Chapter 1. It was nighttime in LA. In a darkened basement, Angel, dressed in black pants and a white top, was punching on a punching bag. It was something he`d been doing a lot in the past 7 weeks. He felt sweat dripping down his face, and realized he had been at it for a while. His fist was aching, as he once again slammed it forcefully into the bag. He didn`t care. He would rather feel that pain, than the pain of loss. His head was filled with memories of the day he spent with Buffy. The warmth and love he felt, as she laid resting on his bare chest. And the way her hair smelled like lavender. He punched the bag harder, hoping the haunting memories would disappear. All the while, the sound of Buffy`s soft voice was ringing in his ears, like an echo that never stopped. "Angel? This is the first time I ever really felt this way." "Just like I`ve always wanted to. Like a normal girl, falling asleep in the arms of her normal boyfriend. It's perfect." Pain shot through his left arm, as he punched the bag with all his might, detaching it from the hatches in the roof. He took a step back, sighing, as the bag slammed into the floor, creating a cloud of dust around it. Cordelia came sprinting down the stairs. "Angel?" she said, looking at the bag laid out on the floor. He met her eyes, then picked up a towel and wiped his face. His arm was throbbing from hitting the bag for so long. Cordelia looked at him with a playful expression. Her hands where folded behind her back and she sort of rocked back and forth, smiling slightly. "Has somebody been spiking their blood?" He gave her a quick, sharp look, which made her smile vanish. then he sat down on the edge of the couch, resting his elbows on his knees and sighing deeply. All he could think about was Buffy. It had been seven weeks since she had been there, but it felt like it was yesterday. "What`s wrong?....is it about Doyle?" Cordelia asked. "No," he quietly told her, keeping his head down, not meeting her eyes. Cordelia moved closer, and sat down next to him. He raised his head slightly, so their eyes could meet. "Then what?" she asked. He looked away from her and stared blankly into the room. He really didn`t want to talk about it. He`d rather be alone, brooding. It was what he was best at. "Is it about Buffy?" Cordelia asked carefully. The mentioning of her name made his heart twinge. "Okay, you don`t want to talk about it." She stood up, and started to walk toward the stairs."It`s not my style to pry." Angel raises his eyebrows and looked up at her. Cordelia quickly turned around, correcting herself. "Actually it`s just my style..." She walked briskly back to the couch, stopping right in front of where Angel sat. He met her eyes. "If something is wrong, you need to talk about...it`s good for the soul," she said, smiling sweetly. He managed to give her a slight smile back, knowing she wasn`t going to drop it. She sat back down next to him. "Buffy was here for a day, you were human, and you two...you know...and you can`t forget it...makes sense, since you have this forbidden love and all that. And when you were human, you got to feel how it was like to be with her, without having to lose your soul, and you miss it." She paused, then blurted "but I thought you were over all that." He smirked. That is so like Cordelia. Jumping from serious to snarky in two seconds. She never really cared that much about other peoples feelings, and always just said whatever popped into her head. But he still felt she had grown, she did seem to care. "I`m here if you feel like talking" she paused and looked at the clock "well actually I have an audition in 15 minutes, but when I get back I`m all yours." At least most of the time, he thought. Cordelia turned and walked up the stairs, leaving Angel alone in the dark. Just the way he liked it. He sighed deeply and leaned back on the couch. Resting his hands in his lap and stared blankly at the wall. _______________________________________ In Sunnydale; Buffy Summers was lying on her bed, resting her hands under her head, staring blankly out into the room. She was in her old bedroom. Last night`s patrolling had really taken a toll on her. Nasty demon. He had actually knocked her out. She was feeling nauseous and tired, and the dorm room was too crowded. Oz had come back. He`d been cured of the whole werewolf thing, so Willow was on cloud nine these days. It wasn`t like Buffy wasn`t happy for her, she was. She couldn`t help wishing Angel could get a similar cure, so they could be together. "Angel," she sighed, turning onto her back, looking up at the ceiling. She hadn`t been able to get him off her mind; not since she had been to see him. She had only been there for about 5 minutes, but no one could throw her like he could. It had been 7 weeks, she had to get him off her mind. They could never be together. Her eyes starts to wander around the room, and then fell on the window. The same window she had been kissing Angel in, not that long ago. She had been grounded, because of yet another stupid demon, who had forced her to leave the house when she wasn`t supposed to. But that time it hadn`t mattered, because Angel had come by. He had stood on the roof outside the window. It wasn`t like they were breaking any rules, because she was still inside the room. They had stood there kissing, for such a long time. And it had felt so good. His kiss always felt good...great...fantastic in fact. There was something magical about it. When they kissed, the whole world just disappeared, and it was only them. God, how she missed that feeling. She sighed, "great, so much for getting my mind off him." She might as well give up, because every time she tried not to think about him, he is all she could think about. It was the dreams, it had to be. She had such strange dreams these days, always about Angel. And in the dreams he was human. It`s not like she hadn`t dreamt about him becoming human before. She couldn`t count how many times she had dreamt about that. But never this vividly. It almost felt like memories. She had to figure out what it meant. She got off the bed, and hurried out the door. _______________________________________ Later that night. Buffy was standing in her bedroom. She walked over to the door, closed it and locked it. She started preparing for a ritual, lighting incense and pouring conjuring powder in a circle in the middle of the room. She put down the jar, which was now empty and walked into the circle and sat down, cross-legged in the center. She placed her hands on her knees, closed her eyes and began meditating. Her trance grew deeper, and deeper. Suddenly she was standing on the stairs in Angel`s basement in LA. She blinked her eyes a few times, trying to focus. Everything around her appeared grainy, sepia-toned. Her head turned toward the kitchen, as she heard Angel`s voice. She walked down the steps and searched for where the voice was coming from, then stopped in her tracks as she saw herself standing next to Angel in the kitchen. His hand was holding hers, their eyes locked. Buffy squinted her eyes, unsure if what she was seeing was real. She continued to watch herself and Angel as they kiss, She continued to watch herself and Angel as they kissed, before he eventually moved her onto the table, succeeding in knocking everything off from it. Suddenly a lot of flashes hit her. All the memories from that day, came flooding back. Her eyes snapped open; she is back in her room in Sunnydale. She took some deep breaths, trying to control all the emotions that were flooding through her. It hadn`t just been dreams. They were memories, memories of a forgotten day. A day she was never meant to remember. Chapter 2 Back to This Woman`s Work