Sunday morning

Buffy awoke again, suddenly. Angel's arms were tight around her, and her hunger and thirst and the darkness reminded her too much of that long, dark time. She extracted herself from Angel and the bed and went to the bathroom, flipping on all the lights as she went. She felt bleary and wished desperately for a mirror. She showered and tidied as best as she could and returned to the room for fresh clothes. Angel had turned over, still sleeping deeply. She picked up the phone and called Willow.

"Willow and Buffy's room," the redhead answered.

"Shouldn't that be Buffy and Willow's room?" she asked playfully.

"Buffy, hey, I thought you were going to be back yesterday. How's your dad?"

"Dad's good. We talked for all of five minutes after he got off work on Friday."

"Uh oh, Buffy, have you been visiting a certain vampire of our mutual acquaintance?" Willow asked with trepidation.

"Nope," Buffy said brightly.

"Okay," Willow said searchingly. "An old friend?"

Buffy snickered. "Yup, he's an old friend. But not a vampire."

"Are you going to be mysterious all day?" the witch asked.

"I'm going to tell you. You're just not going to believe me. What's my wildest fantasy?"

"Ooh, ooh. I know. Pierce Brosnan on a deserted island with a case of Godiva."

The Slayer giggled. "Nope. Angel's human."

"Human, like he has feelings? Because I've always said he has feelings for you, even if he's too damned noble to—"

"No, I mean he's human. Feelings, a pulse, the whole package. It was a mystical thing, with demon blood."

Buffy could hear her best friend start to jump up and down.

"Oh my Goddess, Buffy, this is so amazing! Did you tell Giles?"

"Not yet. This is going to be the research coup of the century for him. I'm sure. Mothra demon makes vamps back into humans."

"Mothra? Was Godzilla there, too?" the redhead asked, confused.

"Um, not Mothra. Doyle, Angel's visiony guy, he looked it up for us. Mohra."

"It's a good thing Angel had a soul when it happened. That was lucky."

"Yeah, lucky," Buffy answered, reminded suddenly of Angel's savage feeding. "Listen, Will, I've got to go. Tell Giles I have good news, but don't leak it. I want to see the look on his face when he sees Angel in the sun. I'll be back by morning at the latest."

"Okay, but you've got a pile of homework—"

Buffy groaned. "I don't want to think about it."

"Well," Willow said coyly. "I know I don't have to tell you to be fun. But I can tell you to be careful."

"We've got it covered," Buffy replied, then patiently listened to her friend's giggles.

"Love you, Wills."

"Love you, Buffy."

She hung up. Angel had wakened from the sound of her voice and was sitting in bed, beckoning her. She crawled back in and kissed him.

"It sounds like Willow took the news okay," he observed.

"She was pretty ecstatic for us. Will is the best."

"She's the best witch a friend could hope to have," he said with mock solemnity. "As I can personally attest. If a vampire ever wants to get cursed with a soul, she has my recommendation for the job."

Buffy was stunned. Angel had barely spoken of the events around Acathla's destruction, even obliquely, and now he was making jokes about it? Something was off.

Angel was bursting with delight. He felt so blessed, and it seemed Buffy was just as pleased.

"I had the most wonderful dream about us," he said. "We had a house near campus and I was taking care of the kids while you went to school."

"Kids?" she asked, beginning to feel overwhelmed. He noticed her discomfort.

"It was just a dream. We don't even know if it's possible. We should take this one step at a time."

"Right," Buffy agreed swiftly. "Speaking of which, I should probably go talk to Giles, tell him what happened. Maybe he'll come up with a good explanation."

"Great," he agreed, getting out of bed and dressing. "And I can't wait to see the look on Xander's face when he realizes he can't call me Dead Boy anymore." He grinned at the thought.

"We?" Buffy asked. "Are you coming—"

"You took the bus up here, right? No reason for you to take it back. This way we can make plans, you know, on the way." He finished pulling on his shoes and started to head to the door, then stopped, turned around and returned. He pulled out a small bag and started packing. Buffy cleared her throat.

"As I said about Willow..."

"Oh, I'm not going to intrude. I figured I'd get a hotel room so I can start house hunting. Might as well get lots of good out of the trip." He dropped the bag and hugged her.

"Oh Buffy, I've never had such a good feeling about anything. Can't you tell it's going to be all right?"

Buffy felt panic as he gripped her a little too tightly, and quickly disentangled herself before she lost control.

"Why don't you finish packing . I should go run and say bye to my dad."

"Oh, I'll come with you. I have to meet my future father-in-law," he said, smiling broadly. Buffy's eyes were bugging out slightly.

"I think we should wait, honey," she managed to say calmly. I mean, he doesn't even really know about you —" "And springing me on him might be too much," he completed. He sounded only slightly let down. "Do you want a ride? I could take you on our way out of town."

"It's okay, it's not far," she said, nearly bolting for the stairs.