DISCLAIMER:Uh, we don't own Buffy and Angel. We really wish we did, and we're going to sue eventually, but right now, we don't own them. Shucks.
NOTES:Ok, this is our first little co-written fic ... and it's B/A fluff, be warned. (Oh come on what ELSE would it be?)

Buffy sat in her dorm room, thinking about the spell gone wrong that Willow had performed. As always when the young witch went in too deep it had resulted in madness.

Although she remembered most of what she had done and said during the time she thought she was in love with Spike, there was something bothering her. Something she was sure he had said.

"Spike, I can't wait to we get married, then we can live happily ever after, patrolling in the graveyard forever. But we can do lots of other things on patrol, right?"

"Sure pet." Spike said, deeply aware that the slayers hand was stroking his leg. He had to find a way to get out of this without upsetting her too much. If he did upset her he would be dust. < Think you great pillock, think.... What could stop us from getting married..... Angel... no she said she doesn't love him anymore.... Wait a minute, that ring he wore, he told me he gave her one if I'm not mistaken..... > A huge grin spread across his face.

"Pet, I think we have a problem, we can't possibly get married."

"Why not, don't you love me?"

"Course I do but... well you're already married, to Angel."

"No I'm not."

"What, you mean he didn't tell you? You remember that ring he gave you before the moment of true happiness? Well luv, that was your wedding ring. Exchanging that ring makes you married."

"It does? Is it legal?"

"Well.... Yes it is, in Ireland."

"Fine, I'll ask him for a divorce........."

As Buffy remembered the conversation her face drained white. She and Angel were married. He'd given her the ring as a wedding band...... Why hadn't he told her. < All this time and we've been married and he never said a word... He left me and he never told me. But if they were married.... Surely we should have tried to make it work, I wouldn't have let him leave if I'd known about it. He must have had a serious reason to leave me, if he's my husband, it would have taken more than the mayor to make him leave me like that. If only I knew.... > She cried silently into her hands. They were meant to be together, not apart. They were so much stronger together, he must know that. I have to make him realize that we can make it work. Swiftly rising from the bed, she went to her jewelry box and lifted the false bottom. In side was her wedding ring, the Claddagh he had given her. She slipped it on her left ring finger, the heart facing her. She had to go to him and confront him, she was going to LA.

"Xander, I need you to do me a favor," Buffy pleaded with him.

Xander looked from Anya to Buffy. "B-B-But ..."

"Please, Xander, I need to get to LA. Right now."

Xander raised an eyebrow. "Why? You were just there ... last week."

"I know. It's ... something I found out. I can't explain it, not now at least, but I *really* need to get to LA as fast as possible."

"So I'm your designated driver?"

Buffy gave him a puppy-dog expression. "Pleeease?"

Xander looked at Anya again.

"Oh, go ahead," Anya sighed. "I'll wait here."

Xander turned back to Buffy. "All right, Buff, but if the visit is longer than 10 minutes you're getting your own ride back."

"Oh, it will be." Buffy took Xander's hand and began to pull him up the steps. "I hope," she added under her breath.

Once they were in the car on the highway, Xander turned to look at Buffy. "So what's the big rush? I thought you and Angel decided that the no-touch, no-feel zone was better."

"Yeah ... we did." Buffy sighed, "But I don't think it is. I mean, maybe it is, but ... I had that little run in w-with Spike, a-and ..."

Xander guffawed. "You mean when you tried to *marry* him?"

"I was under a spell!" Buffy said defensively. "...Yes. Then. And I made a-a realization. Accidentally, but I did, and now I have to confront Angel about it ... about if it's true ... and if it is ... why he didn't tell me ... before."

"Before when?" Xander zipped through a red light.

"Years ago before. Before he went bad."

"Oh. You mean when ... oh." Xander nodded quickly. "Ok! Well ... I hope you get everything straightened out."

"Yeah, me too." Buffy slipped a disc into the car CD player. They drove the rest of the way with only the sound of Sarah McLachlan breaking the silence.

"Well, there ya go," Xander smiled as Buffy got out of the car. "Are you sure you don't want me to wait? I'll wait longer than ten minutes if you want me to. I don't mind, really. Anya's got me all worked out."

Buffy frowned and then giggled. "Never tell me," she stressed. "And I'm fine." She leaned partially through the window to give him a one-armed hug. "I really am."

