by Mace

Buffy strolled home, a bounce in her step. When she got in, she walked quietly down the stairs and into the basement. Dru was sitting at her desk, seemingly waiting for Buffy.

"It worked?" she asked.

Buffy beamed. She ran to Dru and threw her arms around her, laughing.

"H- how did you . . . ?" Buffy asked as she stepped away from her.

"About a month and a half ago, I had a vision. My little sister, Edith, said that Janna wanted to make things right. Though I didn't understand it, she explained that Angel gave a piece of his soul to you. The orb I gave you pulled the two pieces back together," Dru explained.

"You went to Romania to the gypsies?" Buffy asked.

"Yeah. I explained to them rather forcefully that no one, not Edith, not me, and not Janna wanted vengeance for anything. I asked them how I could get Angel back. It only worked because his body went to Hell with his soul. No one can bring anyone else back because generally, most bodies are rotting in the ground or sitting in an urn," Dru said, flashing a brilliant smile.

"Thank you so much, Dru. It's the best birthday present I ever had. Are there any clauses this time?" Buffy asked.

"Not a one."

"Did you find out how you got your soul back?" Buffy asked.

"Yeah. It seemed when they put Angel's soul back, they attempted to restore mine too. The only problem being the spell they used originally was a vengeance spell, and they didn't have any reason to want vengeance over me. When Willow attempted the spell because of friendship or for your love, it finished putting my soul in. As for being sane, I think Edith did that. It was Edith's soul that inhabited Willow," Dru said.

"I owe you, Dru."

Buffy bounded down the stairs the next morning, humming some unintelligible song at the top of her lungs. She bounced into the kitchen, scarfed down her breakfast, and continued to hum.

"Honey, are you okay?" Joyce asked.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, Mom, I'm great. Absolutely great. Why? Something wrong?" she asked, forgetting that she was acting like she had been smoking something.

"No, you're just . . . happy," Joyce said.

"Yeah. It's a good day. I've got a car, my friends, everything's good," Buffy said as she grabbed her purse and *keys* and headed into the garage.

She drove to school and headed to the library.

"Hi, Giles!" she said.

"Hello, um, Buffy," Giles said.

Xander and Cordelia came in behind the happy Slayer.

"Hey G-man . . . What is that smell?" Xander asked.

"It's sulfur!" Cordelia said.

Xander, Giles, and Buffy turned around and looked at her, aghast.

"How. . . ?"

"When the snakes and wasps took over the school. You know with the ghosts. Willow made those stinky spatulas out of sulfur," Cordelia said.

"Oh . . . scapulas!" Giles said. "Quite."

"So why does the library smell like sulfur?" Xander asked.

Buffy giggled to herself.

"I'm not sure. Buffy, you and Dru might want to patrol tonight. Though I have no indication of any sort of prophesying ((THAT'S A REAL WORD)), better safe than sorry. Particularly since the Hellmouth is under the library," Giles said.

"Okay, Giles," Buffy said.

"I understand that you . . . said yes to go hunting . . ." Giles said, perplexed. "Is there any reason why you're so cheery?"

"Yes, there is, but now is not the time to tell you guys why. I'll explain it later. Right now, I have to go to class," Buffy said as she practically skipped to class.

"She *is* the strangest girl," Giles said.

"I bet she's just happy 'cause she got a car for her birthday," Cordy said.

"Any prophesy about the Slayer losing her mind?" Xander asked.

Buffy knocked on Angel's door softly.

"It's me, Buffy," Buffy said.

Angel opened the door and pulled her in.

"Hey," he said.

"Hey yourself. How ya feeling?" Buffy asked.

"I'm good. What are you doing here?"

Buffy smiled playfully. "Great to see you too. It's good to have that kind of welcome. Hey. What are you doing here?"

"Sorry. I've been thinking about you, and it's kinda weird that you showed up," Angel said.

Buffy blushed.

"Actually. I'd left some clothes here, you know, in case it rained or I got messed up. I just wanted to get them outta your way," Buffy said.

"You can leave them here. I mean, they're not in my way," Angel replied.

"Okay, well . . . do you want me to bring you something to eat?" Buffy asked nonchalantly.

"What?" Angel asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It's okay. Drusilla's been living with me since school got out. I go out for her too," Buffy said. "It's not big deal really. I drink a Coke . . . you drink blood."

"Do you have any idea how few Slayers would have said something like that?" Angel asked, an embarrassed smile on his face.

"I don't know. How long's Coke been around?" she asked.

