At the Bronze, Angel had his game face on and Buffy had her crossbow trained on him.

Angel morphed back into his human form. "C'mon! Don't go soft on me now!"

Buffy launched the bolt. It hit the wall next to him.

"Little wide," Angel commented.

"Why?" Buffy got up. "Why didn't you just attack me when you had the chance? Was it a joke? To make me feel for you and then... I've killed a lot of vampires. I've never hated one before."

"Feels good, doesn't it? Feels simple."

"Why not? I killed mine. I killed their friends... and their friend's children... For a hundred years I offered ugly death to everyone I met, and I did it with a song in my heart."

"What changed?"

"Fed on a girl about your age... beautiful... dumb as a post...but a favorite among her clan."

"Romany. Gypsies. The elders conjured the perfect punishment for me. They restored my soul."

"What, they were all out of boils and blinding torment?"

"When you become a vampire the demon takes your body, but it doesn't get your soul. That's gone! No conscience, no remorse... It's an easy way to live. You have no idea what it's like to have done the

things I've done... and to care. I haven't fed on a living human being since that day."

"So you started with my mom?"

"I didn't bite her."

"Then why didn't you say something?"

"But I wanted to. I can walk like a man, but I'm not one. I wanted to kill you tonight."

Buffy looked at her bow and back at Angel. She put the bow down on the floor and approached him. She offered her neck. "Go ahead."

Angel just looked at her in silence.

"Not as easy as it looks."

"Sure it is!"

They turned toward the voice ans saw Darla coming out of the shadows.

Outside, Giles, Ms. Calendar, Willow, and Xander were walking down a street.

"We're near the Bronze. What now?" Willow asked.

"Keep looking for her," Giles answered.

"I have a question: what if we find her and she's fighting Angel and some of his friends? What the heck are we gonna do about it?" Xander asked.

In the Bronze, Darla asked, "Do you know what the saddest thing in the world is?"

"Bad hair on top of that outfit?" Buffy hid an insult inside a guess.

"To love someone who used to love you."

Buffy looked at Angel. "You guys were involved?"

"For several generations," Darla answered.

"Well, you been around since Columbus, you are bound to pile up a few ex's. You're older than him, right? Just between us girls, you are looking a little worn around the eyes."

Darla smiled. "I made him. There was a time when we shared everything, wasn't there Angelus? You had a chance to come home, to rule with me in the Master's court for a thousand years, but you threw that away because of her. You love someone who hates us. You're sick. And you'll always be sick. And you'll always remember what it was like to watch her die." She smiled again. "You don't think I came alone, do you?"

"I know I didn't." Buffy kicked the bow up into her hands and aimed it at Darla.

"Hmm, scary." Darla produced two pistols from behind her back, one in each hand. "Scarier!" She shot Angel. He staggered back onto a post. "Oh, don't worry. Bullets can't kill vampires. Can hurt them like

hell, but..." she giggled.

Buffy retreated. Darla started shooting at her. Buffy did a diving shoulder roll over a pool table and took cover behind it.

Outside, Willow, Ms. Calendar, Giles, and Xander heard the shots from inside the Bronze.

"Did you just hear...?" Xander trailed off.

They ran to find a way in.

Inside, Buffy reloaded the crossbow.

"So many body parts, so few bullets. Let's begin with the kneecaps. No fun dancing without them." Darla capped off a few more rounds, and the pool table took a few hits. Buffy popped up with the crossbow and took a shot at Darla. She doubled over when it hit her in the abdomen. Buffy watched as she straightened back up again. "Close, but no heart." She grabbed the bolt, pulled it out, and tossed it aside.

Ms. Calendar, Giles, Willow, and Xander were crawling along the floor.

"We need to distract her, fast!" Xander stated.

"Buffy, it wasn't Angel who attacked your mom, it was Darla!" Willow called out.

Darla turned toward the voice and let a hail of bullets loose as they hugged the floor for cover. Angel pulled the bolt from the wall. Darla turned her attention back to Buffy and hopped onto the pool table. Buffy jumped up, grabbed the edge of the table, and pulled, knocking Darla onto her back. She pushed the tab;e away and started to run for cover. Darla fired off a few rounds as she rode the table across the floor. Buffy leapt for cover over a glass case in a dive roll as bullets broke it all around her. The pool table had stopped sliding, and Darla got up to look for Buffy. She hopped off of it and advanced on the counter while shooting. Giles got up and messed with the lighting system controls. The strobes came on. Darla looked up at him and stopped shooting. Buffy took the opportunity to change position.

Darla saw her move and let another volley loose. "C'mon, Buffy. Take it like a man!"

Angel came up behind her, roared, and plunged the bolt into her back.

She was surprised and cried out in pain. She turned to look at her attacker. "Angel?" She fell to the floor and burst into ashes.

Buffy rose up to see. Angel looked up from Darla's ashes at Buffy. She came out from behind the counter. He looked at her a moment longer and then turned and left. Buffy was speechless and just watched him go.

The Master screamed in his lair as he wielded a tall candelabra and smashed it in anger. He flailed out with his arms and knocked other things over. Finally, he sunk to the ground in grief.

Collin came over to him. "Forget her."

The Master looked up angriliy. "How dare you? She was my favorite. For four hundred years..."

"She was weak. You don't need her. I'll bring you the Slayer"

The Master replied despondently, "But to lose her to Angel! He was to have sat at my right hand, come the day. And now..."

"They're all against you. But soon you shall rise. And when you do..." He put a hand on The Master's shoulder. "...We kill them all."

The Master smiled at him and got up. Collin took his hand and lead him away.

Later, at the Bronze.

"Ah, the post-fumigation party," Xander stated.

"Okay, so what's the difference between this and the pre-fumigation party?" Buffy asked.

"Much hardier cockroaches."

"So, no word from Angel?" Willow asked.

"Nah. It's weird, though. In his way I feel like he's still watching me."

"Well, in a way he sort of is. In the way of that he's right over there."

Buffy looked over where Willow was looking and saw Angel. She briefly looked back at Willow and then headed over to him.

"I don't need to watch because I'm not threatened. Just gonna look this way," Xander stated. He and Willow sat at a table with him facing away from Buffy and Angel. Willow watched as Buffy made her way over to Angel.

The crowd was slow dancing to 'I'll Remember You', by Sophie Zelmani.

"Did they know what they wanted / The times they kissed me? / And your hands / I held in mine"

Buffy and Angel reached each other.

"I just wanted to see if you were okay. And your mother," Angel told her.

"We're both good. You?"

"If I can go a little while without getting shot or stabbed I'll be alright. Look, this can't..."

"...Ever be anything. I know. For one thing, you're, like, two hundred and twenty-four years older than I am."

"I just gotta... I gotta walk away from this."

Buffy nodded. "I know. Me, too." She dropped her voice to a whisper. "One of us has to go here."

Angel whispered back, "I know."

They looked at each other for a moment longer, and then closed in to kiss. Their kiss became passionate. Buffy reached her hands up to Angel's neck.

"Your eyes / That always make me shiver / Now they are closed / They just sometimes twitch a little"

"What's going on?" Xander asked Willow.

"Nothin'..."

"Well, as long as they're not kissing."

Willow just watched and said nothing.

"And your body / I could hold for an hour / It sent me to Heaven / With its heat and power"

Buffy and Angel separated.

"You okay?" Buffy asked.

"It's just..."

"...Painful. I know. See you around?"

"I'll remember you / You will be there in my heart / I'll remember you / And that is all that I can do / But I'll remember"

Buffy walked away. Angel watched her go. The cross Buffy had been wearing had left a deep burn.