"Okay, but if something goes really wrong-"

"I know. Call you. I got it."

Xander grinned. "Good. And now, my annoying princess is awaiting. I'm off!"

Buffy watched Xander floor the gas and speed off down the wrong side of the street, shaking her head and laughing. Then she turned and ascended the steps to the apartment building, knocking on Angel's apartment door.

He opened it cautiously, avoiding the sunlight. "Buffy," he said, surprised. "I thought we agreed-"

"I know what we agreed," she cut him off. "But we also agreed no secrets. And I found out you were keeping a big one from me when I tried to marry Spike."

"When you *what*?!" Angel repeated in disbelief, motioning for her to come in.

"Tried to marry Spike," Buffy snapped. "That's not the point right now, I was under a spell thanks to Wiccan Willow the Witch. The point is, you lied to me."

"Lied to you?"

"No, I guess you didn't *lie* ... but you know, what you did, it's almost worse ... you didn't tell me the whole truth ... on a really important subject matter."

"I-I didn't?"

"No." Buffy slammed the door shut behind them and pushed Angel against the wall. Staring him straight in the eye, she asked, "Why didn't you tell me?"

Angels mind was whirling in confusion, < She wasn't supposed to remember the day we had shared together. That had to be what she was talking about, why else would she be upset? >

"Buffy.... I... I'm sorry, I should have told you, but I didn't want to hurt you, you weren't....." Buffy cut him off.

"Hurt me? Angel can't you see that it hurts me more, knowing that we've been husband and wife for the past three years, and you didn't tell me? Angel, you gave me a wedding ring and not once did you say a word." She let go of him and continued to glare at him.

If and had been human his face would have drained white. The claddagh he had given her three years ago. He'd never forgotten it, their wedding ring. At the docks that night he had meant to tell her about it, but things had gotten in the way. When he had finally came back from hell he had realized that he could never tell her. What she didn't know, wouldn't hurt her, he knew if she ever found out she would never let him go no matter what. The rings joined them just that bit closer, they symbolized the love they shared and a promise, to love each other, be loyal and to share their lives with each other.

"Lets go somewhere else to talk." He motioned for her to follow him and they went down to his apartment.

Buffy looked around, the room was new to her, but somehow it just seemed so familiar and welcoming. Like she had been here before, it felt like home. She glanced at the kitchen ad she felt as if something wasn't right. The table was wrong. She shook her head, dispelling the uneasiness. She'd never been down here before today, it was probably just the atmosphere, it was pure Angel. She sat down on the sofa and slipped her jacket off. He sat down across from her and stared at the ground for a long moment. Then he looked up at her. His eyes were so soft and full of love. Just like her, he was hurting. It made her want to go to him and hold him, but she didn't. First she wanted answers, and she was going to get them

"So Angel, explain to me why you overlooked our marriage?" She said in a bitter tone

"I couldn't let you know Buffy. I was going to tell you at the docks, but we were attacked. After I came back from hell..... You know as well as I do that we could never have what we once did. Being together was only tearing us apart." His voice was low and sad, and so full of pain that the sound reached into her very soul. She looked at him pleadingly, she didn't understand how he could say that. They had been almost happy.....

"But before the prom, we were so close, things were almost like they used to be. I felt so close to you, as we didn't have any secrets. I thought we were going to make a go of things, then you just decided to leave? I don't buy that it was the mayor that made you change your mind, he was the bad guy, he was trying to make us weak. I want to know the real reason to why you left me. I know you Angel, it must have been something big to make you leave your own wife." The last word was whispered, she was just barely holding on to her self control.

He looked at her and in that moment something snapped. He was fed up with the crap the world thought it could throw at them, well someone was about to pay and he'd be damned, (he already had been as a matter of fact,... ) again if it was going to be him. It was time for the truth, they had to face it, both of them.

"Your mother came to see me, she thought I should do the right thing and leave you. She said you weren't strong enough to do it yourself. I'm sorry Buffy, but she...... What she said made sense at the time. You needed a normal life........"

Buffy shook her head, this wasn't happening. Never in all her life had she felt so betrayed, and by someone she had trusted, someone she had thought loved her.

"I can't believe she did that, how could she? Angel, why did you listen to her... I'll never have a normal life, a slayer is always a slayer, that means no playing happy families."

