Holding Buffy steady with one arm, Angel used the other to open his apartment door and stepped in, quietly shutting it with his foot. Carefully, he carried her over to the bed on the other side of the room and threw back the covers, laying her down gently before putting them back over her. Two red marks showed on the side of her neck which he fingered lightly, whispering, "I'm sorry."

The winter here's cold and bitter
It's chilled us to the bone
We haven't seen the sun for weeks
Too long, too far from home

I feel just like I'm sinking
And I claw for solid ground
I'm pulled down by the undertow
I never thought I could feel so low
Oh darkness, I feel like letting go

Quickly grabbing a first aid kit from the large wooden armoire standing against one of the apartment walls, something left from his run-in with Spike and Drusilla at the church so many months ago, he dragged a chair next to the bed. He cleaned and treated the cuts, covering them with a rectangular bandage. Her Slayer powers should help the wound heal very quickly and in a day or so it would be nothing at all.

If all of the strength, and all of the courage
Come and lift me from this place
I know I can love you much better than this
Full of grace, full of grace

But he would still remember, and so would she. Soon she would wake up and either hate him or try and understand what happened. He knew he was going to have to explain himself, but he didn't know how. The demon had taken over him completely, she knew that, but the end result was still the same. He had taken many lives in that short amount of time, and somehow he would have to try to make up for them.

"It's better this way," I said
Having seen this place before
Where everything we say and do
Hurts us all the more

It's just that we stay too long
In the same old sickly skin
I'm pulled down by the undertow
I never thought I could feel so low
Oh darkness, I feel like letting go

Sunrise was upon them. Heavy shades covered the windows, but he could still sense it. They were safe for a little while. Spike might come after her, but Buffy would not be harmed. He would make sure of it. Exhaustion slowly overtook him, and he leaned back in his chair, dozing off to sleep.

If all of the strength and all of the courage
Come and lift me from this place
I know I can love you much better than this
Full of grace, full of grace

I know I can love you much better than this
"It's better this way..."

The sound of her movement instantly woke up Angel, still sleeping in the chair beside her, and he watched quietly as she began to wake up. When she did finally open her eyes, she was quite startled to see him looking down at her.

"How did I get here?" she asked quietly, sitting up and looking around the room cautiously.

The last thing she remembered was going into the book cage to check on Angelus and being bitten. How was she to know he had changed back to Angel?

"I brought you here," he told her, careful to keep his distance. She still appeared a little out of it, and he didn't want to take any chances. "How do you feel?"

"I feel a little bit dizzy," Buffy confessed, careful not to make it sound like more than it was. "I'll be fine, though," she added and he nodded. "What do you want and why did you bring me here?"

"What do you remember?"

"I remember going into the book cage to check on you and getting bit on the neck," she said smartly, feeling around on her neck to see if there were any marks. Finding the bandage, she was even more curious as to what had happened.

"Why did you bring me here?" she repeated, sitting cross-legged with her back against the wall.

"I wanted to make sure you were okay," Angel said softly.

She was scared of him. The realization of that was like a knife through his heart. She was scared to death of what he might do to her. What he might have done already.

"Did you-Did you change me?" she managed to croak out, running her hands over her face to make sure everything was normal.

"No. Tomorrow you'll be good as new," he assured her.

"Why? I mean, you had the opportunity. Why didn't you? That's what you've been after since the start. You wanted to hurt me like you did Drusilla. Why didn't you?"

He was acting very strangely. The vampires she had come across before would have already attacked yet he just sat there, watching her. What was so different this time?

"Because I'm not Angelus."