"So! How have you been?" Buffy asked quickly, surprising herself. Her mouth was about as dry as the Sahara desert and her tongue was very well stuck against the roof.

"Morah demon," Angel replied simply.

Buffy rolled her eyes, "Yes, I'm fine. Thanks for asking, nice knowing you care."

"What?"

Buffy groaned inwardly. He was 250 years old and he still didn't have a clue. "Never mind."

"I have some visitors...." Angel trailed off.

"Le'me guess. One is a blonde haired, big blue eyed person with an extremely odd hairdo going by Sailor Moon and the other is a dark haired guy who thinks he's Diagnose Masks..."

"Tuxedo Mask," Angel filled in helpfully.

"Whatever. Have you noticed the whole cartoon aspect of them yet?"

"Well...I actually thought they were demons so..."

"Tried to attack them?" Buffy questioned knowingly.

"You always knew me so well."

"I still do." Buffy added softly.

Angel was quiet on the other end of the line. "How..." He finally started, "How is Riley?"

Buffy gulped. She *so* didn't need to go there.

"Iowa."

"Oh."

"So, what's with the phone call?" Buffy shifted uncomfortably. The less talk she and Angel had about Riley, the better.

"Well, you said that next time that I wanted to apologize, I had to use the phone..." Angel paused, and Buffy could almost see him cringe.

"No, I mean what do I owe the honor of this phone call?" Buffy asked gently. Not that she wasn't glad to hear from him... but she was too glad. And *that* was the problem. To hear Angel's voice after so long, brought back so many memories that Buffy had thought to be buried.

Angel was quiet on the other end of the phone. When he finally spoke, Buffy wasn't sure, but she thought that his voice was a little hoarser than normal. "About those Mohrah demons... do you... need help?"

"Killed it," Buffy answered. "No problemo for this slayer. In fact, it was really strange, I knew exactly how to kill it."

"That makes sense, you've seen one before."

Buffy frowned. "I have?"

"When you were here the first time.... Right before you left, a mohra demon came through the window and I killed it."

Buffy tried to remember. Something was bugging her in the back of her brain. There was a day missing... something she should know, but didn't. But she had no memory of ever seeing this mohra demon before. "Angel, the first time I was in LA, was when I was after Faith."

Angel was quiet on the other end of the line. He even forgot to fake-breathe, which was something Buffy wasn't used to not hearing. "This is worse than I thought," Angel mumbled, and Buffy wasn't sure if he was even aware that he was still talking to her.

"Angel?"

"I'm coming to Sunnydale. Serious things are happening. Someone is messing with time."

"What? I don't understand...."

"I'll be there soon."

Angel hung up. Buffy kept the phone to her ear a little longer, as if hoping to hear something if she held it long enough. But Angel didn't come back. Slowly she replaced the phone on its cradle and turned back to her friends. "Willow, when was the first time I went to see Angel in LA?"

Willow looked at her strangely. "Why?"

Buffy tried to look nonchalant. "I'll explain later."

"In November, right after thanksgiving. You were pissed that he was watching you so you went down to LA. Remember?"

Buffy closed her eyes. Something was missing in her head. She could feel it. She tried in vain to reach at it, figure out what was missing. "No. No, I don't... remember."

 

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