"I know, but at the time I thought she had a point. When she came to see me, I realized how close we were becoming again. I was going to tell you about the rings on the night of the prom, but.... Well after your mother came to see me I couldn't." He looked at her closely, her mouth was tight and her eyes were showing the confusion she was feeling inside.

"But I love you Angel. Isn't that enough, shouldn't it be enough?"

"In an ideal world, love is always enough, but we don't live in an ideal world, we live in the darkness, reaching for the light but never quite catching it. Some call it fate, however you look at it, it governs us all. We can only go on, wait for tomorrow and keep on reaching..."

"But we'll never catch it will we? It'll always be just out of reach.... Waved in front of us like a carrot. I'm sick of it Angel, I'm sick of waking up every morning aching for your touch, calling out your name..... I'm tired of waking up in the middle of the night and missing you, knowing that I can't call out to you to make the pain go away. I need you Angel, you're meant to be there for me, to help me, protect me. Isn't marriage for better and for worse? Well it couldn't get much worse than in our lives, but we have good times too......" She looked at him, begging him to listen to what she was saying.

"Till death do us part Angel, and even then that hasn't worked. Doesn't that make you realize that we're meant to be together? It's right Angel, we're connected, I'm not going to leave you again. I want to make this work."

"I want to make it work, too, Buffy, but ..."

"But what? There shouldn't be a 'but' in there," Buffy cried.

"Buffy, normal marriages don't work out half the time. We have an even lesser chance of making it work ... we're supposed to be archenemies, I live in darkness, you live in-"

"I live in darkness, too," Buffy snapped. "And you're *wrong*. Damn it, Angel, you're wrong! Do you want to know *why* you're wrong? Huh? Do you? Because in those marriages, the ones that don't work, it's because the *people don't love each other*. They got married when they were too young to know what they wanted, or for money, or just because they were lonely, or maybe they *were* in love, but it wasn't eternal, and-"

"You're young," Angel whispered.

"Oh no. Oh no you don't." Buffy shook her head. "Don't you pull this on me. DON'T PULL THIS ON ME! I may be young, but I know what I want. I've had to live without you before and damn it, I won't do it again!"

"What if that's the only way?" Angel asked softly. "I would need to know you won't get hurt again."

//Won't get hurt again.//

The words echoed through her mind. When had he said that to her before? She brushed it out of her mind quickly and continued to speak as though it had never crossed her mind. She was too upset at the moment to care, anyway.

"There's *always* another option."

Angel shook his head. "Not always."

"Well I'm *making* another option, then!" Buffy yelled. "I'm *making* it! And you *always* have an option, you *always* have a choice. You chose to leave me, Angel, you chose to walk out on your wife!"

Angel was regarding her sadly. "B-"

"No! Let me finish! Let me finish," she repeated, choking on a sob. "You chose to walk out on me. And now I'm choosing not to let you. You can't just walk away. You can't just give up. It's not an option anymore, Angel. Cross it off your list."

"Let's just say we did get back together," Angel began slowly. "There's so much we'd have to think about. I can't just wedge myself back into your life in Sunnydale, and-"

"Would you stop saying that?!"

"What?" Angel asked, bewildered. "Stop saying what?"

"That you can't 'wedge' yourself back into my life. You told me that already!"

"No, I didn't," Angel protested.

"Yes, you did! That is EXACTLY what you said. You even used that exact word, 'wedge'!"

"Buffy, I may have been thinking it, but I never said it. You must be mixing things up."

"Great. Now I'm going crazy on top of everything else. Wonderful."

"Buffy, if I- bring, if I bring myself back into your life, what's going to happen? You'll stop focusing on the rest of your life, and school, and you'll start focusing on-"

"On what, Angel? My husband? My lover? What? I'm not seeing the bad in this yet."

"Buffy, you need to have a normal life. Even if you don't realize it, you're going to want it."

"Angel?"

"Yes?"

"SHUT UP!"

Angel looked taken aback. "W-What?"

"I said SHUT UP. Give up the fucking noble act, give up the psychic act. You obviously don't know what I want OR need."

"I-"

Buffy shook her head, a tear trickling down her cheek. "Why?"

Angel looked at her questioningly, and she continued.

"Why would you do that? Why would you give me a ring and make me your *wife* if you didn't want to stick to the vows. Yeah, I know, we never actually *said* the legalizing words, but you gave me a ring, you told me you loved me, and then you made love to me, and that should have been enough, Angel. Why? Why wasn't it?"

