Xander and Andrew pushed through the lobby doors of the Hyperion, struggling a bit with the arm full of grocery bags they had.

"Okay that is the last load I am retrieving. How can these girls eat so much?!" Andrew stated while dramatically dropping the grocery bags on the floor in the middle of the lobby.

Willow and Giles wandered out from the office behind the reception counter. "We're still working on securing permanent housing for the girls. It should be sorted out soon," Giles said while looking into the various grocery bags.

"Yeah, with the money Angel left us, we should be okay…" Willow trailed off as she saw the looks on the faces of Cordelia and Wesley, who were sitting on the lounge in the middle of the lobby, going over some paperwork.

Willow sighed and looked around at her friends in the lobby. "I'm sorry," she said quietly. "It's hard to get used to."

After a few moments of awkward silence, Willow turned to Xander and said, "Have you talked to her?"

Xander shook his head.

"You should," Willow continued. "You're both going through something right now. It might help."

Xander swallowed before saying, "I don't know Wills. You know how I felt about Angel, and Buffy and Anya weren't exactly the best of friends."

"Still," Willow said quietly. "Try, please?"

The next day the Hyperion was bustling with activity. The newly activated Slayers were still settling in to their new surroundings, while Andrew, Xander, Willow, Fred, and Gunn were directing them as much as possible. Faith and Spike were out securing more supplies, while Giles, Wesley, and Buffy were crouched over paperwork on the reception desk.

Wesley flipped though a few documents and said, "He certainly had a lot of assets."

Buffy continued to stare at the papers and said, "He had an eye for investments."

Giles sorted through some papers and then paused. He glanced over at Buffy and said quietly, "Buffy..."

Buffy turned her head sharply and stared at the packet of papers that Giles was holding. She took it gingerly in her hands and began to scan the front page.

After a moment, Buffy glanced up at Wesley and Giles and said, "I'm gonna take this upstairs, if you don't mind."

"Of course," Wesley said. Giles nodded.

Buffy walked out of the office and headed up the stairs towards the first floor of bedroom suites.

Buffy,

If you're reading this, I'm gone. I hope you laugh a little at how cliché that was. Anyway, I need to set a few things straight in writing. Make it official and all.

I've attached all my banking information and I would like it all to go to you and the Potential Slayers, as well as your family. But mostly you. The bank will know the details.

Use the Hotel however you please. Whether it's for the Potential Slayers or you or your friends & family, or the Helpless. I trust that you will know what to make of it.

Lastly, I just want to say what an extraordinary woman you are. Words on paper seem so inadequate, but I will try my best. You changed my life from the moment I first saw you. I fell in love instantly, and was in utter awe and humbled when you returned that love. Know that I am always with you, and that I am so incredibly proud of what you have become. You are the most beautiful, funny, intelligent, empathetic, kind, and strongest women I have ever laid my eyes on in all my years on this Earth.

I want you to continue life. Continue your calling. When you left me on that tower, you said, "Live for me." And that's what I'm asking of you. Live and love.

Always,

Angel

When Buffy found the letter she immediately took refuge with it in Angel's room at the Hotel. She sifted through his drawers and took out one of his V-neck black t-shirts, inhaling his scent. She stripped down and pulled the shirt over her head, and then headed to his bed.

As soon as she sunk down into the sheets, memories assaulted her. Visiting him on weekends. Angel cooking dinner for her in the kitchenette. Splitting a bottle of wine or two while watching crappy TV on a rare weekend off. Making love for hours on the cool sheets, the warm California breeze coming in through the balcony doors. The quiet words of love and devotion they whispered to each other, cocooned in blankets and bathed in candlelight.

Clutching his last words to her, Buffy fell into a teary and restless sleep. As it often happened since he left her, she was plagued with visions of their last moments together.

Angel breathed a sigh of relief as he saw Buffy rise from the cavern floor after taking a nasty stomach wound from an Ubervamp. Momentarily distracted, he was surprised to feel the Amulet he was wearing burn his chest slightly. He looked up again at Buffy and saw that she was fighting successfully. He also saw a shimmering wave disperse throughout the cavern, and all the Potential Slayers stand up a little straighter, fight a little harder. Willow's spell must have worked.

Suddenly the Amulet began to burn more. The cavern was crumbling around them. Buffy and Faith were rushing Slayers out of the collapsing cavern. Angel remained still.

After the last of the Slayers were out, Buffy remained. She ran up to Angel frantically.

"Come on! We have to go!" she screamed, grabbing at his hand.

"Buffy…" Angel said quietly. "I can't"

Buffy stared at him confused. "Yes you can! We did it! We're done!"

Angel looked at the collapsing cavern around him, and knew what he had to do. "I have to see it through," he said, avoiding Buffy's stare.

She looked at him, comprehension slowly drawing on her face. "No…no no no. You've done enough. Let's go," she pleaded, trying to grab his hand again.

Angel finally looked down at her. "I get it now. This is my purpose. I have to end it all." Buffy kept shaking her head. "Please, please understand," he pleaded with her.

"No no no…" she cried. Buffy placed her hands on either side of his face. "I can't…" she whispered.

