Once the movie ends Buffy decides to invite her friends over to spend some time together while they're all together. The gang arrives at the same time and they order pizza. Angel pulls up shortly after the pizza man leaves and enters the Summers house to find Buffy, Dawn, Willow, Oz, Tara, Anya, and Xander sitting in a circle in the living room.
Willow is between Oz and Tara on the couch. Dawn is sitting cross-legged on the floor beside the couch. Anya and Xander are between Dawn and the chair on the floor. Buffy smiles at Angel when he enters and gestures for him to join her on the chair, which means she is sitting on his lap. They talk for a while, most of them eating the pizza.
"So Wills, truth or dare?", Xander asks suddenly, a mischievous grin on his face.
"Um, truth I guess," Willow says, uncertain.
"Okaaay... What was your first spell after the re-ensouling spell?" Xander asks. Willow thinks a moment before answering
"I think it was the fire out of ice one. Not a good idea to do on the bedspread," She shudders at the memory. Tara and Buffy both wince in sympathy, one having already heard the story, the other familiar with the spell. "Anya, truth or dare?"
"Truth." The ex-demon answers.
"What was your first vengeance spell?" Willow asks, curious.
"I turned my unfaithful husband into a troll. His name was Olaf." Anya answers bluntly. "Oz, truth or dare?"
"Dare." He replies almost automatically.
"I dare you to go half-wolf." They had learned that he could now control when he turns into a wolf while at Giles's.
Oz takes a deep breath and steps away from the rest of the group. Buffy and Angel tense, preparing to hold him down if he goes too far. Oz shifts halfway then stops and shifts back. He sits back down heavily.
"Buffy, truth or dare?" Oz asks, breathing heavily.
"Truth." She answers. If that was the last dare, she didn't want to know what the next one would be.
"How many times have you made love?" He asks after a moment.
Buffy smiles. "Oh that's easy."
"Well, how many?" Anya asks, impatient as always.
"Once." Buffy says with a small smile.
"Bullshit! We know you and Parker had sex, as well as you and Riley." Anya protests, as blunt as usual. Angel bristles at the mention of Buffy's, lets say, 'experimentation'.
"Exactly. Oz asked how many times I had made love, not how many times I had sex. I have only made love once, at least technically." She answers, sending a pointed look at Angel at the last part. He has the decency to look at least a little bit sheepish.
"It was more than that lover," Angel whispers in her ear, causing her to blush a deep red.
Buffy quickly clears her throat. "Um, uh, Angel! Truth or dare?"
"Dare, Ionuin." He answers, using the Gaelic word for beloved.
"Hmmm... I dare you to... go vamp face for the rest of the game." Buffy says after thinking for a moment.
"Whatever you say Ionuin." He agrees as he slips into his other visage.
"W-well m-maybe n-not the r-rest of the g-game," Tara nervously stutters. She isn't used to vampires and werewolves yet. Being a witch, she of course knew they existed, but she had never met any before, at least, not to her knowledge.
"Okay, until you get called on again." Buffy agrees, seeing the girl's obvious discomfort.
"Very well. Tara, truth or dare?" Angel turns to the young Wiccan.
"Um... T-truth." She answers nervously, not looking Angel in the face.
"How long have you been a witch?" He asks softly, aware of her fear.
"I p-prefer Wiccan." She corrects. "Um... As long as I can remember. My m-mom taught me, before she died." She answers.
"Oh, I'm sorry for your loss. You must be very powerful." Angel comments. Tara blushes.
"N-not as p-powerful as Willow." She mutters. "Um, I guess it's m-my t-turn. Xander, t-truth or d-dare?"
"Dare. Always dare." Xander answers with a wicked grin.
"Um I d-dare you t-to tell us your d-deepest r-regret." Tara says with a small smile.
"What? No, that's cheating!" He protests.
"It's a dare Xander, you have to do it!" Dawn reminds him. Xander pouts and thinks. He takes a breath before completing the dare.
"Two years ago, right before Buffy sent Angel to hell. Willow sent me to tell Buffy that we were trying the re-ensouling spell again. Instead I told her to kick Angelus' butt. It was because I didn't understand how you couldn't just kill him and be done with it. How you could see so much good in him. If I was being completely honest, it was because I was jealous. It was stupid and petty, and I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." He looks up at Buffy and Angel, begging forgiveness with his eyes. Buffy and Angel sit there shocked. Nobody says anything.
Buffy can't believe it. 'Maybe if Xander had told me... No. It's done.'
"I forgive you. If you had told me we wouldn't be here and I would be dead, again. I wouldn't have fought my hardest and Angelus would have killed me. Thanks but once is enough as far as dying goes. You really should be asking Angel's forgiveness, not mine. He went to hell, I just went to LA. Though I can see how you night confuse the two." Buffy attempts to brighten the mood, though it fails spectacularly, only getting a light smattering of laughter.
Xander focuses his look at Angel, fear and pleading in his eyes. Angel can easily see how sorry he is and smiles.
