Angel frowned slightly as he found himself in a room he was pretty sure he'd never seen. Buffy say in front of him on the floor, legs curled neatly under her as she pulled a notebook from a box, sighing before she discarded it and continued to comb through the contents. She pulled out a photo of her and her mom and smiled briefly at it before discarding it as well, continuing to dig.

"Looking for something?" he inquired, slightly confused when she gave no acknowledgement that she'd heard him and frowned down at the box before sighing in what could only have been frustration and standing up. She turned off the light to the room before walking out into the hallway and making a right, climbing the stairs. He followed her, reaching out to grab her arm and force her to turn and face him, amazed when his hand sailed right through her body and she continued forward as though nothing had happened.

"Weird dream," he mused to himself, frowning as she reached what must have been her bedroom and sighed again, pulling her flimsy sweater over her head and almost instantly replacing it with a t-shirt, shimmying out of her jeans that seemed just a little tight and yanking on boxer shorts before grabbing a toothbrush and turning to head into the bathroom.

"BUFFY!" Angel suddenly hard a familiar voice scream from downstairs and the girl jumped slightly in surprise, dropping the toothbrush before shouting back,

"Connor? What's going on?"

The words weren't even fully out of her mouth before he burst into the room, crossbow aimed in front of him. Buffy's jaw dropped in surprise, and then, to Angel's shock, she giggled.

"Now Connor," she said, slowly, a slight smirk on her face, "I know we had that little disagreement earlier about whether or not the cake you made was- well, edible- but I didn't realize you were THAT angry with me about it-"

Connor flashed her a weak smile. "Sorry. I just- I saw the mess downstairs and I thought that- sorry."

Buffy's smile faded. "Yeah, well, not like the world's been the safest ever lately. Easy mistake." She shrugged, offering a weak smile. "What're you doing here so late? I mean, not that you're not welcome her, because, I mean, totally welcome, but- shouldn't you be out having a good time or- um, at least fighting evil or something? You know, a typical Friday night?"

"I could ask you the same thing."

Buffy looked sheepish. "Yeah, I know, I know, I should have some fun. Willow and I were supposed to actually get together and do the pizza thing, but she thinks she's finally had a breakthrough in translating that prophesy."

"Seriously?" Connor asked eagerly as Angel blinked in confusion and Buffy nodded.

"Yeah. Apparently it's something about how I need to be married or am married or something-" she rolled her eyes. "Which, I mean, come on, SO lame, what with the whole 21st century empowered single woman thing going on, but…" she shrugged. "Anyway, I guess we'll know more when she figures it out."

"I hope so. I know Giles has been a little freaked about it."

To Angel's surprise Buffy snorted. "He'll survive."

This is so weird. Why would I be seeing Buffy's memories of the time between my death and her marriage to Rupert? Is this some weird way to give me comfort or-

"So," Connor said, casually leaning against the door, "Instead of renting a movie on your own you decided to throw everything you ever owned out of your downstairs closet?"

Buffy blushed, looking downward. "I was looking for something."

"Must've been an important something," he said, narrowing his eyes.

She shrugged, bending down to pick her toothbrush off the floor and, Angel realized, effectively avoiding his son's eyes. "Used to be."

"Okay, could I maybe get a straight answer, even if that straight answer is 'it's none of your business Conner?'" he inquired bluntly, but not unkindly, and Angel desperately wished he could pat his son on the back for saying what he'd been thinking.

"No it's just- silly," she said. "I used to- your dad gave me a necklace a long time ago. And I just- I don't remember where I put it."

"Oh," Conner said, hesitating before continuing, "Was it- pretty?"

She laughed. "Pretty? It was- um, okay, I guess. As far as crosses go it was- well, I mean, Angel was always very tasteful. It was-" she frowned, "in good taste. A little bit bulky, you know, but it saved my life a few times so guess I can't complain."

Conner frowned slightly. "Why were you looking for it tonight?"

Buffy tilted her head, seeming to try to decide if she could say something to him, and then shrugged. "It's really dumb, but- it's because there aren't any pictures."

