"Why did you do this to me?" Angel's face had a mixture of love and hate running through it. It cut Buffy to the quick to see his face like that.

"Don't you remember?" Her voice trembled.

"What I remember is making love to you, Buffy. What I remember is you kissing me and telling me to close my eyes and then you banished me into hell with the tip of that sword. I remember that like it was yesterday..even thought it feels like forever." He glared through her.

"Angel...on the night that we..that night that we were together..you lost your soul and Angelus came back." Buffy hated herself for being the one to tell him. "Something about the curse..one moment of true happiness made it break."

"I don't believe you!" Angel said. "I would remember that!"

Whistler walked into the doorway and glanced at the two of them. He shook his head and said, "I've seen a lot of things in my life. Things that would make you sick..but this beats all. Angel, she's telling you the truth. You became Angelus and were ten times worse than I remember. As Angelus, you remembered how to open Acathla and set about doing it. I'm the one who told her she had to end it that way. Now kiss and make up because I'm hungry!"

Angel was stunned as Whistler left. He glanced at Buffy but she was looking at the floor. "Did I hurt you?"

How do I tell him what he did? Buffy cried out in her mind. "No..YOU didn't. Angelus did. But you have the ability to hurt me even worse right now."

Angel looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"You're gonna leave me." She said quietly, avoiding his hard gaze. "You want to leave me because of what I did."

Angel looked at her. He took in her tattered clothes and the dried blood all over her face and hands. He realized that he had been in hell but Buffy had gone through hell to get him out. His heart broke as he heard the first sob shake through her frail looking body. His heart broke again as he saw the tears that coursed across the gashes on her cheeks. He closed his eyes and listened to her crying. He knew he could comfort her. He knew he should. He had to. He moved toward her and pulled her into him. "Buffy..don't. You know I can't stand to see you cry."

She clung to him. She felt so at home in his arms that she could never fathom being anywhere else. She couldn't let go and she held on as if he was her lifeline. In a way, he was. She could feel him starting to let her in. "Angel, all this time..I never stopped loving you. No matter how bad it was. I never gave up hope. I never staked you when I had the chance. When I thought I had killed you..I died too."

He smoothed her hair back so he could brush his lips across her forehead. He could feel her heart pounding against his chest. She was so scared that he was going to leave her. "Buffy, please...it's ok. I....we....we're going to be just fine." He pulled her even closer to him..as if that were possible.

"Don't leave me, Angel..." Buffy cried against his bare chest. "Please. Don't leave me again."

He tilted her head up and gazed into her eyes. "I never left you. It wasn't me."

"But it *was* me who stabbed you. I have no excuse." She started to pull away from him.

"You did the right thing." He grabbed her shoulders and made her look at him. "I forgive you. Forgive yourself!"

"Can we.." She struggled with the words. Wanting to know the answer but fearing the answer. "Will we ever be what we were? Will we ever be happy after this?"

"As long as I have you...I'm happy." He hugged her to him again. "I need to know what I did, Buffy."

Buffy swallowed hard and fought back the fresh tears that were simmering below the surface. How could she tell him that he had killed Jenny Calendar and almost killed Willow and Xander? "Angel, I'm just so tired. I can't relive it right now."

"Okay." He trailed his fingers across the blood on her face. "Are you okay?"

"I am now." She leaned her cheek into his hand and pressed her own hand over his. She closed her eyes. "I never thought I'd see you again."

"I saw you every second." Angel kissed her forehead again. "You were always with me in there." He pointed towards Acathla. "I don't remember anything from the night we were together on. Until that day you stabbed me."

"Memories are overrated. I looked pretty bad all during that time." She grinned a little.

"I find that hard to believe." he tilted her face up and kissed her nose. "Even now, you are the most beautiful thing I have ever laid eyes on."

He looked tired and so confused. He looked helpless too which was something he NEVER looked. Buffy put her hand on his face, wondering what he had been through in there. "Are YOU okay?"

"I'm going to be." He lowered his lips to hers and brushed them softly. "I love you, Buffy."

"I love you too." she whispered.

Buffy got out of Giles's car and walked up the steps of her front porch. She waved at him and went inside. Her mother had baked cookies. She smiled a little as she reached for one. She had showered at Willow's and borrowed some clothes. She sat at the bar and nibbled at the cookie. She thought about the stuff Giles had told her after they had taken Angel home and Whistler promised to look after him. Apparently, Angelus could never comeback. He had been bound to hell. He was gone forever. Willow had wondered aloud how Angel was still immortal and Giles explained that although the demon was trapped in hell..it still inhabited Angel to an extent but had no control anymore. He had gone into some detail about binding rituals and compared it to Angel's trapped soul in the Orb of Thessulah. He had said, "Technically, Angelus was always inside of Angel. Always fighting to get to the surface. The gypsy curse confined Angelus and was stronger than the demon urge. Now the demon is what is trapped. In that vortex. The actual demon is gone but Angel is still the vessel. Angelus isn't dead. The vortex serves as the orb so to speak and as long as Angelus is still alive and trapped. Angel will always be immortal."

Cordelia had asked the next question. "So..they can have sex again and not make Angelus come out?"

Buffy had blushed almost as much as Giles. He explained, "Jenny apparently revised the curse. The reason Angel can't remember his stay as Angelus this time is because Jenny didn't curse him to suffer. She left out the part about the memories of his deeds and she also left out the happiness clause. But Angelus is gone. So that answer is yes..they'd be able to..resume their relations."

Joyce came in and put her arms around Buffy from behind. "Did you have a good time?"

"Yeah." Buffy leaned her head back and Joyce gasped. "Buffy, your face."

"Mom...you wouldn't believe me if I told you." Buffy chuckled a little.

"Vampire Slaying?" Joyce asked.

"No slaying tonight." Buffy knew her mother thought she was crazy. "Just the usual world savage, Mom. I'm home."

The phone rang a while later and Buffy rolled over in bed to get it. "Hello?"

"Slayer!" said Spike. "You owe me a favor."

"Do I?" Buffy asked.

"I was almost toasted saving your arse and you have your boy toy back...must I relive the horror?" He sounded irritable.

"What do you want?" Buffy sighed and glanced at the clock. It was after four am.

"I've got Dru." Spike cleared his throat. "I am staying with her and she is ...dazed and confused like the good old days. I need you to get us some of those blood bags like you had in the hospital."

"Spike," Buffy said in a playful tone. "Are you moving from the buffet to sack lunches?"

"Shut up your blowhole and tell me if you can get it." he yelled.

"I can get it." She yawned. "But not tonight. I'm tired."

"I'll call you tomorrow then." Spike slammed the phone down. He glanced at Dru who was slumped in the car all tied up. He looked at the body he had just fed off of. He wanted to see that Slayer again. Bloodbags were as good an excuse as any.