"Yes, you can…" Angel responded. He gave her one last searing kiss, before pushing her out of the way of a falling boulder.

The next thing Buffy remembered was sprinting away from the collapsing Hellmouth, toward the edge of town to meet up with the rest of the survivors. Somehow she ended up on a salvaged school bus that was headed for Los Angeles.

The next night, Buffy was awoken by a soft knock at the door. She blinked and looked around the bedroom, surprised to see that she had fallen asleep with the TV still on, the local news channel filling the room with quiet white noise that she was grateful for. The silence was getting to be deafening.

Buffy padded to the door and opened it to find Willow on the other side, two mugs of tea in her hands. "Mind if I come in?" she asked.

Buffy nodded and took one of the mugs from Willow, moving back to the bed. Willow noted that Buffy was still wearing one of Angel's big t-shirts and apparently hadn't left the bed all day or night.

Willow sat gingerly on the bed next to Buffy and they sipped their tea. "How's Xander?" Buffy asked.

Willow shrugged. "He's Xander. Still cracking jokes but…he's hurting."

Buffy sighed. "I should be with him. I should be doing something instead of just wallowing up here."

Willow reached out and covered Buffy's hand with her own. "Don't worry about that. No ones expecting you to do anything. You need time. It was all so…sudden."

Buffy stared down at Willow's hand on her own, only the low noise of the news station on the TV filling the room. After a moment she shook her head slightly. "He knew what was gonna happen," she said quietly.

"Angel?" Willow asked.

Buffy looked up sharply. Willow chastised herself for saying the "A-word". It reminded her of when Buffy died and how everyone was walking on eggshells around Angel, afraid to say her name.

Buffy nodded. "He left me a note. Had everything taken care of. He knew what was going to happen." Willow took in a breath and squeezed Buffy's hand a little tighter. Buffy scoffed and looked towards the celling. "The second he took that Amulet from Wolfram and Hart, which I will never understand by the way, he knew. He fucking knew."

Willow sat in silence, ready to lend an ear to her friend, or a shoulder to cry on. Willow had a flashback to right before senior prom, when they were in a similar position. Except now Angel wasn't coming back.

A sad smile crossed Buffy's face and she said, "But he saved the world."

A matching look overcame Willow and she said, "Yeah, he did."

"Always had to be a little dramatic, right?" Buffy said, laughing slightly as her eyes glistened. The smile fell from her face and she said, "Is it selfish of me to want him back? Screw the world. I just want him back…" she finished in a small voice.

Willow's eyes glistened as well. She was about to respond when something caught her ears.

"Breaking news out of the former town of Sunnydale…"

Willow and Buffy stared at each other for a beat before turning their attention to the news report on the television in the corner of the bedroom.

"Rescue workers have recovered a survivor from the rubble that was once the small town of Sunnydale, California."

Buffy scrambled forward and grabbed the remote that was sitting on the bed and turned up the volume.

"We just learned that an unidentified man has been pulled from the remains of what was once Sunnydale, and has been transported to Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles and is in critical care. As we reported earlier this week, the largely abandoned town of Sunnydale was wiped off the map after a massive sinkhole formed underneath the entire town. The survivor is described as over six feet tall, brown hair, and in his late twenties. Anyone with knowledge of the man's identity is asked to contact the LAPD. And now to Jennifer with the weather report. It looks like a beautiful southern California day out there Jen, can we expect the same for the rest of the week…"

The silence in the room was thick with tension as the news report changed topic. Willow looked to Buffy who was still staring at the TV. She knew what her best friend was thinking, but she didn't her want to get her hopes up. "Buffy…" she said tentatively.

Buffy ignored Willow and bolted out of the bed. She frantically dug through a drawer and grabbed a pair of her jeans, pulling them on quickly. She didn't bother changing out of Angel's t-shirt, she just roughly tucked in the excess fabric.

As Buffy searched through the closet for a pair of flip-flops, Willow stood up and stared at her friend with concern. "Buffy…let's think for a minute," she said gently.

Buffy turned to her friend and said, "I have to know. I just have to."

Willow sighed and said, "Okay. I'll go with you." Buffy grabbed her purse off the bureau and the two left the hotel suite.

Buffy ran in through the doors of the Emergency Room at Cedars-Sinai and headed straight towards the reception desk, Willow close at her heels. The nurse on duty looked up surprised at the two young women bombarding her desk. "Can I help you?" she asked, tired from her long shift and counting the minutes until she could go home.

"The man from the news. The one from Sunnydale. Have you identified him?" Buffy asked, catching her breath.

"No," the nurse deadpanned. "Do you have information?"

Willow could tell Buffy was either about to crawl out of her skin or throw a punch at the nurse on duty, so she stepped forward and said, "We think…we might know who he is."

The nurse sighed and looked around the half-filled Emergency Room waiting area. "I'll find the doctor on duty. Hang on," she said before walking away.

Buffy let out a breath of air and paced the area in front of the desk as they waited for the doctor. After a minute or two a tall man with salt and pepper hair approached Buffy and Willow.

"Hello, I'm Dr. Wilcox, Sue here tells me that you have some information on our Sunnydale John Doe?" he asked.

