He would recognize that laugh anywhere, his entire being seemed to freeze as he stepped down off the wooden steps of the porch attached to the lake house that had practically raised him. Barely even aware of the hot cement beneath his feet, he closed his eyes once, then two more times as though the image of her across the lawn may fade like it had every other time his mind decided to play these cruel tricks.

The end of this summer would be three years since he'd seen her, since he'd been forced to stand there and do nothing while he watched her walk away. Still all this time later his stomach coiled into a knot when he let his mind drift back to those last few weeks, how he hadn't seen it coming, how he should have.

He couldn't remember a time in his life when the small blonde hadn't been a part of it, her father had bought the small summer cottage next door about the same time his parents had purchased their dream home with a waterfront view. Summers, weekends, holidays, anytime they could get out of the busy city and down here they seemed to. Buffy hadn't spent quite as much time around when they were younger, her parents were separated and most of the time she lived with her mom, but when she was here she had been deemed the fourth Angelus, well, once upon a time anyway.

OoOoO

No matter how hard she tried she couldn't seem to sit still, she had already refilled her father's tea three times and he'd barely even taken a few sips. She'd practically raced to the door when they finally pulled onto the old gravel driveway, the rusted chain link fence the only barrier between her and the past she had long ago left behind, or at least the one she had tried too.

At one point she had sworn that she would never come back here, never put herself in the position she currently found herself sitting in. But then time passed, weeks turned into months, then those months into years, she saw the new wrinkles forming along the side of her father's eyes when he smiled, and the thought of never seeing this place again started to hurt more than the idea of actually coming back. Besides, she had yet to introduce her first official boyfriend since he who shall not be named to her dear old pops, and once Riley heard he had a place out here on the lake the whole trip sort of planned itself.

Even though she had promised herself she wouldn't look at the drive of the house next door, she'd caught a quick glimpse of a few cars when they'd passed. She hadn't recognized any of them straight away but that really wasn't a surprise after so many years, nor was the fact that they were there at all. She knew coming into this that it was a holiday weekend, and she knew from the not so subtle hints her dad dropped every once in a while that the Angelus boys were still frequent inhabitants of the place next door.

None of that mattered though, not anymore, it was the past, they were all more or less adults now, and she was sure Angel had long since moved on, just like she had. With Riley, her sweet, handsome, completely and utterly head over heels for her boyfriend. Sure he could be a little goofy at times, but he made her laugh, they never fought, and even when she sat him down to gloss over the fact that they may have a run in with a certain ex of hers he'd simply smiled and kissed her cheek all the while reassuring her everything would work out in the end.

So she'd left out some of the minor details, like the fact that Angel wasn't just some ex. That not only had he been the first boy who ever stole her heart, he'd been her first everything, and sometimes she wondered if he'd somehow managed to keep some part of her for all these years. Pushing those thoughts away, she forced the image her mind kept trying to conjure away and instead threaded her fingers with Riley's as they stood up to follow her dad outside to check out some new upgrade or another he'd had done to the boat.

She had strategically placed herself on the opposite side of the boat, hopefully outside the line of sight of anyone who might be outside. She knew she couldn't avoid the family next door forever, even though that had been her very plan for a long time, she knew, on some level at least, that there would come a time their paths were bound to cross. Though the longer she could push that off the better, they had three whole nights to get through before she could breeze right on back out of this place, no use purposely inviting that havoc when they had only just gotten here themselves.

OoOoO

He had played this scenario out in his head probably, oh, a couple thousand times over the last couple years. He knew this moment would come eventually, and he had thought he would be prepared for it. He should have known better.

Somewhere behind him he heard the screen door open, "Holy shit, is that Buffy," came his little brother's voice.

His head had just begun to nod, a thousand thoughts still swirling in his mind. His mouth opened and closed a few times, a move that he was just sure mimicked some sort of fish, he was just getting ready to call out her name when the words literally stopped in his throat. She wasn't alone, and by not alone he didn't mean Hank, there was some boy, some guy, and by the looks of it he was certainly more than just a friend.

