Buffy smiled, her uninjured foot covered with warm sand, her face turned towards the setting sun. Strong, warm arms held her comfortably from behind, the crutches discarded for the moment. She sighed. “Do you know how perfect this is?”

“I know,” Angel whispered back, obviously happy.

Buffy leaned back into his embrace. “I still can’t believe you did this.”

“Did what?”

“Came back so soon,” she clarified. “I thought you had things you needed to take care of. You surprised me.”

“I like surprising you,” Angel explained.

Buffy turned her head to look at him better. He met her eyes and smiled. “I wanted to talk to you. We have things to work out. And then I realized I really wanted to see you and the telephone just wasn’t going to do.”

“Plus, all of that modern technology,” she teased him.

Angel laughed, and Buffy couldn’t help but join in. She felt deliriously happy. It was an unfamiliar feeling; not unpleasant, just unaccustomed. It was like a dream.

“I dreamt about this once,” Buffy said after they had both stopped laughing.

“Oh?”

Buffy nodded and turned to watch the sunset once again. “It was…” she hesitated, “two years ago. When I had run away after you were…” She swallowed, unable to finish her sentence. Angel understood, though, and gave her a reassuring squeeze. Buffy sighed and continued. “I had this dream. You and me, on the beach, watching the sunset. It was so nice, but it wasn’t real.” Buffy couldn’t help but frown in memory.

Angel turned her head slightly and gave her a light kiss on the forehead. “This is real,” he whispered.

Buffy smiled softly back. “It is,” she agreed. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

“Beautiful,” Angel agreed, looking her in the eyes.

Buffy laughed and hit him lightly on the arm. “I was talking about the sunset, silly!”

Angel smiled easily back, then raised his gaze to the ocean. “Yes,” he agreed easily, “it is beautiful.” He let out a long, contented sigh. “Thank you,” he whispered.

“For what?”

“For giving me this.”

Buffy was confused. “Willow’s the one who cast the spell. I didn’t even know what she was planning.”

Angel shook his head. “I don’t mean that,” he explained, “though she never would have cast the spell if it wasn’t for you.” He paused, trying to gather his thoughts. “This…all of this…would mean so much less without you. You have given me love, a purpose… Thank you for giving me this moment.”

Buffy was speechless in response. There was nothing she could really say to that. Instead, she leaned back and kissed him very softly. “No, Angel,” she whispered back. “Thank you.”

They stood for a while in silence, watching the sun continue to dip below the horizon. Before it was completely gone, Angel surprised Buffy by shifting away from her so that she was standing on her own for a moment.

“What…?” Buffy asked, startled, but Angel was holding her again in an instant.

“I’m not going anywhere,” he said softly. “I just wanted to give you something.”

Buffy leaned back in his arms and looked up to flash him a brilliant smile. “I love presents,” she replied.

Angel chuckled, then grew more serious. Removing one arm from around her waist, he held in front of her a small, black box. Buffy’s breath caught in her throat.

“Angel,” she whispered, taking the box from him tentatively. She was almost afraid to open it. “You didn’t need to…”

“Just open it,” Angel whispered back.

With a shaking hand, Buffy opened the small box. She was not that surprised to see an engagement ring nestled inside, but still she found herself speechless. It wasn’t a very large diamond, but it was cut and set in such a way that it caught even the last bit of light in the sky and seemed to glow. “It’s beautiful,” Buffy whispered.

Angel held her a little tighter for a moment. “We’ve never been exactly a traditional couple,” he began, and Buffy let out a short chuckle. “But I thought, at least in this… I wanted to make it official.”

“Even though I asked you?” Buffy teased.

“Even though you asked me.”

Buffy grinned at him. “Shouldn’t I be giving you a ring then instead?”

Angel laughed out loud at that.

“Put it on me?” Buffy requested.

Taking her hand gently in his own, Angel slid the ring onto her finger. He took her hand and kissed the ring before releasing it and wrapping his arms around her again. Perfectly happy, they stood there in a long, comfortable silence.

There was only a light afterglow of sunlight when Buffy spoke again. “We should go,” Buffy whispered, hesitant to leave Angel’s embrace.

