Buffy stirred slightly, feeling like she was waking up from a very deep sleep.

"I know what I'm doing," she heard Ethan growl as if from very far away. "They will wake up with hatred toward one another in their hearts. There's no need to restrain them."

As she heard whoever was with Ethan leave the room, Buffy shakily pulled herself up, mind whirled in overtime as she looked over at Angel who was also slowly standing.

Torn between confronting Ethan and confronting her ex-lover she looked uncertainly between them for a minute before quietly asking Angel, "What did you see?"

There was a long pause during which Buffy realized he was, like her, trying to decide who to confront before he answered briefly, "I'd rather not talk about it."

She cringed. "That bad huh?"

He nodded shortly, just once, as she surveyed the room sharply.

"Oh," she said briefly, looking downward.

"You?" he inquired.

"It was- painful," she replied softly, then turned to Ethan. "Why would you- what did you show us?" she demeaned, fists clenched at her sides and Ethan blinked in confusion at the scene playing out before him. They were supposed to be fighting already.

"Nothing untrue," he said shortly, deciding that the problem must be that they didn't believe what they'd seen had actually transpired. "They two of you were granted free access to the others memories and merely saw the truth."

Angel snorted. "It's been a few years since I was able to brush up my Latin," he snapped brusquely, "and we did collapse immediately afterward and all, so maybe my memory about what you said isn't quite what it should be, but I seem to remember something about showing us hatred. We weren't given free access to anything. We were led directly to what would anger us the most."

"Did it work?" Ethan asked smugly, confident that he knew the answer.

Angel and Buffy looked at one another for a long moment before she nodded at him, just once, and they turned back to face Ethan.

"Oh, I'd say so," she chirped, smiling at him. "Wouldn't you, Angel?"

"Most definitely," he retorted.

Ethan's eyes widened as they both moved forward at once, knocking him unconscious.

"I vote that we kill him," Buffy said briefly, looking down at Ethan's unconscious body and then up at Angel who shook his head slightly.

"Not that I object to that plan, but we should get out of here," he retorted curtly.

"Do they have to be mutually exclusive?" she near-pouted, and under different circumstances he would have smiled at the expression on her face.

"He doesn't want you dead," Angel said and she looked at him in confusion. He sighed, adding, "That gives us an advantage we might not have with his successor."

"Since he thought we were going to kill one another," she retorted through clenched teeth, rolling her eyes, "I'd say he's probably over his charitable impulses toward me."

"He thought you were going to kill me," Angel said shortly, looking down at her in near-exasperation. "Whatever he may have said, he had to have known I could never kill you."

"Excuse me?" she inquired incredulously. "Did you, like, MISS the year in my life where you were Angelus and I STILL couldn't kill you? What makes you think that he'd think I'd be the more likely person to-"

His eyes flashed in anger. "Well, the important thing is, he was wrong." Angel rolled his eyes and Buffy almost laughed at the gesture, so foreign looking on him, as he continued, "That curse was popular almost two centuries ago and it only works when both parties involved already hate one another. If they don't it just leads to-"

"Confusion and disappointment?" Buffy finished for him and he grimaced slightly.

"Hurt." He paused for a moment then shook his head. "What did you do to anger him so badly anyway?"

She sighed. ""Long story," then shook her head. "Too long." She looked down at Ethan before sighing again, louder, and conceding softly, "You're right. Let's just go," heading toward the door.

He grabbed her arm, whipping her around to face him and gesturing upward. "Easiest way out is up."

She looked at him incredulously. "You can't think I'm leaving without my kids?"

He looked back at her with equal disbelief. "You can't think I came for you without trying to find them first? They're not here."

She opened her mouth to ask if he was sure, then thought better of it. "Thank you. For trying," she said softly.

"Sorry I couldn't find them," he replied shortly.

"It's okay," she replied, even as she felt crying, before bending her knees and leaping with all her strength, grabbing for the roof.

"Okay, so, what now?" Buffy inquired as she looked around the outside of the building.

"I think this is the part where we get as far away as possible," Angel deadpanned.

"Right. Good plan," she replied, looking around her at the very dead city street.

"Well, what do you think-" he began but was silenced as a bullet went whizzing neatly between them and Buffy jerked backward.

"Considering the circumstances?" she quipped. "I'd say grand theft auto sounds good."

"What-" he began to inquire but didn't need to wonder for long as she dove toward the nearest vehicle, smashing the driver's side window and quickly unlocking the doors, screaming, "Get in!" as another shot was fired.

"Buffy, you don't know how to-" he began as she smashed the key mechanism to reveal the rotation switch and yanked a pin out of her hair to maneuver it, car springing to life.

"Oh, come on," she retorted, rolling her eyes and slamming down on the gas pedal. "It's not really rocket science to hot wire a car."

"I was going to say 'drive'" Angel said through clenched teeth, cringing as she swerved violently to avoid a lamppost within five seconds.

"Look on the bright side," she chirped, increasing the speed as he closed his eyes. "They'll never get a straight shot."

Exactly two hours later Buffy pulled off the road and into a garage attached to a very large home as Angel looked at her curiously.

"Do you think we lost them?" she inquired shortly and he snorted.

"It's hard to say. I mean, with all those people we almost ran over and everything I sort of lost track of whether-"

"Don't be a smart-ass," she said, looking at her watch as she got out of the car.

"Where are we?" he inquired as he followed her toward the outside of the house.

She lowered her eyes. "This is- this is where Rupert and I lived."

"Not to criticize your logic, but won't this be the first place they look?" Angel demanded sharply.

"They won't believe I would go somewhere so obvious. At least not until they check all the places Rupert and I kept as potential hideouts that they don't know that I know they know about." She frowned. "I didn't say that very well."

"No, I got it," he replied.

"We'll leave again at sunset," she said with finality. "Until then, there are plenty of secret passages in the house… even if they come here they'll never find us."

"Secret-"

"This is where we based the resistance."

He shook his head. "I still don't understand what that means."

She sighed. "Come inside. We should talk. About- everything."

"Agreed."

She walked over to the door, uttering a brief incantation before stepping inside, frowning as he continued to stare at her from outside. "I said you could come in."

"Won't they be able to tell, then, that you-"

Her brow furrowed before she looked at him, clarity on her face. "Oh! No! The binding spells are only effective in the major cities. Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, New York. That's why they made me move there. Now come ON, the sun's about to come up."

He stepped inside, startled to see the wreckage inside the house that had seemed so immaculate from the outside. Noting his gaze Buffy sighed. "Let's just say I never did learn the whole 'going down without a fight' concept."

"What happened here?"

She bit her lip, gaze half mischievous and half devastated as she retorted, "I think we should go in chronological order this time, don't you? It will probably make more sense that way."

"Okay."

"Good," she replied with a short nod. 'Then why don't we start with that time that you were human and we broke your kitchen table?"