OoOoO

She had just been laughing at something her dad said when Riley surprised her, grabbing her around the waist he spun her circles, his strong arms lifting her feet clear off the ground. Then before she could resist his lips were pressed on hers, and even though she kept telling herself that this was fine, that this was what she should be enjoying, that Riley, her sweet, kind, fun loving boyfriend was all that mattered… in the back of her mind those dark chocolate eyes flashed before her and she quickly pulled away.

"Sorry," she blushed, then "I just really have to pee," she tried to cover as she practically flew back up the stairs and inside the house.

Splashing water on her face, she stared at the reflection looking back at her in the mirror. "Get it together," she whispered to herself. She was being ridiculous, this whole thing was ridiculous, she wasn't doing anything wrong, and yet she couldn't help but feel like she was. Which made no sense whatsoever, it wasn't like her dad knew everything for all she knew Angel could be happily married with one point five kids by now. Ya, okay that was probably stretching things a little, but then again you never knew, anything could be possible. He could be a whole different person, have a whole new life she knew nothing of.

And she didn't want to know, she didn't want to think about him or anything to do with him.

And yet here she was, unable to stop time and time again. Hell, in only the short amount of time that she had been back here, she was sure more than half of it had been spent thinking about Angel in some way or another. She had been busy telling herself to not do that very thing, telling herself she didn't care a damn thing about that man and where his life had taken him the past few years, rushing around when she was outside to try and not be detected or happen to see any sight of him, stealing glances even at even the wall in the direction of the house next door when inside as if it was going to change anything, imagining a million different scenarios that might happen... hearing his voice call out, seeing him across the driveways, trying to being civil enough for a hello, how are you type situation if it came to pass... memories haunting her everywhere she turned...

OoOoO

Buffy sucked in a breath so fast it burned inside of her chest as she returned outside and saw Connor carrying on beside her father and Riley and she had to do everything possible to keep her legs from shaking as she continued their way.

"Well, well, isn't it the one and only Buffy Anne Summers," Connor greeted as his eyes met hers, sparkling... with mischief no doubt.

"Connor," she replied back, taking him in. The youngest of the Angelus boys sure had grown up in these missing years but he still looked full of boyish wonderment, he looked youthful and still like he was endlessly looking like a little kid hiding a frog or a wild snake behind his back ready to scare someone with.

"Long time no see, lady."

"Yep," she nodded, just as Riley stepped closer and wrapped his arms around her from behind, pulling her snug against his large frame. "How you been, Con?" she asked, trying to ignore the weird feeling she had brewing inside with Riley touching her under his watch.

She didn't miss Connor's eyes sizing Riley up, she was sure not for the first time since their apparent meeting, or the slight upward motion his eyebrow after he was done. "Oh, I've been alright I suppose. Just keeping busy and tryin' my best to stay out of trouble. You know me."

"Sure," she drew out, earning a trademark smile from her old friend.

"How about yourself? You been doing okay since the last time I managed to see you?"

That was one hell of a loaded question, and answer, but she just nodded again. "Never been better. I see you've met part of the reason why," she said with a glance and smile over her shoulder back to Riley.

"Oh, yeah... I came over to say a quick hello to Hank here and see what all he was up to and some introductions were sure made."

OoOoO

Connor opened the door and shot one last look back toward the trio next door, sending an easy smile and one more quick wave goodbye for now, he stepped inside to figure out where Angel had disappeared off to. Poor lug had seen Buffy with her new fellow over there, stared until he looked ready to spill his last meal all over the place, then turned quickly and headed back toward the house. He knew he should probably leave them be, too, but there was no way the angel on his shoulder was winning this round.

Instead, he quickly crossed across the two yards and let his curious nature lead the way from there.

"What in the world did you do now?"

Connor shrugged, plopping down on the other end of the couch from where Angel was.

Lindsey looked at Connor, then at Angel, then back to Connor and his shit eating grin. "Uh huh. Then why's your face look like that?"

"Mmm... okay, okay... maybe because I just went and saw Hank. And I saw Buffy... and I managed to meet her new boyfriend..." he trailed off. "His name's Riley," he continued, leaning just so toward Angel's way.

Angel's jaw clenched a little, his head shaking as if he was trying to remove that information from his brain. "Good for her," he grumbled.

"Buffy's over there?" Lindsey asked after letting that sink in. "Seriously?"

"Uh huh," he grinned. "Ain't that a kick in the pants kind of surprise?"