“We should,” Angel agreed, not releasing her.

“I really don’t want to encounter any vampires tonight,” Buffy explained, looking at the sky. She rethought her statement quickly. “Any other…normal, evil vampires.”

Angel laughed. “I knew what you meant,” he said.

Still Angel did not release her. “Angel…” she said a little louder.

Suddenly Angel’s grip on her shifted and Buffy laughed in surprise as he lifted her into his arms. He smiled at her mischievously. “You were saying?”

Buffy couldn’t help but laugh hysterically. “Put me down!” she managed ¯ somewhat half-heartedly ¯ between giggles.

“Once we’re off the beach,” Angel explained seriously.

Buffy wasn’t about to protest that. She nestled closely into his chest, listening to his heart beat within it. She stopped worrying about the possibility of vampires and let herself relax as they got to the edge of the beach. Angel smiled down at her and Buffy knew that they’d never been so happy together before. They’d never really been able to be together before.

“Well, isn’t this a touching sight,” came a sarcastic ¯ and unfortunately familiar ¯ British accented voice.

Angel’s and Buffy’s smiles slipped at they exchanged similar resigned and annoyed looks. Angel put her down carefully, helping her get standing on her crutches again. He didn’t say anything until they were both standing on their own, then turned to face the newcomer reluctantly.

“Spike.”

The bleached blond vampire was leaning against a tree, looking at the two of them in amusement. He exhaled cigarette smoke and smiled. “Look who just came crawling back to the Slayer’s side…and back into her bed, no doubt,” he mocked. He looked Buffy up and down, his gaze lingering on her broken leg. “Nice cast,” he said.

Buffy rolled her eyes at him. “I could still kick your ass,” she taunted him.

Spike just laughed. “I’d just love to see you try. I could use a good laugh.”

“Spike!” Angel said warningly. “If you start anything…”

“Oh, he can’t start anything,” Buffy said in amusement. “Didn’t I tell you? Poor Spikey can’t hurt a fly.”

Spike got mad at that. “Just ruin a vampire’s reputation why don’t you?” he protested. “Besides, I can still hurt demons.” He looked at Angel rather pointedly.

Angel just laughed at that. “Don’t look at me like that,” he said. “Besides, things are…”

“Spike!” a voice called from a ways off.

Buffy grinned at him, in far too good of a mood for anything to upset her. “You have a new lady friend you want to introduce us to?”

Spike just glared at her.

“Spike?” the female voice came again, and the person ¯ vampire ¯ emerged from the nearby trees. “What are you doing? I was waiting for you.”

“Sorry, pet,” he said back calmly, not looking at her. “I got a bit detained.”

The female vampire lost her annoyed look and regarded Buffy and Angel with blatant hunger. “Dinner? For me? You shouldn’t have.”

Angel scowled at her and fished a stake out of his pocket. Buffy wasn’t any more pleased to be considered a meal than he was.

“Oh, these two have spunk,” the vampire said, pleased.

“As much as I’d love to see them dead, this isn’t the best way to go about it,” Spike said reluctantly. At the dark haired vampire’s confused look, he said, “Layla, this would be Buffy. The Slayer.”

Layla looked at Buffy in amusement. “Nice crutches,” she said.

Buffy smirked at her. “You have to be pretty desperate to end up with a vampire that can’t bite.”

The female vampire frowned at that. “Spike is still deliciously evil. And the moment he gets the chip out of his head…”

“You’ve got to be kidding,” Buffy muttered.

Layla looked offended, but Spike ignored Buffy’s remark and regarded the female vampire happily, obviously pleased with her support. “Layla and I are old friends,” he declared.

Angel looked at her oddly. “I don’t remember you,” he said simply.

“You were missing for nearly a century, remember?” Spike pointed out.

There wasn’t much for Buffy or Angel to say to that, but Layla more than made up for it. “100 years?” she asked, looking slightly confused. “You look pretty good for your age.” Both Buffy and Spike glared at her. “What?”

Spike spoke before Buffy could. “He’s my sire, pet,” he muttered.