"Of course I forgive you. It would be hypocritical of me not to. I just hope you can find your peace." He tells the younger brunette man.
"Thank you. Jeez, this went from a game of truth or dare to a full-blown get your feelings out there session. If Deadboy starts rambling about all the people he's killed, I'll stake him myself," Xander said in his usual Xander way.
"Okay! My turn! Dawnie, truth or dare?" Xander turns to the youngest in the circle.
"Dare." She replies immediately. Xander mulls it over briefly.
"I dare you to... spar with Buffy or Angel!" He exclaims proudly.
"What?!" Buffy yells, incredulous.
"She has to spar with you or Angel," Xander states proudly.
"Buffy, it's fine. Neither one of us would let her get hurt," Angel whispers, attempting to comfort her. Buffy frowns. She doesn't like the idea of her sister fighting. Suddenly a thought enters her head. 'My sister will live forever, she needs to learn to fight.'
"Fine. But we get to choose when and with what." She concedes. Dawn grins.
"Sweet! My turn! So Anya, truth or dare?" Dawn asks the ex-vengence demon with a gleam in her blue eyes.
"I said truth last time, so I'll say dare this time." Anya says, unknowingly playing into Dawn's hands.
"I dare you to pet a bunny." Dawn announces, knowing the ex-demon's fear of the fluffy animals. Anya's eyes go wide in fear.
"NO! I will NOT touch a hoppy, fluffy, carrot-eating devil! They're evil! Why do they eat so many carrots? What do they need such good eyesight for? I'll tell you, to spy on us at night! They're plotting against us!" Anya protests, her arms flailing widely.
"Anya, they're bunnies. They can't hurt you." Xander tells his girlfriend, trying to calm her.
"They have teeth! Sharp teeth! Didn't any of you see Monty Python's Quest for the Holy Grail?" Anya demands. Xander rolls his eyes.
"You know we did. Besides it's a dare. Will, can you summon a rabbit for us?" He turns to the Wiccan and she nods, grinning.
"Easy-peasy!" Willow says a few words in Latin and suddenly a bunny appears with a *pop!*. Anya screams and scampers away.
"Come on Ahn. It's a dare. You have to do it." Xander admonishes sweetly. Slowly Anya reaches out and strokes her hand down the rabbits back. As soon as she's done she quickly jerks her hand away, as if it was burned.
"Ugh! Send it back! Send it back!" She demands. Willow recites a different spell and the bunny disappears with another *pop*. "Okay, my turn. Willow, truth or dare.
"Dare." The witch replies, hesitantly. The ex-demon squints her eyes in concentration.
"I dare you to turn your hair purple." Anya says. Willow shrugs and says a quiet incantation. Her hair slowly begins to color itself, spreading a bright purple from her roots down to the tips of her hair. She turns to her best friend.
"Buffy. Truth or dare?" She asks.
"Dare." Buffy replies without hesitation.
"I dare you to stake Spike, right now." Willow says, knowing the Slayer would be too happy to comply.
"Just let me grab my stake." Buffy goes to the weapons chest and removes a stake for herself.
"Kay. Let's head out." Buffy says as she makes her way to the door. She stops when she hears a loud *POP* and was suddenly in the cemetery. She looks up and sees Spike's crypt.
"Cool Will. That must be how you get everywhere so quickly. Handy." Buffy comments, turning to see that everyone was looking at her expectantly. "Oh right! The dare." She walks up to the crypt and kicks open the door.
"Oi! My, my Slayer, you do know how to make an entrance. Come to pump me for information?" Spike asks, getting up from his chair at the intrusion. Buffy folds her arms over her chest.
"What else would I want to pump you for?" She asks. Her eyes go wide as she realizes what she just said. "I really just said that didn't I?"
"Afraid so luv. And no need to bother, I don't remember a thing." Spike tells her moving over to open the door. She grabs his arm as he passes her and swings him around, revealing her stake.
"Yeah, not so fast." She tells him as she releases his arm. "You obviously don't know anything, and frankly, I've been itching to dust you."
"Come on Slayer! What did I ever do to you?" Spike asks, stepping away from the stake in her hand.
"You want the full or abridged version? Lets see. You attacked my school, killed and turned a friend of mine, nearly killed Angel, raised a giant blue demon that can kill you with a look, kidnapped my two best friends, attacked me looking for that stupid gem, tortured Angel for said gem, should I go on?" She questions, taking steps toward him and forcing the Billy Idol look-alike back.
"Okay, good points. But I've got this chip in my head. Can't hurt anybody, now can I? Besides, it's always good to have extra muscle." Spike reminds her, getting nervous now. He's trapped against the wall, with no way of escape.
"Okay, enough chatting." Buffy takes one last big step toward Spike and pins him against the wall, her stake piercing his heart in one smooth motion. She dusts herself off as she walks out of the crypt and rejoins the group.
"Back home Will." She says. With another *POP* they're transported back to the Summers' home. They resettle themselves and Buffy turns to Tara.
"Okay. Tara, truth or dare?" She asks.