OoOoO

"Guess that's two down," Buffy said softly, more to herself than anyone else, as the loud fight to open a window drew her attention toward the house she wanted to pretend wasn't there, Lindsey propping himself in its frame once it finally became unstuck. He didn't say anything but they did lock eyes for a moment before she went back to trying to pretend nothing was going on.

Riley gave a big smile and waved but only got a cold stare in return until Lindsey pulled himself back in the house and closed the window again.

"He seems friendly," Riley joked.

OoOoO

"Well, I don't like him," Lindsey grumbled, wondering what kind of shit storm this weekend now had due for all of them or they would even last the stay.

Connor chuckled at that and Angel rolled his eyes.

Hank had in fact made a passing comment weeks back he was inviting Buffy but seeing as he always seemed to offer her a chance to come and she hadn't taken up on it once in the past three years Lindsey really hadn't given it too much thought. If anything, he doubted he would be surprised if as the years ran on and she never again stepped foot anywhere around here again. The fact that she was here now was honestly throwing him a little.

He couldn't imagine what was going on in Angel's head about it either. "Well, we can always pack up and go do something else," he offered.

Angel shook his head. "Can we not make this some big, weird deal? It's fine. It's been three years, there was always a chance she might show up over there at some point, for some reason or another, our paths crossing somehow. And it's always been pretty assumed she would be all moved on and living some new life and really wouldn't want to have much to do with us. We can just do our best to enjoy the weekend, have some fun, and leave the poor girl alone because I'm pretty sure that's all she wants."

"Oh, no," Connor laughed. "That's so not going to happen. Any idea you have of this going by with smooth sailing you can just keep kidding yourself about or accept what's bound to come our way."

OoOoO

Not wanting to chance seeing any more of the Angelus folk, Buffy spent only a few more minutes outside before making an excuse to come back in the house. Unfortunately she was pretty sure she'd heard her dad and Riley tossing around ideas about what to throw on the grill for dinner, so she doubted she would be able to hide away all night but she would take any reprieve she could get. Especially since she could hardly remember a meal at the Angelus's that hadn't came from charcoal, back in the day they would open the large metal gate between the two yards and have one big ol' dinner together, crossing her fingers she made a quick wish that tonight would be one of those rare ones Jenny forced the boys to endure one of her casseroles.

Figuring there was no way around it, she set about keeping herself busy by going through the fridge and seeing what all she could throw together for the meal tonight. With any luck she would be able to let the guys bond over the barbecue while she got all the sides prepared. Seeing Connor was one thing, but now that she'd caught a glimpse of Lindsey and he her, well all of it just felt like some big countdown until she would have to face him.

Plopping the bag of heavy potatoes on the counter she let out a frustrated sigh, she'd spent weeks preparing herself for what she knew this weekend would entail, and yet none of that seemed to matter now. It was almost as though she could feel him even though she hadn't even caught a glimpse of him yet, his hurt, anger, his thoughts even, and she hated it. It wasn't fair. Not the way she suddenly felt like she was doing something wrong kissing Riley, or the way she felt like she had to hide out inside these four walls just so she could have a moment to catch her damn breath. Her and Riley were great, she was happy, he was a good guy and they were right on the verge of building this brand new life, one where she would finally be able to leave Angel, his family and everything else where it belonged, in her past.

OoOoO

Watching the sun disappear beyond the horizon, she couldn't help but feel a small sense of relief no longer feeling like she was under a microscope from the family next door. Even though she had tried her best to keep her attention focused on her father and Riley, she'd caught herself stealing a few glances their way. She still hadn't spotted Angel, but she'd heard his laugh at one point and it had taken everything inside her not to turn around and see what exactly one of the boys had gone and done to evoke such a reaction.

She had been so stuck in her own thoughts, that she barely even heard her dad mention something about needing to run to the store before all the beer sold out in the small town.

"Oh," her eyes widened, "Me and Riley can go," she offered, more than willing to take any escape she could get from this place.

"Nah," her father shot her wink, one that made those knots which were just beginning to loosen inside her tighten right back up. Then he patted Riley's shoulder, "Me and Riley can handle it, besides it will give me a chance to drive by and show him a couple of the fishing spots we might try out in the morning."

