PROLOGUE

Buffy Wesley and Cordelia were sitting in the office, talking in lowered voices.

"I think it's time I told her," Wesley said, determindely.

"So soon?" asked Buffy, raising an eyebrow at him.

Cordelia frowned."Are you sure about this?".

"Well, I have to tell her sooner or later," Wesley shrugged.

"How do you think she'll react?" Buffy queried, absentmindedly doodling on a writing pad.

Wesley took it from her, with an admonishing look."I don't know," he said. "It's a lot to take in".

"What does Angel think?" asked Cordelia.

"He just said go for it," replied Wesley, leaning back in his chair.

"And if she says no," said Buffy "What then?"

"Lets hope she doesn't," he answered." Wish me luck," he added, as they all left the office.

Wesley walked into the kitchen, where Sarah was drying her hands.

"Sarah, can I, err..Speak to you for a minute?" Wesley mumbled.

"Of course," she replied, putting down the towel, and smiling at him.

Buffy and Cordelia watched them go into the office, and Wesley closed the door behind them.

"Fingers crossed," whispered Cordelia to Buffy.

They both went to sit down and wait, and then glanced at one another.

Seconds later, they were both stood with their ears pressed to the office door, straining to hear the conversation taking place within.

Buffy had always wanted to explore the hotel attic, but Angel told her it might not be safe, and until he had checked it out, he did not want her going up there alone.

Unfortunately, he had never got around to doing that.

Buffy did not know why, but she felt herself drawn towards it.

She felt as if something was calling to her, urging her to climb those stairs and push open the door.

Despite Angel's warnings, curiosity got the better of her, and before she knew it, she was stood in front of the attic doorway.

The door was stiff, the hinges rusted with time, and Buffy had to press all her weight against it before it finally yielded.

Daylight was streaming in through the small window, and the action of the door opening caused years of undisturbed dust to slowly rise into the air. She watched it gently fall again, highlighted by the sun's rays.

Buffy looked around at the vast array of junk piled up in the room.

Various items of furniture were stacked around the outer walls. Boxes, tea chests, trunks and even clothes were strewn over most of the floor.
It was very hot and humid, and the stale air had a musty smell to it.

Buffy tested the floor tentatively, but then she figured that if the ceiling here was already supporting all this weight, hers would not make any difference.
Slowly she moved around the room, squeezing in between the small spaces. Examining this and that, and wondering if she would find anything exciting.
On top of one of the trunks was a silk shawl. She picked it up, and shook the dust off it.

It was cream with blue embroidered flowers. Buffy placed it around her shoulders.

Then she noticed that the shawl had been covering a small hand mirror.

It was untarnished, and the black surround was encrusted with what appeared to be various gems.

Buffy took it over to an old armchair, and sat down to examine it more closely. Polishing the dust off with her sleeve, she peered into it.
Hearing laughter drifting upwards from ouside, Buffy wondered what was going on.

Instantly she was there, in the garden, watching Cordelia chatting and laughing with the builders as they packed up their tools.

Buffy was confused. Wondering how on earth she had got there ,she closed her eyes, and opened them again.

Instantly, she was back in the attic staring into the mirror.

Presuming it must be the heat and lack of fresh air, Buffy put the mirror down, and went to open the window.

She expected it to be stuck fast like the door, so was surprised to find how easily it gave.

Her watch and her stomach told her it was nearly time for dinner, and Sarah would be needing help with the boys .

Reluctantly, she removed the shawl, and replaced it and the mirror back where she had found them.

Deciding she would come back the next day when the place had aired out, Buffy closed the door behind her, and made her way downstairs.

Later that night, Angel called Buffy from Monterey.

"Hi Buffy," he said. "Is everything ok?"

"Yeah fine," she replied. "How's it going at your end? Find any ghosties yet?"

"Wes seems to think its just a standard haunting, kinda like Cordelia's Phantom Dennis," replied Angel. "So a bit of the old holy water and Latin should sort it. The lady who hired us wants us to stay for a couple of days, make sure it doesn't reappear. She's paying us good money so we agreed."

"Ok," Buffy mumbled. Her mind began to wander off onto other things.

"So what have you been up to?" he asked.

Buffy was busy thinking about the attic. "What? Oh this and that."

"Has Sarah mentioned anything about the conversation she had with Wes?" Angel enquired.

"She said she still needed time to think about it," Buffy replied.

"I miss you," said Angel. "It feels weird sleeping on my own."

"Miss you too," she smiled. "Angel, I'm sorry I have to go, Davy's crying"

"Ok, I'll see you soon," he answered. "I love you."