"I don't know. Don't worry about me, Buffy. I'll be fine. So, you gonna tell me what's been going on for the past few months?" Angel asked.

"Well, there's Willow and Oz. Willow sings for the Dingoes. Their album went platinum," Buffy said.

"Willow sings?" Angel asked, chuckling.

So Buffy launched into this detailed account of everything that had been happening since Angel's ascent into the underworld. Angel frowned upon Xander's . . . omission of Willow trying the spell again, but he didn't really blame him. Upon listening to Buffy he realized that Xander was not in love with Buffy anymore, thus, destroying a certain amount of strain. Not that Angel really cared if Xander condoned his relationship, he just disliked his snide sarcasm.

<> This was just too wild to express. He would have suspected something, but Drusilla wouldn't have been able to pretend to be sane or with-soul for eight months.

"So, what about you, Angel? What's Hell like?" Buffy asked.

Angel's blood ran cold . . . well . . . sure, why not? How could he express Hell? The constant tortures. Believing that she didn't care. The pain of thinking that she might blame herself. Being alone. Angel was alone. He never saw one other being. Not a demon, not a lost soul, no one. In Hell, there was no insanity to grip your mind and haze the pain. You dealt with it as clearly as possible.

"It was- bad," Angel said. <>

"I understand," Buffy said. "It musta been awful."

"You- you've changed. You're- different," Angel said. "I can't describe it."

"I've been waiting for a year for you to come back to me. I've been charged for murder, run away, come back, befriended an enemy, dealt with the enemy, hated my friends, lost friends, defeated demons, and killed my only love. That kinda thing wears on ya," Buffy said.

"I'm sorry, Buffy. If I'd had any idea. . . ." Angel trailed off.

"What'd I say about being sorry?" Buffy asked.

"Oh- right. S-"

"Angel!" she said exasperatedly.

Angel smirked.

"So, I've told you everything about what happened after you lost your soul, after you went to Hell, and now that you've gotten back. Anything else?" Buffy asked, smiling.

"Uh- well . . . yeah. We haven't really talked about . . . that night," Angel said.

Angel could hear Buffy's heart rate jump. Her breathing was becoming uneven.

"I- oh- well. I guess not. Okay?" Buffy said unsurely.

"If I had known that's what would have happened, I would have stopped," Angel said.

Buffy thought she would die. Angel could feel her tense beside him. <> She was just about ready to cry when he pulled her into his chest like the previous night.

"It's everything after that that I regret. Nothing during. Nothing I said. Nothing I did," he whispered in her ear.

Angel felt her relax against him. Angel felt himself warm all over. Was this . . . ? Yes! Yes, he was content. This was contentment! Amazing!

"Angel?" Buffy whispered.

"Hmm?" Angel asked, reveling in his happiness.

"So I was good?" Buffy asked timidly.

<>

Angel tightened his arms around her waist.

"I hadn't been alive before then, Buffy. Even while I was human, I didn't know what *alive* felt like. What I said as Angelus was a lie. I- I- Yes. I have no earthly idea how to answer that question. Yes, you were," Angel replied, hoping against hope he'd said the right thing.

Buffy's sigh signaled him that he had, in fact, said the right thing.

"I wasn't the first," Buffy said, not at all accusingly.

"No," he answered truthfully, "vampires don't really practice celibacy. I didn't really all that much *before* but . . . <> You were the best. My only love."

"You're good at answering questions. Thank you, for everything. I don't regret anything, either. I'm just glad I made you happy. . . . You know what I mean," Buffy said.

"Yeah, I think so," Angel said, kissing her shoulder.

"By the way," Buffy said, shivering from his kiss, "you're invited in my house again. That works, doesn't it?"

"Yeah," he said, leaning back and closing his eyes, "works just fine."

As the sun set, Buffy realized she'd not been home since school got out. She regretfully left his arms. She went home, explaining to her mother that she'd been training. She disliked lying to her mother, but she doubted the woman was prepared to deal with Angel at the moment, though nothing happened.

Buffy and Dru went out hunting, dusted some vamps, and went home. Little did they know they were being watched. . . . And it wasn't by a certain guardian Angel.

Do you want to read part seven? Go here.

If you haven't figured it out yet, I really like FEEDBACK. Should you decide to send some, I thank you. If you DON'T . . . my *associates* BUBBA, SNAKE, and EUGENE would like to speak with you. Eugene hasn't really spoken in years, but mail-bombs tend to get the message across.

Go here for more of Mace's stories.

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