"That's not it, Buffy. We were naive then. That was before the curse, and before Acathla. I thought our love would be enough."

"You said you were going to tell me around the prom. That was after the curse. And after the ring had brought you back from Hell, which should have said something right there. You said my mother influenced you. Are you really that easily influenced?" Angel raised his eyes to look at her, answering her question.

"Ok, maybe you are. But men aren't supposed to like their mother-in-laws, and even if they do, it doesn't matter! Were you in love with my mother, or were you in love with me?" she asked pleadingly.

"You," Angel answered without hesitation. "Always you."

"Then how come you let it all slip away?"

"I didn't want to, Buffy. But we were getting so close. One wrong move and you'd be staking my demon half."

"One *good* move," Buffy muttered under her breath. "Did you say something?"

Buffy shook her head. "No. I didn't. But I'm saying something now. And you want to know what I'm saying? I'm not leaving until I've convinced you that we belong together. In other words, I'm not leaving, period." Buffy sniffled and took a deep breath. "Angel, you're my best friend, my lover, and apparently my husband, too. If I let go, I lose all three. I'm not willing, and I can't see how you are either.

" 'For better or for worse'," Buffy quoted softly. "I think we're going through a pretty serious 'worse' time. But it's not the first. I wish I could say it would be the last, but I don't know. Either way, I'm not giving up till I'm all cried out. And I've got a whole hell of a lot more tears in me. Now, Angel. What are we going to do?"

Angel looked at her with pleading eyes, begging her to give up. but he saw her soul, she was going to fight this to the end. No matter how many reasons he would give her for them to stay apart, it would be useless. His mind wandered back to that day they had shared, that day that she still didn't remember. He almost smiled at the memory of the table breaking under them. lying in bed talking and playing, it had been one of the best days of his life, next to the day he first saw her. He sighed and looked at her again, savoring the beauty of her face, her eyes, her lips. The lips he had kissed so passionately and hungrily just a few short weeks ago. If he did as she asked and they tried to make a go of a life together, could they really make it work, without getting carried away by their emotions?

"Buffy, if I came back to Sunnydale, or if we..."

Just then a man came into the office. Doyle.

"Angel, man, we have a problem, Kate just phoned, seems there have been some suspicious murders, little children, in the area, she asked if we'd help out, their normal leads aren't getting them anywhere..... oh, hi Buffy, hadn't realized you were here. Could you speak to her, she's on the phone and making an awful racket. you know how Cordy can't stand the woman, she's after you man, I'd let her know where things stand if I were you."

"Who's Kate?" Buffy asked almost angrily, barely concealing her jealousy. "have you told her you're married, I think that might get her off your back."

"Buffy, it's ok, she's just a police officer we know, she's helped us with a few cases. You have nothing to worry about."

Buffy sighed and shook her head, wow the green monster came out so easily in her.

"Sorry, I over-reacted. I'll go see Cordy for a minute and chat while you speak to 'Kate'." Buffy got up and left the apartment, going upstairs to the office.

Cordelia was sitting at her desk sifting through some papers for the agency.

"Buffy! I hadn't realized you were here, it's great to see you! How is everyone in Sunnyhell?"

"Hey Cordy, yeah, everyone's great. What about you, how's your life been?"

"It's been good, In fact I have a new boyfriend, or demon friend if you want to look at it another way, but only on his fathers side. Hey you were up here a couple of weeks ago, why a return visit so soon, anything wrong?"

"No, I just remembered something and had to come talk to Angel."

"You remembered? Wow, you musta been pissed when you did, you didn't stake him did you? I mean he only wanted to protect you and you know how much he loves you and he didn't have any choice or he would have never gone back to the oracles..."

"Cordy, calm down, what are you talking about?" Buffy looked at Cordelia in confusion, she had no idea what the other girl was talking about.

Cordy looked at her with a strange expression and her face drained white. Damn she'd opened her mouth again and let her tongue run away with her.

"Nothing, you know me, I never get things right, crossed wires and...."

"Cordy." Buffy said slowly as she realized the other girl was keeping something from her. "Tell me what you were talking about... now"

"I can't, I promised not to tell. Uh.. do you want some chocolate? We have peanut butter if you want to dip it," she asked trying to change the subject.

