Saturday morning

Buffy awoke to a strange sensation, a heartbeat against her cheek. Angel was holding her against him, with warm arms, and her cheek was pressed against a chest that held a beating heart, his beating heart. Her head jerked up and she looked at his sleeping face, faintly flush. She had felt fine from the moment she awoke, easily fit enough to save the world. But seeing her love mortal made her feel invincible. The dark memory of the past hours was instantly eclipsed by wonder and joy. She reached to embrace him — then realized they were both covered with sweat, blood and other sticky substances. She grimaced.

"Angel, honey," she called softly, shaking him gently. He stirred slightly and tightened his arms around her. "Angel, come on, rise and shine. Have I got a surprise for you." His eyes slowly peeled open and he looked at her, a smile lighting on his lips. "Buffy," he said, drinking in the sight of her lying cuddled against him, for the moment not thinking of how she got there. "Yes, Buffy," she said. "This is me. In bed. But Buffy should be in the shower. And so should Angel. Come on."

They rose together, and he looked down and saw their nude, sticky bodies. His face fell. "Oh God, Buffy, did I lose my soul? What happened? Did I hurt you?" She put her hand over his lips. "Sssh, don't worry about that. I'm not hurt and I think you won't be having any more problems with your soul. Check this out."

She took his hand and placed it over his heart and looked at him intently. He stared at her, confused, for a moment, then felt the gentle thump under his palm, which quickened as he realized what it meant. He looked at her, eyes full of wonder. "Buffy, how did you do this?" She smiled. "I don't know. Let's call it a miracle for the moment. Answers can wait until after showers. And breakfast." His eyes widened. "Breakfast," he whispered reverently. "I'm so hungry." "Then let's make that one shower, so we can eat sooner," she said, smiling. He pointed her toward the bathroom and she pulled him into it. The shower was large and fit the big man and the small Slayer easily. She kept up a babbling flow of talk about breakfast as she soaped and rinsed them both. With fluffy towels wrapped around them both, she soon had eggs in the skillet — though not the one covered with ruby dust — and coffee brewing. She was relieved, if puzzled, to find breakfast makings. She sat Angel in a chair pulled from the living room and shoved the shattered remains of the kitchen table to the side and got to work stirring eggs and setting bread to toast. Angel pounded down most of a gallon of orange juice and wolfed down several slices of bread before remembering that they had problems.

"Buffy," he started after tossing the jug into the recycling bin, "What happened last night? How did I become human?"

She handed him a plate piled with eggs and toast and sat down beside him with a similarly laden plate. Through a mouthful, she said, "I came here to chew you out for coming to Sunnydale on Thanksgiving without saying hi. We kind of got carried away with saying, 'I missed you,' then this demon guy came in. You killed him and got his blood all over you. I was trying to patch you up when you fell asleep. When you came to, poof, no more vampire." She counted on his human senses being unable to detect that her blood as well as his had been in the mix, as well as his total lack of memory of the previous day and night. He blinked in astonishment at this news, all the while scarfing down breakfast. "This is so good," he moaned, "And that is so weird." "What?" asked Buffy, eager to keep the conversation on food. "You don't like your eggs all hard and rubbery, do you?" "No, the eggs are fabulous. Thanks for cooking. I always wondered why Cordelia and Doyle were so happy when I made them breakfast after a night of demon hunting." "Oh yeah," she replied quickly. "Nothing like a good breakfast after battling the forces of darkness. Next time, I kill the demon and you can make breakfast. I was wondering why you had eggs and things. I guess having mortal coworkers explains it. No bacon, though." "Oh my God, bacon!" he exclaimed, swallowing the last of his toast and chasing it with the dregs of his coffee. "I got it once but Cordy won't eat it and some of went bad and the stink drove me crazy." "Oh, ick," Buffy said, piling dishes in the sink. "That would explain it. Why don't we get dressed and go the grocery store? We're going to want more than eggs and toast, which you're out of now anyway.

Angel snapped out of his food-induced haze and looked at her. He took her hand gently, and she thrilled at his warm touch.

"Buffy, last night, did we —" "Oh yeah, we did," she said. "Big time."

"While I was still a vampire?" "Um, yeah."

"But I didn't turn into... him?" "Nope. We were both a bit crazy," she shrugged and gestured toward the bed. "But I guess the feelings were mixed enough that no perfect happiness happened. Which means you still have that to look forward to today." She grinned and climbed onto his lap. He reflexively wrapped his arms around her. He was eager for her, but not so pressingly as he would have thought, especially as her towel came undone. She saw the brooding threatening to come back into his eyes and took preventative action.

She stood, dropping her towel. "Do you have some clothes I could borrow? We were kind of hard on my outfit. She was delighted to see him blush, and he moved to a closet and dug out a stack of clothes, just her size. She grinned at him. "Why Angel, were you planning to ask me to spend the night?" He blushed darker. "I was getting some clothes for me and then I saw these and I thought — well, I don't know what I was thinking."

She traipsed up to him and kissed him lightly, her arms around his neck. "Well, thank you. It's a good thing you had them or I'd be trying to wear your stuff, which wouldn't work on me at all. Speaking of clothes, we're going to have to get you some different ones. The all-black thing just won't work for you anymore."

He smiled broadly, giving up to her. "Whatever you say." "Ooh, I like the sound of that," she said, dragging his face down to hers, nuzzling then kissing him deeply. His arms wrapped around her and he squeezed her tightly.

"Oof, wow, that's some grip you've got, mister," the Slayer said. Angel shook his head. "I'm sorry, Buffy. I should have normal mortal strength now, right?"

"I dunno," she said, angling for another kiss.

"Buffy —" she stopped him.

"I know," she said with a sigh. "First research, then smoochies. And shopping."

He smiled at her, and they dressed quickly.