"Well… does she know?" Liam was asked by the figure with an English accent waiting at his desk. He made his way towards said desk, setting his briefcase on the floor beside it and laying his mail on the desk itself after having lightly skimmed over it. Eyes pressed tightly shut, he slumped down onto the large leather office chair and rested his elbows on the surface of his prized mahogany desk, massaging his temples lightly. Opening his eyes, his gaze set on the person in front of him.

"No," he sighed "she doesn't know. She's confused and broken as it is, she doesn't need to know what's going on… not yet, anyway. I'm here to help her, Wes."

Wesley sighed and shook his head, leaning forward. "What if she is beyond help? What if she doesn't WANT to be helped?" He said, trying to muster a hushed tone, and failing miserably.

"The only DAMNED reason why I am here is to help HER!" Liam roared at the ex-Watcher, startling him. Realising this, Liam calmed himself as he spoke again "I appreciate your concern Wesley, it has been noted. But you know the only reason why I came to this alternate dimension is to save her."

"Yes," Wesley responded, nodding lightly. "And you know that she may very well be beyond saving; I am merely reminding you of this."

"I don't need to be reminded." Liam responded quietly, signifying the end of the conversation. With a curt nod, Wesley left the office, leaving the boss with his thoughts.

Opening the top left drawer of his desk, Liam retrieved a framed photo, observing it for what seemed like a lifetime. The subject of the image was a petite girl with shoulder-length blonde hair, bright-eyed and healthily plump. 'I ruined her. Ever since I left, she'd gotten so thin and her eyes had gotten so … empty. I ruined her.'

After putting the photograph away, Liam picked up the receiver of his telephone and dialled one of the speed dial numbers. After hearing the call ring on the other end about six times, he was about to hang up, when a familiar voice answered.

"Hello?"

"It's me." Liam stated matter-of-factly.

"Oh. Uh-uh, hey! Uh, how are things over there?" The voice asked.

"Getting there. How is she?"

"The same," the voice responded, suddenly sounding more monotonous "they still think she'll never come back. They keep saying she's 'gone'."

Liam gave a slight cross between a grunt and a growl at the response. "How's Dawn holding up? Is she going to school everyday? Is she eating? Does she talk to boys?"

The voice let out a slight chuckle laced with a sad undertone. "She's as well as she can be right now, I guess. And yes surprisingly, her grades aren't suffering. Her appetite is fine. Stop worrying, Tara and I have it all under control – I promise."

"Thank you, Willow… take care. Send everyone my regards."

"I will," Willow said sincerely just before Liam heard the dial tone commence.

'I just have to convince her that this isn't where she belongs.' Liam told himself one last time before heading off to his first meeting of the morning.

…

As one o'clock came closer and closer, Buffy started getting bored of shopping. Nearly four hours and six mocha lattes later, she had spent more than she probably should have on things she would never wear… or at least, lingerie that she'd never be seen in. 'I told myself I'd get some CLOTHES…new lingerie isn't going to make Liam want me, seeing as he's going to want me first to see them, right? Right,'

Everything was so confusing for Buffy. Here she was six months into her recovery and…BOOM! In walks Mr. Salty Goodness himself, a figment of her schizophrenic imagination – in the flesh, warm and with a heartbeat – something she'd never thought she'd ever see in her lifetime. Of course, as she kept reminding herself, that was all her imagination. Falling in love with a vampire. Making love to a vampire. Killing said vampire. Being with that vampire. Being dumped by the very same vampire. Being comforted at her mom's funeral (which obviously never happened, either) by him. Going to see him halfway between Sunnydale (which ALSO didn't exist) and L.A. when he found out she was alive ('I never died. It's. All. In. My. Head.')

Just as she shook herself out of her thoughts, her cell phone began to ring, making her jump slightly. Stopping to look at the passers-by who were giving her strange looks for a split second, she dug through her hand bag, looking for the piece of technology responsible. "Hello?"

"Hey, Buffy…uh, are you still free for lunch? I mean, that is, only if you still want to have lunch with me…" Liam said.

She couldn't help but laugh quietly at his hesitation – very much unlike her Angel. "Of course, I would love that Liam. When and where?"

"How about… La Botte? In about twenty minutes?"

"Great," Buffy grinned inwardly "I love Italian food, and I'm right around the corner from there now. I'll go grab us a table."

'You always have loved Italian food,' Liam thought to himself. "Good," He said aloud "I'll see you very soon, then."

"See you soon," Buffy concluded. After putting her phone back into her bag, she made her way towards the restaurant, and couldn't help but feel extremely nervous about seeing him again. 'Twice in four hours,' She told herself 'aren't I lucky?'

…

"Is that all you're having?" Liam asked in shock after he and Buffy had ordered their lunch.

She bit her bottom lip in slight embarrassment, shrugging. "I've never really been a fan of… uh, food? Although there are some exceptions…"

"Like what?" He asked again in an intrigued manner.

"Ice cream. Cookie dough fudge mint chip, that's the only flavour of ice cream to ever grace my taste buds. And peanut butter and chocolate. I'm all about the junk, I guess!" She laughed. Suddenly, she winced as a sharp pain hit her in the head like a truck, bringing her hands up to hold it as images flooded her mind.