Peanut butter.. Chocolate. a memory came to her, Angel laughing and smiling at her. "Why didn't you ever tell me about Peanut butter and chocolate?" her knees began to shake and she collapsed into a chair. Where had that memory came from? It couldn't be real..... could it?

Buffy shook her head, trying to clear her mind. It didn't work.

"Cordelia, what are you talking about?" Buffy repeated. Cordelia shrugged helplessly.

"Nothing! I was just ... making up stuff again, you know ..."

Chocolate. Peanut butter.

//I love you.//

A warm, cozy bed. Hot, passionate kisses. Skin touching skin. Ecstasy.

//I love you.//

Forever.

"Buffy? Are you okay?" Cordelia asked fearfully.

"You're crying."

"Tell me. Now," Buffy snapped, advancing on Cordelia.

"N-N-No, Buffy, I can't, I can't!"

//I'll never forget. I'll never forget. I'll never forget.//

"Tell me," Buffy hissed, backing Cordelia into a wall.

//It's not enough time ...//

"I can't-" Cordelia stopped short when she realized Buffy wasn't even paying attention to her. She was curled up on the couch, knees pulled up to her chest, her forehead against her knees, sobbing.

"I just got off the phone with Kate, she's going to be over in a-" Angel stopped short when he saw his Slayer in tears on the couch.

"What happened?!" He hurried to kneel by her side, trying to pull her out of the ball she had crumpled herself into, while looking pleadingly at Cordelia for an explanation.

"She ... she ..." Suddenly Buffy lifted her head to look him straight in the eye.

"I felt your heart beat." In that instant, Angel felt his world shatter. He found that he couldn't find his voice to form any words, and he looked desperately at Cordelia for help. For reassurance that that wasn't what she was talking about.

"I'm sorry," she whispered before exiting the room. Angel turned back to Buffy, who was still crying, although silently now.

"You ... I ..."

"Cookie dough fudge mint chip," she told him softly. "Chocolate. And peanut butter. And forever."

"You weren't ... I don't ..."

"I remember, Angel," she sobbed. "I remember it all. You made love to me. All day. Your hands were all over me ... all over me ... and your mouth ... all over..."

She reached forward and gently placed her hand over where is still heart was.

"Your heart ... it was beating ... I could feel it ... thump-thump ... thump-thump ... I fell asleep to your heart beat, Angel, with your arms around me ... with nothing between us ... I never felt so safe as I did that night."

"They told me you'd forget," Angel whispered.

"I know," Buffy told him gently. "I did."

"Then how ... did Cordelia ..." Buffy shook her head.

"Little things ... they reminded me ... the table... the peanut butter and chocolate ... everything came back to me ... why, Angel? Why did you take it all away?"

"For the world," Angel answered softly. "I couldn't help anyone in the state I was in ...and you couldn't help anyone if you were too busy worrying about me."

Buffy shook her head, the tears falling faster.

"The world doesn't deserve what we give them," she choked out. "What did I ever do to the world?"

"You didn't do anything ... I did ... which is why I have to pay."

"If you pay, I pay," Buffy sobbed. "And you don't deserve to pay either. It was a demon. It wasn't you. Oh, God, it wasn't you!"

"But it *was* me who allowed Darla to turn me."

"You didn't know. You didn't know she was a vampire!"

"But if I was given the chance ... I'd do it all over again," Angel admitted in a whisper. "It would all be worth it for the time I spent with you. And for that, I have to pay."

Buffy couldn't do anything but cry.

She clutched tightly to Angel's chest as he wrapped his arms around her to try and comfort her.

Angel felt like his soul was being torn apart, he hated to see her like this. Why had life been so unkind to her? For fate to cruelly wave hope in front of them only for it to be snatched away again, and why hadn't their promise been kept, she wasn't supposed to remember, remembering would only weaken her more, and him. He held her tighter to him and whispered soft words of comfort to her, trying to tell her it would all be okay, when they both knew it could never be that.

"She remembered." The female oracle imparted.

"Impossible" he replied.

"But she has, that is the power of love. She found the truth, as she promised him she would. Now, confronting it may destroy her. That can not be allowed to happen."

"What do you suggest we do about it."

"Put things right. Give him back his humanity."

"But that will solve nothing. Perhaps we should make her forget again."