Thankfully Riley seemed none the wiser to her dad's antics but she knew better, and she only wished that she could say she was surprised. Back when everything went down between her and Angel, her father had walked a fine line between the two of them. She could tell that he tried not to pry too much, but he had his own subtle ways of trying to get the two of them back on speaking terms at the very least. Just like Jenny had pretty muched viewed her as some sort of bonus daughter, her dad had always had a special relationship with the boys next door too, especially Lindsey.

After a brief argument with Hank absolutely refusing to be seen in her Kia, she followed them around to the front yard so she could move her car and give them enough space to back his old pickup out. She had just stepped back out of her car when she was nearly knocked back over by a barking slobbery mass nearly as big as her.

"Damnt Roxie," she heard Lindsey growl from inside the window she must have launched herself out of.

Squatting down she exclaimed, "Oh my goodness," her arms wrapped around the dog's neck, "I can't believe you're still alive old girl." She glanced toward the oldest Angelus brother who was now stomping their way, "What is she now," she asked, scratching the Rottweiler's ears, "Ten, eleven?"

"Twelve," Lindsey sighed, reaching for her collar, but quickly snatched his hand back when the dog instantly started growling and snapped at him before turning back towards Buffy, her large tongue licking the side of her cheek. "You have got to he fucking kidding me," he grumbled raking a hand through his long locks.

The boys had begged Jenny for a dog for years to no avail, then one day her and Angel were walking home from the store and they found Roxie on the side of the road next to her mother's dead body. She had begged and pleaded with her dad for hours it seemed to let her keep the puppy, but he had absolutely refused telling her there was no way Joyce would allow her to take some dog home with her in the fall, and he just wasn't up for the responsibility a puppy would entail.

So It had taken some convincing but eventually Jenny had finally given in and let Angel keep the dog, technically she was supposed to be the family dog, but she'd always been closer to Angel than the other two brothers, Lindsey for known reason always seeming to be her least favorite, but everyone knew that if given the choice that dog would follow Buffy to the ends of the earth.

Protective was an understatement, Angel could barely get close to her when Roxie was around, much less the other two. Linds used to make a game of it, teasing and taunting her, pinching Buffy's arm and whatever else he could think of to garner some reaction from the puppy, which had majorly backfired, with him seeming to forget what a beast the small pup would eventually grow into.

She heard, rather than saw Riley approaching, Roxie was a good dog, but she didn't do well with strangers, especially men. "Riley no," she barely got out before Roxie lunged his way, her body going tense, a sure signal for him not to come any closer. Lindsey started laughing when Riley seemed to jump back a solid five feet. Rolling her eyes, she tried to ignore him as she commanded the dog to sit, and much to her boyfriend's surprise he watched as she walked back over to where Buffy was now standing and took a seat beside her feet. Buffy's small hand playfully patted at the dogs' head, trying to get her to ease up a little. "It's okay, girl," Buffy promised in a calm voice.

Riley started to ask what he should maybe do to not have her lunging at him again but Lindsey muttered maybe he should just try and get her back over there before any more excitement came to pass. Buffy loved on her for a couple more moments before he tried once again to get her to come with him but Buffy wound up having to take charge of that it seemed as well.

"Guess she might've missed you just a little bit."

Buffy shrugged.

"Can't say she's the only one," Lindsey continued, the look on his face letting her know he was meaning someone specific more than a general friend situation here.

"It was nice seeing you, Lindsey. I better get back," he got in return and she tried not to speed walk all the way back to Riley.

OoOoO

Having the place to herself once Riley and her dad finally got out on their way to the store, she let herself get a proper look around, noticing all the little details that were different and those that were exactly as she remembered. Hank had already mentioned some of the bigger upgrades he'd made over the past year or so, plus having sent her some pictures and videos and over the course of his time working as well, the new appliances here and there or pieces of furniture... but for the most part everything remained more or less the same.

He had a new recliner that gave him a little extra help getting in and out of it based on how he tuned the controller on the side, medicines littering the side of the nightstand in his bedroom, as some of the other signs of his increasing age and health problems he tended to gloss over. to keep her from worrying.

Some of her all time favorite photos remained in picture frames along the walls or on random shelves and table tops, but she didn't miss the newer ones added in as well she had sent his way here and there.