"Peanut butter, preferably crunchy!" Buffy heard herself yell. Looking down, she saw herself in a silk black robe, sitting on a bed.
"I got it." She heard Angel yell back. His arms piled with food, he made his way back to the bedroom with some strategically placed items - all that were preserving his dignity. He dumped the stuff on the bed and slipped under the sheets beside Buffy.
"The perfect yum." She said as Angel fed her a spoonful of ice cream, "Mmm, this is a dream. You're human for like a minute and already there is Cookie-dough-fudge-mint-chip in the fridge."
"God, I love food." He told her. She picked up a chocolate waffle, spooning some ice cream onto it, and sent it in the direction of his mouth.
"Food is good." She kissed him.
"Why didn't you ever tell me about chocolate and peanut butter?" Angel asked, feigning hurt in the undertone of his statement.
"Well, I figured if your vamp taste buds couldn't really savor it, then it would only hurt you, you know?" Buffy smiled "By the way, I'm over the whole needing to be mature thing. That time you just spent in the kitchen? That was enough time apart."
"Too much." He agreed, as she leaned over to kiss him, with Angel forgetting about the ice-cream laden spoon he held. "Okay, mortal coordination leaving something to be desired."
"Wrong. It's just right."
Angel laughed as she licked up the ice cream from his chest, then pulled her down into a kiss.

"Buffy? Buffy!" She heard Liam say, concerned, as she looked around the restaurant in a daze, not quite sure where those images had just come from. Blinking hard, she turned to look at him.

"Liam, I… I'm sorry, I don't feel very well. Uh…"

"It's okay, would you like me to take you home?" He asked her, still sounding extremely concerned.

"Would that be okay? I mean, if you want to stay and have your lunch, or go back to work, I can get a cab…" She rambled, feeling guilty. She didn't want Liam to think she was a complete jerk, or making up not feeling well to skip out on their lunch 'thing'.

"Don't be ridiculous Buffy…" He looked at her seriously "I know that we only met yesterday, but… I also know that you're new around our neighborhood…I need to make sure you're okay."

"Thank you," She said as she gave him a sad smile.

…

As her eyes fluttered open, she realized the last thing she remembered was getting into the car with Liam. Looking around the slightly dimmed room, she noticed, that it was in fact her bedroom. After rolling over to the right, she saw that her alarm clock read 7:12pm. 'I must have fallen asleep on the way home," she thought. Buffy crawled out of the bed, and as she was leaving the room, she realized that she was alone in the apartment. She then figured that hoping Liam would have stayed with her the entire time she had been asleep was simply ridiculous. 'He probably refers to me as ''that crazy chick down the hall'' now'.

"I should go apologise to him," she muttered to herself as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. Without bothering to even put her shoes on, she opened her front door and walked out into the hallway with her feet covered in Mr. Gordo socks, two doors down, knocking on the door of the apartment christened "3E".

After several moments, she heard the lock on the other side of the door being fumbled with, and the door opened to reveal Liam – clad only in black sweat pants. "Hey," he smiled at her. "feeling better?"

"Much better," she croaked, not being able to take her eyes off his perfectly contoured abdomen and chest. She cleared her throat and ran her hand through her hair, smiling. "I just wanted to say that I'm sorry, for ruining our lunch thing today…and uh, thank you. For bringing me home."

"It's no problem, really" Liam assured her as he leaned against the door, shifting his weight from one leg to the other.

"An- Liam, will you stay with me? For tonight? Please?" She pleaded, almost begged. She really hadn't intended on asking him. Out loud.

"Uh…" he looked at her, frowning slightly. "…sure."

…

"Hold me?" Buffy asked. Liam leaned back and wrapped his right arm around her, loving the way she fit next to him so perfectly. 'This is how it was always supposed to be.' "Thank you," she whispered. "Do you think I'm weird?"

He couldn't hold back his laughter at her question. "Weird? No. Why?"

"Because I've known you a little over a day and I asked you to stay with me. Do you think I'm a huge slut?"

Laughing again, he moved down so that his eyes were parallel to hers. "All I know is that I feel like I've known you my entire life." He told her.

Re-assuming her previous position, Buffy sighed in contentment. As strange as it sounded, she knew he was right. He was exactly like him, in mind, body, and soul. Every inch of him screamed 'Angel'. From his laughter, to his soothing reassurances, there wasn't one thing about Liam that didn't remind her of him.

"Liam?" She asked sleepily, nuzzling her face against his chest and the faint sound of his heart beat. Thump-thump. Thump-thump.

"Hmm?" He questioned, enjoying the feel of her warmth against his. It was too perfect – some might describe it as complete and utter contentment.

"Do you snore?"

He thought carefully before answering her. "I don't know. It's been a long time since anybody's been in a position to let me know."

Once again, the pain hit her as though she had just been standing in oncoming traffic.

"You even look pretty when you go to sleep," Angel remarked.

" Well, when I wake up it's an entirely different story." Buffy assured him, laughing slightly. The two walked over to her bed, where she then handed him a comforter. "Here. Sleep tight."

He laid the comforter down on the floor next to her bed, laying on it as she climbed under the covers.

"Angel?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you snore?"

"I don't know. It's been a long time since anybody's been in a

position to let me know."

He turned his head to look at her. She smiled and settled in to sleep.

***A/N*** I'm sorry if this chapter has been confusing at all! It will all make sense soon, I promise! In the meantime… reviews, PLEASE! They're all that will keep me writing thank you so much to everyone who is reading my work!