Not much extra info you need to know for this chapter, except that Willow and Oz are still together. Willow and Tara are friends from their Wicca group at UC Sunnydale, but Oz never left, so Willow and Tara aren't together romantically.

And apologies in advance for any future delays in posting...I have a few more chapters already written and ready to post, but I have recently begun taking night classes for my Master's degree in addition to working full time, so finding time to write has been a little hard! But no worries, I'm not giving up on this story! I have an outline for the entire thing that I fully intend on finishing.

Enjoy!

The group walked out of the bar, clearly enjoying themselves. Buffy wrapped her arms tighter around Angel's waist as Xander said, "Ok gang, where's the afterparty?"

Oz's band had just done a show in LA and the whole Sunnydale crew had come down to see him. Cordy turned around to the group and said, "I know! Come on!"

Angel kissed the top of Buffy's head as they followed their friends down the street. He hadn't been in the mood to come out tonight, but when Buffy, Willow, and Xander ambushed him at the hotel it was kind of hard to resist.

Cordy lead the group into the front door of Caritas, turned around and said, "We're doin' karaoke!"

"Are you kidding me?" Gunn asked, sitting down at a table.

"Oh I'm totally serious," Cordy responded, joining him at the table.

Lorne saw the group walk in and waked over to them. "Gang's all here!" he said joyfully. He placed his hand on Buffy's back and said in a low voice to her. "I know your spidey senses are going nuts in here, Blondie, but try and keep the slaying to a minimum, 'kay?"

Buffy held up her hands and said, "Hey, I'm off the clock tonight."

"Excellent!" Lorne responded, rubbing his hands together. "So who's up first?"

The group looked at each other. "Not Angel," Cordy said, snickering.

Angel looked at her, offended, and Buffy rubbed his knee and leaned over to give him a kiss on the cheek.

Oz said, "I just did a show, I'm done performing for the night."

Cordy perked up and pointed to Xander. "I vote Xander!"

"No way I'm goin' up there alone," Xander answered. "Buff, how ya feel about a little duet?"

"I'm gonna need a lot more liquid courage before I get up there with you," Buffy said, smiling.

"Well that sounds like a plan to me!" Lorne exclaimed. He waved down a bartender and said, "Hey Frank, keep 'em comin' over here!"

A few vodka sodas later plus one shot of tequila for some extra courage, Angel watched as Buffy, Xander, and Gunn belted out a pretty horrible (though enthusiastic) rendition of "Bohemian Rhapsody" on stage. Everyone was in high spirits as they laughed and sang along. Angel smiled to himself and took a sip of his beer as he watched his girlfriend laugh at Xander and Gunn having an air guitar battle.

He looked to his left and saw Lorne smiling and bobbing his head along to the beat. Buffy and Gunn sang into the microphone together and Angel watched as Lorne's smile slowly melted into a look of concern.

As Angel watched Lorne's reaction to Buffy's singing, he felt his worry kick up a notch. Was Lorne reading Buffy? What did he see?

Lorne looked over at Angel and sighed, realizing the vampire had caught him. He nodded in the direction of the bar and walked behind it and poured himself another Sea Breeze. Angel followed him and sat at a barstool across from Lorne. He poured Angel a glass of whiskey, but remained silent.

Finally Angel asked, "What did you see?"

"Nothing clear, just a feeling," he said. Angel just raised his eyebrows at him, needing more information. "Things are gonna change. It's bittersweet. It's gonna hurt bad, but there's peace there also."

Angel looked at him, confused. "Well, what the hell does that mean? Is something going to happen to Buffy?"

Lorne sighed and finally looked Angel in the eye. "You make her happier than anything, Angelcakes. You don't need to be an empath demon to see that," Lorne said in response. "She's got a tough life. Just keep her happy."

Angel looked over his shoulder and saw that Buffy, Gunn, and Xander had finished their performance and rejoined their table. Willow, Cordy, and Buffy were huddled together, chatting animatedly. Angel watched as Buffy threw her head back in laughter at something Cordelia said.

He didn't know what Lorne was talking about, but he knew one thing was for sure; he was going to make sure Buffy laughed like that everyday for the rest of her life.

Later that night, in the privacy of his room at the Hyperion, Angel sighed and rolled off of Buffy, wrapping an arm around her in the process and pulling her to his chest. She hummed contently and rested her head on his chest, relaxing as her breath returned to normal.

After a few minutes, she rubbed her face into Angel's cool skin and looked up at him, resting her chin on his chest. His eyes were closed, but she knew he wasn't sleeping. After a moment she asked, "What was with the brood face earlier?"

Angel cracked his eyes open and looked down at her. "Hmm?"

"I saw you talking to Lorne at the bar. Looked serious," Buffy clarified.

"Oh," Angel said. He didn't want to get into this. "Nothing important. Just catching up."

Buffy just looked at him and said, "Mhm." She wasn't buying it. She traced patterns with her fingers on his chest and said, "Well, whatever it is your worried about, don't be."

Angel reached up and ran his fingers gently through her hair, down her shoulder and settled on her back where he traced small circles into her soft skin. "I just always want to see you this happy," he said quietly.

"I'm happy when you're happy," she said, smiling softly before settling back down on his chest and closing her eyes.

Angel didn't know if Lorne was telling him the full truth at what he saw when Buffy sang, but he didn't care. He wasn't going to lose her; he simply wouldn't be able to take it. With a jolt he remembered how unfair their lives were, especially hers. If he had a limited time in this life with Buffy, he was going to make every second worth it.