Back in her own bedroom, she took a seat on the edge of the bed and told herself to stop feeling so weird about being here, about Riley, and everything else. All this had to be natural, right?... and it would pass... because it had to. Looking around the room, she sighed before getting back to her feet and decided to unpack a little more than what they'd managed earlier. All the while she would stop and smile at random items in the room, running her hands over some of the few clothing items still hanging in the very back of the closet, the mass of roller skates and skateboards and various items also stuffed in crates in a corner.

When she was almost clobbered by some other old toys trying to fall off the shelf above her head, she quickly tried to shove everything back, wondering if it might not be a good idea to downsize some of the mess she'd obviously left here to collect dust. As her hands tried to manage everything into a place where it would automatically fall back down, her fingertips brushed across a familiar box and quickly snatched away from it. Eyes looking upward, she noticed the corner, the bright stickers that had long since started to peel away from the wood and fade.

Unable to stop herself, she stood on her tiptoes and fought to get it out all the while not trying to let everything come down on top of her, too. Just as it was being lowered, a second behind it also caught her eye, one she didn't recognize. Pulling it down next, she sat on the floor just outside the door of her closet and looked at the two side by side.

The top to the one covered in stickers was lifted first, a collection of her favorite notes Angel had written to her when she was away at her Mom's that she didn't dare open or re-read, just stared down at the pile. Having enough, she closed it once more, her finger lingering on the broken lock for just a moment more.

Turning her attention to the newer of the two, she gave it a curious look before daring to open it as well. Pulling out the top couple of pieces of paper, her eyes quickly glanced over random words on the page, immediately knowing these were new... newer anyway, then glancing at the top corner that was confirmed by the date written in blue.

Her hands opened and everything fell into her lap. Closing her eyes, she forced herself to feel around and put everything back away, knowing there was absolutely no way she could deal with whatever his scrolls read. She just about jumped up fast enough to give herself a head rush, hurrying to put them both back in their place.

"Nope, not doing that," she said out loud to the otherwise empty room and hurried away from that particular part of the room before she wound up having to leave it entirely.

OoOoO

"Angel? Angel?" Connor tried, nudging Lindsey to look over to where their brother stood, pretending to not be focused on the house next door. "Earth to Angel?"

"Hmm?" he finally muttered.

"Did you have any thoughts?" Connor smirked.

"About what now?" he asked, looking back their way.

"About taking this opportunity of knowing a certain pretty blonde is just mere feet away and all alone at the moment?" Connor threw out, getting a hard elbow from Lindsey.

"What Connor means," he glared at the youngest of the three of them, "is... did you have any thoughts about what we should do tomorrow?"

Connor shook his head. "Yeah, no, I like my answer better. You should go talk to her and- Ow!" he wailed, hitting Lindsey back.

Angel rolled his eyes at the two of them, he was sure it was going to be like this until Buffy took off again. "I'm good with whatever everyone else wants to do," he offered. "Not being stuck here does sound like a good plan. That's all I got... so if everyone wants to go somewhere and swim, fish, go on a hike, whatever... it's all good to me."

OoOoO

Hank knew he was biased when it came to Buffy and who he thought she should be with, opposed to, well, probably anyone but he was trying to be open minded going into this whole meeting and weekend thing. He wasn't here to tell Buffy what to do but he couldn't help that part of him wished she and Angel could fix the mess they got thrown into those years back.

This Riley kid seemed nice enough, he was far more polite and showing more manners than just about any other kid their age which wasn't a bad sign as far as he was concerned. Buffy seemed happy and he knew at the end of the day that was all that really mattered, but he also knew his daughter and he'd caught her more than a few times seemingly lost in her own thoughts as she gazed towards the house next door.

He wasn't sure about the details, neither that daughter of his nor any of the Angelus' boys filled him in on too much of what happened between those two but over the years he'd picked up enough pieces to put the puzzle together. Mistakes had clearly been made on both parts, but there'd also been some outside influence from some old flame of Angel's who hadn't helped matters. At the time of it all it never even crossed his mind that the pair wouldn't make up, for a long time he'd always just assumed the two of them would wind up married someday, so when Buffy took that job at the magazine and took it off it'd really blown his mind.

ButImBroken:

This story is cowritten with the amazing Scribes1015!