Angel and Layla looked at each other for a long moment. Buffy felt like she was watching a staring contest. “Interesting,” Layla said after awhile, “considering he has a heartbeat and all. Is this a joke I’m just not getting?”

“Bloody hell!” Spike yelled in response, realizing just what she was talking about.

Angel just smirked at him.

“I swear he didn’t have a heartbeat the last time I tortured him,” Spike defended himself. Then he did a double take and looked at Angel again. “I guess this means I can’t hit you now, either,” he grumbled.

“You’re welcome to try,” Angel said, at the same time that Buffy yelled, “You tortured him?”

“Relax, Slayer,” Spike replied easily. “He’s still in one piece, isn’t he?”

Buffy glared at him. “You’re lucky you can’t bite, Spike, or I…”

“You’d what? On those crutches, it certainly would be amusing to see you try.”

“Spike!”

Layla sighed dramatically. “Now now, children, that’s enough,” she mocked. She looked at Spike with a bored expression. “If we’re not going to feed, and we’re not going to fight, could we leave? I’m hungry.”

Spike smiled at her. “It’s no fun when she can’t fight back,” he agreed. He looked at Buffy and Angel with a grin. “I’ll leave you two to that…mushy stuff I interrupted. Too much time around that and I’ll loose my appetite completely.”

“Wouldn’t want that, would we?” Buffy muttered and Spike smirked at her as he started to leave with his lady vampire.

As the two vampires wandered off into the night, Buffy could clearly hear Layla speak again. “Why are you so friendly with those humans?”

Buffy scoffed at that, even though the vampires were already out of earshot. “I hate that guy,” she muttered.

Angel laughed lightly and laid a comforting hand on her shoulder. “So do I,” he agreed. He frowned after a moment. “You know we’re going to regret just letting them go,” he pointed out.

“I always do,” Buffy agreed. She looked at Angel in concern. “He tortured you?”

“He wanted the Gem of Amarra,” Angel said flatly.

Even though Buffy knew that was well past, and that Angel was obviously alright, she was still struck by guilt and a sympathetic pain. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“Hey,” Angel said, squeezing her shoulder lightly. “It’s alright. I…was pleasantly surprised that you thought to send the gem to me at all…after I left you. What happened wasn’t your fault. It was Spike’s, for being to stubborn to give up.”

“That’s the problem, isn’t it?” Buffy said after a moment.

“Hmm?”

“He doesn’t give up,” Buffy explained. “Sooner or later he’s going to get that chip out of his head, and I’m going to seriously regret not killing him when I had the chance.”

“I thought you didn’t want to deal with vampires tonight?” Angel reminded her.

“You’re right,” Buffy agreed quickly. “Let’s go.”

Angel smiled at her sudden enthusiasm. “Um, where exactly are we going?” he asked hesitantly.

Buffy looked at him oddly, then started to laugh. They obviously hadn’t been thinking about where Angel was going to stay when he visited. “You didn’t plan this visit very well, did you?” she asked amused.

Shaking his head slightly, Angel laughed as well. “No, I guess not. It was more like ‘Sunnydale, now.’”

“Come back to the dorm with me,” Buffy said after a moment.

“What about Willow?”

Buffy made a dismissive gesture. “She’s studying late in the library tonight,” she said. “She made a point of telling me before we left. And tomorrow I’ll ditch class and you and I will discuss…stuff. The future.”

“Buffy…” Angel started to protest.

“Would you rather you come to classes with me?” she pointed out. “Besides, I’ve been good about going to my classes. I can skip once.”

“I wouldn’t mind going to classes with you,” Angel said easily.

Buffy looked at him like he’d grown a second head. “I’m trying to ditch classes, and you actually want to go?”

“I never got to be a part of your life before, at least not when the sun was up,” he explained. “I want to see what you do each day.”

Still Buffy was reluctant. “Well,” she said at last, “at least I only have one class on Wednesdays.” She started to hobble her way down the street. “But,” she said forcefully, “you are going to look at apartments with me after class.”

“Whatever you desire,” Angel agreed.

Buffy smiled. Her week was definitely looking up.

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