"Mister Rayne!" a breathless voice said at his ear and Ethan reluctantly turned from the beautiful picture that Buffy and Angel made on the floor. "What happened here?"

"Unforeseen complications," Ethan said dismissively. "Nothing I can't handle."

The man craned his neck past him. "Who's the man?"

"Not a man, Charles," Ethan said shortly.

"But-" Charles retorted slowly, "then why aren't we-"

'This way is going to be EVER so much more rewarding," Ethan retorted cryptically.

"I don't understand-"

"That is Angelus. She is the slayer. Currently they are both in the other person's memories and seeing only that which will bring them the most pain. And knowing the two of them, it's going to involve betrayal even beyond MY comprehension." He smiled grimly. "I've only seen this spell preformed twice before, but whatever they see will so appall and anger them that they'll wake up wanting to kill one another- and all we'll need to do is watch."

"That's brilliant, sir."

"I'd like to think so, but really, with the two of them it was almost too obvious." He looked down at their bodies with distaste. "No one ever hurt either of them like they hurt each other."

Buffy blinked in confusion as she looked around Angel's apartment in LA. "I don't get it," she said out loud, shaking her head before focusing as she heard sound coming from the kitchen.

"Soooo. Good tea," she heard her own voice say in a voice that sounded almost mocking. "Full of, um," she sputtered uncertainly, "apple-cinnamony goodness."

"Would you like some more?" she heard Angel's voice, just like it always was, almost abnormally controlled and yet- she frowned, not really understanding what she felt was off- why he sounded like he was about to snap as he asked about tea.

"No, thank you." And her frown deepened as she heard herself adopt the same tone as him. There was a pause and she entered the kitchen, blinking in confusion as she saw herself sitting across from Angel like it were the most natural thing in the world, confused as to why she would be seeing herself there when she'd never even been in his kitchen.

"I'm really sorry I kissed you like that."

"What?" she blurted in confusion at the same instant as her younger self jerked backward ever-so slightly asking hesitantly, "You are?"

"Well, not for the kiss itself," he replied quickly, looking almost sheepish.

"Angel what are you talking about? " Buffy demanded as her younger self sighed slumping slightly in what could only have been relief as she retorted archly, "Good. I mean, 'cause as far as kisses go I thought it was well above average."

They always were, Buffy thought, leaning hopping up onto the counter and frowning. "Okay," she said out loud. "I'm having some trippy dream where-"

"It was incredible." Angel said and she snapped her mouth shut, confused again by the intensity with which he was looking at her younger self. "I just - I-I think, maybe we'd be asking for trouble rushing back into things." Buffy laughed at the expression that flitted across her younger self's face as Angel rushed to appease her, "Not that I don't want to - rush. Believe me, I do."

"Right. You spoke to the Oracles and they said you were cured for good. But how do we know that they really speak for the Powers? I mean they could be –" her younger self frowned, seeming to search for a word before finishing weakly, "pranksters."

"Cured?" Buffy questioned, leaping off the counter and getting right in Angels face "Angel what is she-"

But he couldn't hear her and continued to look at younger her, replying in that same tension-filled tone,

"Or there could be another loophole."

"Exactly. And then the two of us would be in even deeper and it's 'grr' all over again."

Okay, why are we talking about sex in my dream instead of just having it? And why can't they hear me? It's my dream. I want him to hear me.

"It would be smart to wait a while. See if this mortal thing takes."

"Mortal?" Buffy questioned so quietly she didn't think they'd be able to hear her even if they had been-well, able to hear her- and she took a halting step backwards, unsure why she was reacting so strongly to something entirely in her head and completely missing the next words as thoughts began to slam together in her head. "It's not a dream," she murmured to herself, shaking her head slowly as she tried to figure out how any of this could be possible at all as she bit her lip, pacing back and forth slightly. "It's a- memory? Only where I don't remember it- which doesn't really fit in with the whole concept."

Her attention snapped back to the scene in front of her as Angel gave a long-suffering sigh that currently made her want to slap him but judging from the expression on her younger self's face made that Buffy want to kiss him- an urge that only increased as he moved to the chair next to her.

