The tape stopped rewinding and Buffy pressed play.  After a moment of silence she listened to the lone guitar's sweet melody.  She sat back on the bed, letting the tune fill her.  There was a sweetness to it, a sense of peace.  Sweet Riley had plenty of, but this was something more…something that she couldn't even name.

I can feel the magic floating in the air

Being with you gets me that way

I watch the sunlight dance across your face and I, oh I've

Never been this swept away.

Buffy blinked…that's exactly what she was…swept away.  The words filled her, and images came with them.  No, this was memory…

/She walked the pier alone.  Cordelia said Angel had killed the demon.  So that was it?  She was expected to just go away now?  She felt lost, adrift…alone.

And then the feeling came, that sense that belonged to Angel and Angel alone.  But it made no sense.  She spun, trying to find why she felt him here…and the she saw him.  He stepped out from beneath the shade and fully into the sunlight.  He walked towards her, practically glowing in the sunlight &endash; a place she'd never seen him in except in her dreams.

Not speaking, he caught her in his arms, and they kissed.  It was without fear, and Buffy relaxed into it, letting the passion carry them both away and leaving them both breathless…/

All my thoughts just seem to settle on the breeze

When I'm lying wrapped up in your arms

The world just fades away and the only thing I hear

Is the beating of your heart.

/Buffy was lying in Angel's bed, his arms around her, their legs comfortably tangled.  She rested her head on his chest and smiled.

"It's a good sound," she said softly, her hand pressed over his heart.  "Thump thump.  Thump thump."

Angel smiled back at her &endash; a genuine smile, free of pain and guilt.  "It feels pretty amazing."

"I'm so glad we didn't logic ourselves out of this.  We'll make it work, right?"

Angel held her a little tighter.  "We will," he assured her./

And I can feel you breathe, it's washing over me

Suddenly I'm melting into you

There's nothing left to prove, baby all we need is just to be

Caught up in the touch, the slow and steady rush

And baby isn't that the way love's supposed to be?

I can feel you breathe

Just breathe.

It was all jumbled, out of order, but slowly Buffy was understanding it.  Finally, she was beginning to see…

/They were standing in Angel's kitchen, a new sort of tension between them.  Her head insisted he was right; take it slow, be mature…but her heart screamed otherwise.

Angel stepped closer to her.  "We stay in touch.  Just not…"

"Literally.  Funny."  But it wasn't funny, not at all, and Buffy was in serious danger of becoming lost in his eyes.  She stood and walked by him.  "Okay, I'd better…"

"Right.  Remove the temptation."  Angel's reply was sort of breathless.

Buffy turned to look at him again.  "So, we'll talk soon."  She gently placed her hand on top of his on the counter.

That was all it took for their resolve to crumble.  He clasped her hand in his, and then their lips were meeting in a kiss full of the passion they hadn't dared express in the last year.  It was so intense it made her stumble, and him with her until she felt the fridge against her back.  She jumped up, wrapping her legs around his waist and continuing to kiss him hungrily.  He met her intensity, carrying her a couple of steps more.  Vaguely Buffy heard a crash, and then they were on the kitchen table…/

In a way I know my heart is waking up

As all the walls come tumbling down

Closer than I've ever felt before and I know and you know

There's no need for words right now.

Buffy was barely aware of the words anymore, lost as she was in the memories.  Still, she heard them.  So that's what's been wrong…

/Angel was grinning in delight as he sat in bed next to her.  She wore his robe, but he wore nothing at all…which was more than all right with her.  There was food piled in bed with them.

"The prefect yum," Buffy said, smiling as she surveyed the food.  Angel grinned as he spoon fed her some ice cream.  "Mmm, this is a dream!  You're human for like a minute and already there is cookie-dough-fudge-mint-chip in the fridge."

"God, I love food."

His enthusiasm was infectious.  He was almost childish in his wonder at discovering tastes again.  Buffy scooped some peanut butter onto a piece of chocolate and fed it to him in turn.  "Food is good."  She kissed him briefly and tasted the chocolate in his mouth.

"Why didn't you ever tell me about chocolate and peanut butter?" Angel asked when they pulled apart.

"Well, I figured if your vamp taste buds couldn't really savor it, then it would only hurt you, you know?"  She scooted closer to him.  "By the way, I'm over the whole needing to be mature thing.  That time you just spent in the kitchen?  That was enough time apart."

"Too much, Angel agreed, smiling.  His smile was a rare and precious thing in the past.  Now it seemed he couldn't stop smiling.  Buffy loved it and leaned forward to kiss him again.

It was becoming passionate when Angel broke off suddenly.  The spoonful of ice cream that had been forgotten in his hand had dripped messily onto his chest.  "Okay," Angel said with a touch of amusement.  "Mortal coordination leaving something to be desired."

Buffy smiled mischievously.  "Wrong.  It's just right."  Proving her statement, she liked it off his bare chest.

Angel laughed, amused and delighted.  Buffy could probably count all the times that he had laughed on one hand, and it had never sounded so free.  Then he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a kiss once again…/

And I can feel you breathe, it's washing over me

Suddenly I'm melting into you

There's nothing left to prove, baby all we need is just to be

Caught up in the touch, the slow and steady rush

And baby isn't that the way love's supposed to be?

I can feel you breathe

Just breath.

/They were lying in bed together, tired, content.  Buffy had never felt a peace quite like this.  "I want to stay awake," Buffy explained softly, "so this day can keep happening."

Angel kissed her lightly on the forehead.  "Sleep," he whispered.  "We'll make another one like it tomorrow."

Buffy cuddled into Angel's loose embrace, sleep coming for her quickly.  She marveled at the heat of his body, the beat of his heart….  It lulled her.  "Angel?" she said.  "This is the first time I ever really felt this way."

"What way?"

"Just like I always wanted to," Buffy clarified.  "Like a normal girl, falling asleep in the arms of her normal boyfriend.  It's perfect."

Perfect…/

Caught up in the touch, the slow and steady rush

And baby isn't that the way love's supposed to be?

I can feel you breathe

Just breathe.

Still the images came…tears and joy…  It swept Buffy away….

I can feel the magic floating in the air

Being with you gets me that way.

The last of the notes faded away, and Buffy blinked back to reality.  She was lying on her bed, staring at the ceiling and listening to the empty space on the tape.  She could feel the tears that had run down her cheeks and now dried there.  Her mind sought wildly to grasp the images and emotions that she had seen, experienced.  She tried to make them coherent, to understand these…memories?

She didn't understand, not at all.  Was it just a dream?  Some extremely vivid, waking dream?  Was her mind trying to tell her something about her future…or even her present?  Or were these actually some sort of memory, true but for some reason gone?

One thing was certain; whether memory, dream, or metaphor, those moments were real.  The most real thing she'd felt in a long while.  It was like a veil had suddenly been lifted from before her eyes and she could now see her own life laid bare.  Like the song had said, "In a way I can feel my heart is waking up."

For the first time in months, Buffy Anne Summers was awake.