching back in, making her say just about every swear word she knew in the process.

Angel grabbed her wrists with his hands and pulled them down to the bed just above her head. Her legs rose a little higher, giving him deeper access so he began to pick his pace up. Buffy's head dug back into the pillow beneath her as she moaned his name over and over almost in a chant. There were no words to explain how much he had missed this, missed her. It went well beyond the sex but it was part of the package. She felt like home, where he needed to be in the bedroom as much as anywhere else.

They were both covered in a fine sheen of sweat as he pumped into her at a frantic pace as the day caught back up with him. Their happy past, their bad one. All the fighting, the anger. Riley. Missing her. Wanting her. Buffy's legs were just about above her head now, curling against the wall. She screamed nearly loud enough to shake the house, kicking her twisting leg at the wall when one hand reached back for her perky pink pearl and gave it a hard flick. As she clamped around his dick, he kept his fingers on her, rubbing the little nub.

"You're mine," he growled, his hips slamming against her until he was riding out his own orgasm alongside her.