"I'm not saying I don't want you. You know how much. I'm just saying it's worth the wait to be sure this is right. I need to be sure you won't get hurt again."

Buffy rolled her eyes, muttering "Yeah, never heard that one before," almost too pleased when her younger self sprang up, clearly as frustrated with his bullshit as she was and muttered almost unkindly, "You know it's a good thing I didn't fantasize about you turning human only about 10 zillion times, because today would have been a real let down." And though Buffy smirked, glad her words had found their mark she cold tell that her younger self regretted them at once as Angel flinched and she sighed, asking resignedly, "So how does the mature plan go? You call me? I call you? What?"

Angel stepped over to her and Buffy shivered, knowing what was coming even without knowing. "We stay in touch - just not-"

"Literally. Funny." Her younger self locked eyes with him before walking past him with strength Buffy hadn't realized she'd possessed at that age, saying with more confidence than she felt, "Okay, I'd better-"

Angel turned to look after her and even though it wasn't really funny Buffy couldn't help but giggle at the scene playing out before her. "Right. Remove the temptation."

Buffy spun back around, saying with a barely audible gulp, "So, we'll - talk soon," before putting her hand on top of his on the counter. And despite herself Buffy felt her heart constrict at the way in which they both instantly stared down at their hands like they were the most fascinating things in the world before Angel turned his hand around to grab hers- and suddenly they were crashing together.

She couldn't tell who made the move exactly- it really was one of those moments in life where if you blinked it was over-but suddenly they were- kissing was not an adequate word to describe it and Buffy knew as though she had actually lived it that they were not going to stop as they stumbled awkwardly into the refrigerator and younger her grabbed Angel's shoulders so tightly her knuckles turned white, leaping upward so that her legs wrapped tightly around his waist and his hands groped her ass as they moved toward the table and he threw her almost violently down on it as he swept it clean.

Buffy could not tear her eyes away as, within ten seconds of getting her onto the table Angel had ripped her shirt clear of her body, literally shredding it and tossing the remains on the floor.

Her younger self gasped as he began to suck on her neck, wrapping her legs tighter around his waist and intentionally rotating her hips rewarded by his groan as he began to fumble with the button on her pants.

"You think I care? Just rip them off too," she heard her younger self demand in a tone she was sure she'd never heard come out of her mouth before, and she watched herself blush slightly before she added, rolling her eyes slightly self-deprecatingly, "I was, like, way more attached to the sweater anyway."

Buffy and her younger self both gasped as he immediately took her at her word, and her pants ripped cleanly in half and fell to the floor with a soft woosh. "I'm sorry," he said, sounding anything but as he drank in the sight of her nearly naked body. "It was a very nice sweater."

"Angel, two things" her younger self gasped. "First of all, no more talking. Second of all, if you ever apologize to me for anything ever again ever, I WILL kill you, and thirdly-"

"You said two things," he smirked, eyes full of lust, and Buffy was surprised as her younger self smirked wickedly back, reaching up a hand and popping all the buttons off his shirt with one quick motion, throwing it to the floor.

"I didn't say the third thing involved speaking," she purred reaching backward to unhook her bra and throwing it on top of his shirt, and Buffy stared at the scene almost aghast, disbelieving that she could ever have been so bold.

"Well, we now know why he thought I cared about the sex," she muttered dryly to herself as he sputtered,

"I really want you to know that I-"

"I know," her younger self replied softly, gently caressing his cheek.

He gave her a genuine smile then, and for a second Buffy thought that they were actually going to make it to the bedroom after all as her younger self wriggled backward slightly- only to rip his belt off and divest him of his pants in what had to have been three seconds flat as he tore her panties off her body.

Buffy did look away then, wishing it were a dream so she could just wake up as she heard their moans and grunts followed by a huge crash. Her eyes snapped upward despite herself as she saw the two of them, still going at it on the floor amidst the splintered pieces of one VERY BROKEN table.