"What do you-"

"Like, sometimes I miss Xander," she said quickly, "and when that happens, there are pictures. And they- I mean, they make me feel worse in some ways, but they're proof he was there. That I didn't just, you know, dream one of my best friends. There's Buffy, and there's Xander, and they're in the picture and they're smiling. But- I mean, I don't have any of Angel. That always kind of bugged me, honestly, but now- god, now it's-"

"I understand."

She bit her lip. "Thanks. I think. I was always scared to say that to him, but talking to you I feel like maybe- I mean, he wouldn't have understood but-"

"Oh, I think he would have understood," Conner cut her off and her eyes snapped up.

"Angel didn't think about transient things like that," she said with finality and Connor laughed.

"Oh, he might not have thought about transient things, but he did think about you. His whole library was practically a shrine to Buffy: photo-montage version."

"I don't understand," she said hesitantly and Conner smiled slightly.

"Sometimes I'd go look through his books-"

"He liked to read," Buffy said dully than looked at Conner apologetically. "Sorry. It's just so hard because sometimes I really do feel like I imagined him and then I think that if I don't say he obvious stuff I might even forget what I imagined and I—"

"I know," Conner said. "But my point was that- in any book that he had any respect for whosoever there was a picture of you." He smirked at her. "It was a little creepy, actually."

Angel cringed as she laughed again, feeling like the laugh was somehow mocking him and surprised at how well Buffy and Connor seemed to have gotten along as Conner pushed off the door. "Well. Since you're okay and it is late- I should probably be going."

"No!" Buffy exclaimed shocking Angel- and judging from the look on his son's face, surprising him as well. "I mean, yes, but- why did you come to begin with?"

Angels eyes narrowed slightly as his son shrugged, smirking almost flirtatiously. "Maybe I missed you."

Buffy laughed again, rolling her eyes. "Riiight, since it had been a full two hour since you saw me."

"Buffy," Connor said, voice serious as he took a step toward her, "Most of what I heard about you I heard from Cordelia and whispers behind my back about my dad and you-"

"Yeah, somehow people never did get sick of talking about that," she half-smiled, rolling her eyes, but there was no real joy in the gesture as Connor continued,

"And honestly based on all that, I could never piece together what my dad had seen in you. I mean, obviously there was the whole 'ah, slayer, forbidden' factor going but I didn't- understand. And knowing you now- I understand. And for some reason I wanted to say that to you. And that's why I came here."

"Oh," she said slowly, taking a small but very definite step toward him. "I- guess that's a good reason to come."

Angel's hands clenched at his sides as he saw his son lean ever-so-gently toward the only woman he had ever truly loved and gently stroke her lower lip with his thumb, then recoiled as though slapped when Buffy shivered slightly and took another small step forward.

"I feel for you," Connor said abruptly, slowly, uncertainly. "I don't want to. I try not to. I know you don't- I don't think you could ever- but I needed to tell you that."

"Thank you," Buffy said softly, leaning forward and kissing his cheek before pulling back slightly and locking eyes with Connor, who took advantage of her hesitation to lean forward and gently press his lips to hers as Angel cringed. That was nothing to the pain he felt, however when Buffy deepened the kiss, coiling a hand in his son's hair and going up on tip-toes to improve the angle as she reached her other hand shakily hand up to caress his cheek.

"We shouldn't" Conner gasped, pulling away from her and Angel watched Buffy blink up at him in confusion, the exact same expression that used to be on her face when she's blink up at him on her face, and in that moment he felt a little of his soul die.

"Why not?" she questioned in what seemed to be genuine bewilderment.

"You don't love me," he said softly and to Angel's surprise Buffy shrugged.

"I didn't say I did. I think that- maybe I could though. Someday. And isn't that-"

"Let me put it another way," Conner cut her off sharply. "You still love my father."

"No I don't," Buffy said dully and angel clenched his fists again, fighting the irrational urge to scream at the words he had left her to begin with so that she would someday be able to utter. "I swear to you."

"Buffy-"

"I swear to you, I want this."

And with those words Angel watched in pain as she fisted her hand in his son's shirt and kissed him again, pulling him over to the bed.