Part 5

Buffy found herself attacked by Dawn just as she got to the door. "Isn't it so cool?" Dawn said bouncing around.

"What are you talking about?" Buffy asked confused. She didn't know what Dawn was babbling about, but she also didn't care at the moment all she wanted was to get the first meeting over.

Dawn stopped bouncing and looked at her, "You don't know?"

"Know what?"

"Boy… are you in for a major surprise!" Dawn said calmly walking off.

Buffy shook her head and walked into the living room… well she tried to walk into the living room, but Xander and Willow blocked the door. "Guys… wanna move?" she said pushing them, all the time wondering why they were acting weird. She managed to push them out of the way and stopped in shock as soon as she saw him. It wasn't just the shock of seeing him instead of feeling him; there was something different about him.

"You're alive?" she managed a few seconds later.

"Yeah," was all Angel said as he braced himself for the fireworks.

"Congratulations," she told him as she moved and sat down next to her father. "So what are we going to do about the situation?" she asked the room as though it was an ordinary Scooby meeting.

Angel was confused… very confused, she hadn't even slapped him or called him a pig or accused him of controlling her life. Why hadn't she? Why was she treating him like nothing had ever happened between them? He'd expected some reaction; it's just not an everyday occurrence that your ex-boyfriend who was a vampire showed up human. Besides Dawn had assured him that Buffy still felt something for him… had she been mistaken?

He was driven from his thoughts when Cordy kicked him in the shin, "What did you do that for?"

"Why don't you just take the photo from your wallet and stare at that. At least that won't kick your butt" Cordy told him.

Angel dropped his eyes away from Buffy's face. "I don't know what you're talking about?" he said to Cordy.

"Please! You are like a stalker," Cordy replied. "If you want to know what she's really feeling about this whole situation, I'm sure she'll let her true feelings show sooner or later."

"What feelings? She acts like I'm not even here," Angel hissed.

"Hello!" Cordy stated sarcastically, "What did you expect to find ten years after you dumped her?"

"I don't know, but not this. I can't take this indifference, she should hit me or something," Angel replied quietly.

Cordy felt her friend's pain; "Maybe it's up to you to make the first move."

"Maybe she doesn't want me to make one."

"Then it's her loss," Cordy said showing her support.

Angel looked at Buffy once again and saw that she was avoiding looking in his direction. He took that as a hopeful sign, if she felt nothing she could stare through him like he didn't exist and this proved she did, didn't it? Angel wasn't sure, but he knew that after this mess was over he was going to reclaim what he should never have let go of in the first place.

Out of the corner of her eye, Buffy could see Cordy and Angel discussing something, not that she cared what it was. Okay, she did care and a small part of her wished that it were her he was talking to, but she wasn't going to let some left over feelings from high school cost her dad his life.

She turned to Willow and said, "What do you think they're saying?"

Willow gave Buffy a strange look, "Probably the same thing we are. How to save your dad from Wolfram and Hart."

"Right. Of course they are."

"Buffy, are you okay? You're acting really strange and you didn't kick his butt over the humanity thing" Willow asked concerned.

"I'm fine. I didn't kick his butt because it's none of my business," Buffy answered trying to look at Angel without anyone else seeing her do it.

Willow wasn't so sure; Buffy was behaving like she still had major feelings for Angel. She vowed that as soon as she managed to get Buffy alone she was going to confront her about this, because if Buffy and Angel were distracted by their feelings then someone could die as a result. When this was all over whatever they choose, then she'd be happy for them, just not now.

Buffy was going slowly nuts; the last three hours had been torture. Everyone had been sniping at each other (especially Dawn and Hank), Spike had kept putting his hand on her knee as a sign of ownership, Cordy had been glaring at her for no apparent reason and last but not at all least, and Angel had been continually staring at her. She needed to escape… in fact she needed to patrol; killing something would definitely improve her mood.

She stood up; "I need to… uh… go to the market."

"I'll come," Spike and Angel said at the same time, standing up.

Buffy's eyes widened in panic, "I think I can go to the *market* by myself."

Both of them sat down again and Hank opened his big mouth. "Someone should go with you. A woman isn't safe alone at night, even in a small town," he said.

"I'll go," they both said again.

But Hank had already decided who would go. "I think Angel should go with her..." Hank said, "He's a trained PI."

"So?" Spike whined as Angel stood up.

"All right, I'll go," he said to Hank.

Hank was the only one who didn't notice the pained look on Buffy's face as Angel dragged her out of the door. All he could think about was that Angel seemed a heck of a lot more trustworthy with Buffy than that Spike-guy, despite the past relationship that they might've once had.

They'd been walking around Restfield for ten minutes and she was still ignoring him. "Buffy, we'll have to talk sometime," he told her. When she didn't do or say anything, he continued, "Come on. Say something… even better, hit me!"

"Why?" she said pretending that she didn't know what he was talking about.

He sighed; he should've known that nothing was ever easy for him when it came to her. "Because I didn't tell you where I was…"

"I didn't actually care."

"Or that I had become human?"

"None of my business," she said as she kept walking on.

Angel ran ahead and stood in front of her, "Yes it is."

She looked at him with a non-expressive face, but the fire in her eyes betrayed her true feelings. "If it was my business, you'd have told me somehow" she said pushing past.

He grabbed her arm; "Maybe I thought you'd reject me. I don't think…"

"That's right, you don't think. As Willow and Xander reminded me earlier, you broke me when you left. I became someone that I didn't like and I'm just returning to normal me now. So why should I give you the chance to break me again?" she said walking off.

Angel just stood there helpless. He'd been totally unaware of the effect his leaving had, had on her. Even though it was much too late for regrets, he suddenly wished that he'd done things differently.