"Yes," Buffy said quickly. "I think it might be my boyfriend. Can I see him?" Suddenly, standing there in the waiting room of a hospital, acting quite frantic in front of a perfectly polite doctor, Buffy was struck with the foolishness of it all. Who was she kidding? Angel was gone. She saw the flames begin to devour him. She saw the cavern collapse. Even if he miraculously survived the destruction of the Hellmouth, he was still a vampire. There was no way he could have been pulled out in broad daylight and taken to a hospital.

Dr. Wilcox looked back and forth between Buffy and Willow. "I'm afraid that I'm going to need some proof that you know his identity before letting you in to see him," he said.

"Um, okay," Buffy said as she wracked her frantic brain. "He's tall, over six feet. Brown hair, brown eyes. In good shape…Oh! He's got a tattoo, on his right shoulder blade." She gestured to her own shoulder. "It's a griffin… a bird lion kind of thing."

Dr. Wilcox thought over this information and finally said, "Do you have a picture?"

Buffy stared at him, clearly annoyed and was about to snap a rude comment at him, but Willow grasped her arm and said, "Your phone."

"Oh!" Buffy said, before digging through her purse and pulling out her phone. With slightly shaky hands she swiped through her photos, trying to find one of her and Angel. "Here!" she said, finally finding one and shoving her phone in the doctor's face.

Dr. Wilcox stared at the picture, trying to mentally compare the man he saw before him with the battered patient he had down the hall. In the photo he saw the young woman who was standing before him, with her arm around the middle of a handsome man. The two were dressed up, and from the looks of the background it seemed they were at some sort of cocktail party, most likely at an art gallery.

Dr. Wilcox looked back at the blonde woman waiting anxiously in front of him. He looked back down at the photo and then again at her. He handed the phone back to her and said, "Come with me."

Buffy turned to Willow, shock on her face. Willow gestured toward the doctor who was starting to walk down the hallway. "Go, I'll stay here," she said.

Buffy smiled gratefully at her and followed the doctor. Time seemed to slow as she followed him down the hallway, patient rooms on either side of her. She could practically feel her heart beating out of her chest. What if it wasn't him? What if he was really gone for good? How stupid would she feel, staring at some poor, injured, John Doe who wasn't the person she was so desperately looking for?

Finally the doctor stopped in front of a door and gestured for Buffy to go in. "He was in pretty bad shape when we got him. Broken ribs, a broken arm, concussion, mild internal bleeding, and severe dehydration. We've set all the broken bones and got him on an IV drip for the dehydration. MRI and CAT scans show no lasting consequences from the concussion and internal bleeding. Those just take time to heal," Dr. Wilcox said as Buffy stood in the doorway, staring at the man in the bed. He noticed that she was fixated on the heart rate monitor that was steadily beeping. He shook his head slightly and thought, "How odd."

Dr. Wilcox continued. "He's going to be here for a few more days, but after that and once we have confirmation of his identity, he's free to go. He's been drifting in and out of consciousness, so just be patient."

Buffy finally looked at the doctor and said, "Thank you. You don't know how much…" Buffy drifted off as it began to hit her all at once what was really happening.

Dr. Wilcox smiled at her and grasped her shoulder. "You're welcome. And when you get a chance, we'd like to know his name and medical history." The doctor gave her one last smile and walked down the hall to tend to his other patients.

Buffy let out a shaky breath and looked at the man in the bed. There was no denying it; it was Angel. She moved numbly toward the bed, the beeping sound of the heart monitor ringing in her ears.

She paused at his bedside and placed a shaky hand on his chest, mindful of the bandages underneath the thin gown, and felt a steady thump thump thump underneath the fabric. A million thoughts raced through her head, and then it all clicked. Shanshu. He never did believe it would happen, let alone in Buffy's lifetime. She guessed that sacrificing yourself to save the world qualified for a heartbeat.

Buffy collapsed in the chair next to Angel's bed and noticed that he twitched a bit. She held her breath hoping that he would wake up, but he remained still. With her own heart thumping wildly against her chest, she moved her hand down his arm, reacquainting herself with his body. Strong arms that held her so very tightly and made her feel so secure. She traced her hands over his fingers and picked up his hand, lacing her fingers through his own. His beautiful, elegant fingers that have fought hard battles, and done unspeakable things in his dark past, and yet could be so loving and gentle on her flesh.

Buffy then brought her hand up to his face, tracing his eyebrows lightly. She smiled slightly as he unconsciously turned into her touch. How many times had she smoothed out his brooding brow when he got too worried? She traced his temples, loving the way they crinkled when he laughed. Finally she traced his lips. His beautiful soft lips. Her favorite thing in the world was his smirk. Well maybe second favorite after the way his lips felt so cool against her skin. They were warm now. Buffy wondered what it would feel like to kiss him now.

Buffy now had so much time to experience human Angel, and nearly sobbed at the realization that she didn't have to face the rest of her life without him. She curled up in the chair next to his bed, hands laced with him as she waited for him to wake up.

The doctor said he would come around soon. Buffy wanted to be there when he realized he was in a hospital, very human, and wearing a very un-manly hospital gown. She couldn't wait.