"Um, t-truth." The timid girl requests.
"Okay. How long have you been gay?" Buffy asks. Everyone looks at her, shocked. Tara looks a little embarrassed.
"What? I'm not the only one who noticed was I?" Buffy asks, looking around, nervous. "Was I?"
"I-it's okay. I knew the m-moment I s-saw Jasmine, m-my f-first g-girlfriend. She moved away, then I c-came to S-sunnydale." She answers, blushing profusely. "Angel. T-truth or d-dare?" She asks the vampire. Angel quickly morphed out of his vamp face.
"Truth." He answers.
"What w-was your h-human n-name?" Tara asks him.
"Liam O'Connor. I still use that name on legal documents." He answers.
"Like marriage licenses?" Buffy asks, smiling at him. He smiles back and wraps his arms around her when she turns to look at him.
"Well I haven't tried that, yet." He answers, winking at the word 'yet'.
"Hmmm." She hums, leaning in to kiss him.
"Uh hrm!" Xander and Dawn both clear their throats, causing the couple to jump apart, looking sheepish.
"Sorry." Buffy apologizes, blushing.
"I guess it would be my turn now. Xander, truth or dare?" Angel asks, though he knows the answer.
"Like I said; dare, always dare." Xander reiterates.
Angel smirks. "I dare you to never call me Deadboy, Soulboy, or any other name you, or anybody else, can come up with, ever again." Xander just glares at him in return.
"Dawnie, truth or dare?" He asks, releasing Angel from his glare and turning to the young girl.
"Dare." She answers again.
"I dare you to jump off the old high school roof." He says with a grin.
"NO! NO WAY! THAT IS NOT HAPPENING! Uh-unh!" Buffy yells, not leaving any room for an argument.
"It's just a dare. Besides it's not like it'll kill her." That doesn't mean Xander won't try.
"Are we trying to broadcast it to the entire demon world? No." She says firmly, fixing them all with a glare.
"Don't I get a say?" Dawn asks, her arms crossed over her chest, a pout firmly fixed on her face.
"NO!" Every one yelled at once. Under any other circumstance it would have been funny.
"Look, this is obviously getting out of hand. Let's just forget it and go to bed. It's been a long day." Angel suggests, trying to diffuse the situation.
"Yeah. Good idea Angel. We'll see you all tomorrow at Giles's right?" Buffy agrees. Everyone agrees to meet at Giles's at 10:30 the following morning. Those that had their own beds left to seek them out. Not including the two girls that lived there, only Angel was left. He had yet to move his things back into the mansion and Buffy suggested he stay with her until he did. Buffy put Dawn to bed and then rejoined him in the living room.
"So where do you want to sleep? You could take the couch or I could, and you could take the bed." Buffy asks, trying to figure out where the ensouled vampire would sleep.
"No, I'll take the couch. I wouldn't want to take your bed from you." He protests.
"No really, if you want to sleep on the bed, that's fine. I'll take the couch." Buffy insists, as stubborn as ever.
"Buffy…" He groans. She rolls her eyes at him.
"Fine, you can take the couch. Unless…" She trails off at the end, blushing slightly.
Angel smirks. "Unless what?"
"Well..." Buffy started, blushing profusely. "you could, um, well, sleep on the bed with me." She suggests, stuttering over her words.
"Sure. If you want me to, that is." Angel agrees, leaving her room to back out if she wants.
"Oh I do want you. I mean, um... Oh you know what I mean." Buffy blushes at her mis-wording
"Yes, I do. It's okay. It's just a bed. I doesn't have to mean anything else. We're both adults, we can handle this like adults." Angel says, keeping a level head about this.
Buffy sighs. It seemed like every time they talked it was either one of them breaking the others heart, arguing, or full of double-entendres. She leads Angel up to her room and leaves him to change, grabbing a pair of pajamas on her way to the bathroom. She takes a quick shower and changes into the pajamas she grabbed. Which happen to consist of a pair of shorts and a tank top. Figures. She stands in front of the mirror and tries to calm herself down. Angel is the only man she knew that could make her this frazzled with his mere presence. And he technically isn't even a man.
Buffy sighs and steps out into the hallway, making her way back to her room. She stops outside her door and takes another deep breath. Slowly she opens the door and steps into her room.
And immediately forgets how to breathe.
Angel is lying in her bed asleep, the covers pulled up to his waist, making it painfully obvious he didn't have a shirt on. From where Buffy is standing she can see he's wearing a pair of sweats, but if she knows him, and she definitely does, then she knows he's not wearing underwear. That thought alone would stop her in her tracks, but add to that the fact that his perfectly muscled chest is laying bare for her to gaze at? Definitely breath-taking.
Buffy decides that she should get some sleep at some point, so she slided in next to Angel, being careful to stay a good distance away.
She quickly falls fast asleep, wrapped in her blankets. As if Angel's body knows she's asleep, he moves closer to her and wraps his arm around her. Her body, sensing the presence of her soul mate, relaxes into his. Both of them remain fast asleep during this transition.