"Why? She would only remember again. Next time she may do something dangerous, she may not have him to comfort her or explain."

"Then what do we do." he asked again, a tinge of impatience in his voice, he knew she was playing riddles with him.

"As I said before, restore his humanity, but let him retain some of his vampiric traits. His strength and healing abilities. That way, the slayer is happy and he can protect her. Besides, they are stronger together. Apart they are only shadows of themselves, shells going from night to night, existing, not living. This way, the battle may be won .......... Good has a better chance of triumphing."

"Very well, make it so."

She sobbed even harder as he said this, then pulled back a little. She looked up at him, her eyes red rimmed from crying.

"No, it'll never be ok, not ever again. I knew what we could have had Angel and it hurts, it hurts so much. I feel like going to die from the pain. It's eating away at me from inside, I might go on for a while, but I can't survive with it, not for long. Why did it have to be so perfect? Every dream I ever had of the future, had you in it. And for one day, one day Angel, I had it all. What am I being punished for Angel? What did I do wrong? Why is my life such a mess? Why can't we be together?"

"I don't know why, maybe we never will. But you have to go on Buffy. I feel the pain too, don't you think it hurt me to see you walk away that day, not remembering what we shared? I wanted to call you back, make you remember, but I couldn't. In over two hundred years of existing, everything that happened, led me to you. I never knew what it was like to love someone. I never thought I'd find love, but I did. After two century's I saw a girl with a red lolly pop skip down her high school steps and she smiled in the sunlight. From that moment I knew what all those things that had happened in the past had happened for a reason, because eventually, I found you. I wouldn't give it up, no matter how much pain I feel, holding you in my arms, knowing I have to send you away, I wouldn't change a thing. My life was empty until you, I didn't become, until I met you. I have to believe that some time, we'll get our chance, we'll make it, together."

"Do you really believe that?" she asked him as she rested her head against his chest once more.

"Yes," he replied with a conviction he didn't know he had.

// thump thump thump // Her eyes opened wide.

"I must be dreaming"

"What?" he asked her as he caught her whispered thought.

"I thought I....." thump thump thump "......I heard you heart beat. Angel, your heart's beating!"

Suddenly he gasped for a breath, as his lungs filled with air.

"Angel, what's going on.....oh my god, your alive!" Buffy's face lit with excitement and joy.

"I don't understand....."

"I don't think your meant to." Doyle said from the door.

Angel looked at him quizzically.

"What do you mean?"

"I got a message from the oracles, they said tell him to "live". This time it can't be reversed and you're still part vampire."

"Is his soul safe, can it be taken away?" Buffy asked the Irish demon, trying not to let the hope enter her voice.

"Nah, you two can get as pelvic as you want, his soul ain't going anywhere." With that he left the office and closed the door behind him. Cordelia smiled at him as she gave him a kiss.

"So, I guess we won't see them for a while then?"

"As we speak, Angel is probably about to be in need of a new desk." Doyle grinned as he pored himself a drink.

"Why would Angel need a new desk?" Kate asked as she entered the office. Cordelia's smile widened as her eyes took on a delighted gleam.

"Because as we speak he and his wife are reacquainting themselves on top his desk." she said with a conspirital smile at the other woman.

"Angel has a wife?" Kate said in shock.

"Didn't you know?" she asked innocently. "They've been married for about two years, Buffy and I went to school together."

"Buffy?"

"Yeah, you know, his wife?" Kate turned a pasted shade of green and turned on her heal and left the office.

"Delia, was that really necessarily?" Doyle asked her winking.

"Please Doyle, as if Angel would ever be caught dead with that walking fashion reject, did you see those clothes, can we say stuck in the 80's? Besides, she talked funny, if I didn't know better, I'd have thought she was a demon. Maybe I can get Buffy to slay her..." she trailed off as she heard a crash from Angel's office.

"Why don't you take me out to lunch Doyle, this lovely little bistro just opened down the street." with that they left the couple alone.

"I guess I'm going to have to replace that desk."

"There was a cockroach walking across the papers, I had to kill it. I don't like bugs." Buffy said as she stuck out her bottom lip.

"You couldn't just have squashed it with a book or something." he asked her laughing a little as he looked at the safe now resting amid the debris of his once desk.

"The safe just happened to be was closest... besides, you needed a new one anyway." she said trying to reason her way out of it.