"Love you too," said Buffy, and put the phone down.

All she could think about was the fact that Angel would now be away for longer, and she could spend more time in the attic.

For some unknown reason that thought fascinated her, and she climbed into bed wishing that morning had already come.

The next day, Buffy was up bright and early. She was already giving Davy his breakfast, when Sarah came into the kitchen with Francis.

"Morning Buffy," she said. "Looks like it's going to be another hot one."

"Hmmm? Oh yeah...Morning," replied Buffy, not bothering to look up.

"You're up early," Sarah remarked. She watched Buffy feeding Davy, as fast as he could swallow it.

"I couldn't sleep," replied Buffy, wiping her son's mouth.

Sarah put Francis in his high chair."I suppose you're missing Angel?" she smiled.

"Actually I don't feel too well," Buffy lied. "I've got a bit of a headache".

"Why don't you go back to bed for a while, I can manage the boys," Sarah suggested.

Cordelia strolled into the room."Morning all. It's a beautiful day and I haven't got much to do with the guys being away. How about we head down to the park for a spot of sunbathing?"

"Buffy's not feeling too good," said Sarah. "So maybe we can take the boys with us?"

"Yeah fine," replied Cordelia. "We'd better find the sun block".

Buffy waited until they had gone, and headed up to the attic.

The room was still stuffy, the window being too small to let any discernible amount of air in.

Vowing she would limit herself to an hour, Buffy started rummaging around in an old chest.

It's contents were not very interesting, mainly old books and magazines.

After a few minutes, her hands were filthy from the the dirt and ink, and when she brushed a stray lock of hair from her face, she got dust in her eye.
Her eyes began to water and she couldn't focus. Leaning over to where she had put the mirror the day before, she looked in it to see her face. Noticing black smudges all down one side, Buffy wiped her face with her sleeve.

For no particular reason, her thoughts turned to Angel. She wondered what he was doing right now.

With that, she found herself in a room she did not recognise, looking at Angel, Gunn and Wesley sitting around a table.

They were studying what appeared to be some ancient texts.

"This is unreal," she breathed.

"We need to try a different form of exorcism," Wesley remarked.

Gunn looked confused."I thought they all did the same thing?"

Angel was facing Buffy, looking straight towards where she stood on the opposite side of the room.

" I'll go get the other books from the car," he said, and walked straight past her.

Buffy was totally confused. She was standing right in front of him, but yet he could not see her. She opened her mouth to call to him.
.....And she was back in the attic, the mirror still in her hand.

"This is weird," Buffy mumbled. "Maybe I've got a temperature or something, and it's making me hallucinate."

She decided to take a break, go downstairs and have a cold drink.

First she put the books back into the chest, thinking how old some of them were.

Eighteen eighty, eighteen ninety eight, nineteen hundred. Buffy tried to remember if Angel would still have been Angelus then.

She glanced into the mirror to make sure her face was not dirty again before she went downstairs......
...And found herself in an alley with a group of people, one of whom was a woman holding a baby.

She could smell smoke in the air, hear shouts and screams around her.

The woman was trembling with fear and the man was holding on to her and a young boy, murmuring words of comfort.

Buffy tried to crouch down out of sight, but they had not seemed to have noticed her anyway.

Where the hell am I? she thought.

The people were dressed in old fashioned attire and were clearly scared out of their wits.

A tall, handsome man appeared in the alley, and looked at the family huddled together.

Buffy could not focus on anything but his face.

It was Angel....But not her Angel.

If The Powers That Be had not sent her to an alternate reality previously, she did not know if she would have recognised him.

But now she would never forget that face for the rest of her life. Except, he looked different somehow.

His eyes had lost that hardness, that gleam of cruelty that had been ever present even when he had acted kindly to her in that unexistant past they had shared together.

Buffy lifted her head slightly to see him better, hardly knowing why she was being so foolhardy.

He looked straight at her and their eyes met.

His face had weariness, guilt and despair written all over it. In that moment, she knew he had already regained his soul.

"Get out of here if you know what's good for you," he yelled.

Buffy was convinced he could see her. She slowly stood up, and walked towards him. The other people were still too afraid to move. They had seen what this man's companions had done to others, and were rooted to the spot.

Hesitantly, The Slayer reached a hand out. "Angel?" she murmured.

.....But he had vanished and Buffy found herself once more in the attic.

She felt hot and dizzy, and more than a little scared.

Putting the mirror down, she quickly left the room, telling herself she would not go in there again.

END.

***S&S webmistress note: There is more to this series somewhere on the net, I belive***