Angel grinned at her, then pulled her to him, capturing her mouth in a kiss. She sighed as he held her and wound her arms around his neck. Softly, she pulled back as he stared into her eyes.

"I love you Mrs Kallahan"

"I love you Mr Kallahan" she replied.

"Why don't we go down stairs and see if you have any cookie dough fudge mint chocolate chip left?" she asked him with a smile.

"Buffy, are you sure this is the best idea?" Willow asked, watching Buffy scoop up a bunch of clothes and toss them in the box.

"Yeah," Buffy nodded. "'Sides, the apartment isn't like *far* ... we figured, that way, I'll still be close to school, and Angel can commute to LA like every other day."

"Well, you have to give me the apartment address so I can come interupt you at the worst times. N-Not that I'd do that! At least, not on purpose, but the address would be nice anyway because-"

"Willow, you're babbling," Buffy began. "And like I told you, we're going to stay at Angel's old apartment. Freebie. He owns the place."

"The whole building?!"

"The whole building," Buffy confirmed.

"Well, what about all your stuff? It won't all fit."

"The mansion." Buffy shrugged nonchalantly.

"Omigod he owns that too? You'll have an apartment AND a mansion?!" Willow squealed, jumping up and down.

A wide grin spread across Buffy's face. "That's right!" She giggled, grabbing Willow's arms and jumping with her for a minute, until there was a knock on the slightly ajar door.

Buffy turned around. "Come on in!"

The door swung open slowly and Riley stepped in. "Am I interrupting ... what are you doing?"

"She's moving!" Willow cried before Buffy had a chance to speak.

Buffy shot Willow a 'hush' look before turning to Riley. "I'm moving out."

"Oh." Riley nodded knowingly, then frowned. "To where?"

"Oh, just into an apartment. It's nearby. I mean, I'll still be going here and all."

"You have money to pay for an apartment?"

"Oh, she's going to put some stuff in the mansion," Willow piped up.

Riley looked from Buffy to Willow. "Are you lying to me?"

Buffy shook her head solemnly. "Nope. I don't have to pay - my husband owns the building."

Riley coughed. "WHAT?"

"My husband owns the building. And the mansion," Buffy repeated calmly.

"Your h-h-husband?"

Buffy nodded. "Yeah, that's what I said." She tossed a few pairs of shoes on top of her clothes.

"Okay, I'm confused."

"Obviously," Willow muttered under her breath, and she and Buffy grinned at each other.

"First you tell me you're getting married, then you say you aren't, and now you're *already* married?"

"Ok, see ... when I was telling you about Spike ... I was ... um, joking. I was joking. But I really *am* married to Angel."

"You're joking again, right?" Riley asked hopefully.

Buffy shook her head, displaying the ring Angel had returned to her. "See?"

"And ... *how* long have you been married for?" Riley questioned.

Buffy's eyes twinkled. "Since my seventeenth birthday."

Riley's mouth dropped open. "*Since you were a junior in high school*?!"

Buffy jutted out her lower lip. "You make it sound like its a BAD thing!"

"It IS a bad thing! A very bad thing!" He shook his head. "And I thought people were strange in Iowa."

"I'm sure they are," Buffy chirped. "Angel!" she cried as he entered the room, flinging herself into his arms.

He kissed her forehead and wrapped one arm possessively around her waist. "Hey, Sweetheart. Almost set to go?"

"I'm ready," Buffy agreed, watching Willow tape shut the last box. She smiled up at him. "Thanks."

Riley cleared his throat.

"Oh!" Buffy suddenly cried. "Angel, this is my friend, Riley. Riley, this is Angel. My husband," she added, entwining their hands.

"Nice to meet you," Angel said.

"Likewise," Riley gritted out. He turned to Buffy. "I guess I'll see you in psych class sometime."

"Okay!" Buffy responded cheerfully, watching him leave. Then she turned to Angel. "Ready?"

"Whenever you are," he responded with a kiss.

"Good. Let's go, then!" Buffy grabbed a box, as did Angel, and Willow, and they began carrying Buffy's belongings out to Angel's car.

"It's perfect," Angel agreed.

"I kind of missed this place," Buffy admitted, looking around the apartment. "But I missed you more."

"The feeling's mutual," Angel murmured, rolling over so she was pinned under him. "Wanna see how much?"

Buffy grinned. "Ohhh yeah."

END.