He tried her house, but no one was home. *How could I expect her to be home on a Firday night,* Angel thought to himself. *Because you hoped she would be home so you could talk to her, you fool,* his mind answered him. So he began walking to the Bronze. *I just hope I don't see Buffy,* Angel thought to himself. As he was walking to the Bronze, it suddenly started pouring. *Great Now it's raining and I definitely have to go inside.*

As he got closer to the Bronze, he saw a familiar flash of red hair quickly walking away from the Bronze and down the street. *I really hope that's not her walking around by herself.* Angel ran down the street in hopes to get to her before she got too far. The whole purpose of his trip back to Sunnydale was Willow.

When he got her email about her breakup with the wolf-kid, she had seemed rather shut off about it, and he was worried about her. He wasn't sure if she would talk about it over the phone with him, so he had decided to risk coming to confront her about it in person. He and Willow had become rather close over the summer, she had often been the voice of reason he needed when he went into one of his deep guilt moods. And the shy hacker had changed. She was now her own woman, not leaning on the Slayer for anything anymore. He admired that about her, and valued their friendship greatly.

"Damn." Willow muttered to herself. She was soaked through, and sandals weren't the best form of protection from pouring rain. Suddenly Willow felt a sharp pain in her arm and whirled around to find it source.

"Hello pretty," the grinning vampire snarled.

"Hello ugly," Willow replied, while quickly retrieving her stake from her purse unnoticed.

"What's a pretty little thing like you doing out in the ra..." his sentence cut off just before he became a pile of dust.

"Getting dirty," Willow said with a snort as she put her stake back into her bag. *Maybe I should keep it handy just in case.* Willow continued her walk through the park with the stake clutched in her hand. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a shadow move.

In the shadows, Angel stood after watching the scene between Willow and the vampire. *I can't believe it, she staked him like it was second nature. She's gotten good.* Sensing that Willow noticed his presence, he slowly started to walk out of the shadows so he wouldn't scare her any more.

"Angel," Willow cried and began to run for the vampire with open arms. She leapt into him and hugged him fiercely. A little stunned by the act, it took Angel a moment to react and put his arms around the slight redhead.

"What are you doing here?" She asked as she pulled away from him and started to blush, shocked by her own impulsive act

"I'll explain in a little while, but we should get out of the rain first," he replied quickly. "You look soaked through."

As he made this comment he realized what exactly was soaked through. *Oh Gods, she looks great.* He couldn't help but stare a bit when he took in the sight of her well-shaped legs in the platform sandals. The skirt wasn't very short but it was enough to give a tease of upper thigh when she moved. And her green tank top highlighted her red hair and green eyes perfectly. *This was hiding under those huge sweaters the whole time.*

Willow began to shift nervously under his intense gaze. As if sensing her thoughts, Angel's head snapped up and he grinned at her.

"Let's get inside before you get sick," Angel prompted, beginning to lead the way out of the park.

"Angel?" Willow quietly asked.

"Yes?" came the quick reply.

"I don't mean to pry, but what would you have done if Buffy has seen you?" Willow cautiously asked the question, unsure of what his reaction may be.

"Well, I'm not really sure. It was a tough call deciding whether or not to come out here, but I decided you were worth it," he answered her with a quick grin.

Willow couldn't help the red blush that crept up her cheeks. *I'm worth it! Yay I'm worth it. Whoa..worth what?*

"But Angel?" Angel answered her with a look. "How am I worth it? And worth what? What is so important you came all the way back to see me?" Willow quickly babbled out.

Angel sighed. *I guess we're not gonna make it inside before she attacks me with questions.* "Well, Willow, it's like this. I got your e-mail about your break up with Oz."

Willow couldn't help but snort. Angel looked down at her in surprise. She realized that snort had been outloud. *Oh Goddess, will I ever stop embarrassing myself?* "Angel, I don't think anything in that e-mail was important enough for you to come back here."

Angel thought a minute before answering. He stopped walking and turned her to face him. "Willow, you're important enough to come back for, and when you sounded so indifferent about it, I became concerned," he told her truthfully.

A smile crept across Willow's face. "Oh Angel, I'm not upset. It was completely mutual. I love Oz, and maybe I always will. But I don't love him in that passionate way a woman loves a man. I'm in college now, and I know I'm still the same person, but things change. Why couldn't you have called me instead of risking coming here? I would have told you over the phone."

Angel's face quickly closed off. Willow instantly recognized her folly. "Angel, I'm so happy to see you. I just meant that you didn't have to come. But now that you're here your going to keep me company." Willow's happy grin was infectious, and quickly Angel was smiling along with her.

"So, where to m'lady?" Angel asked with a crooked smile. His reply was a shiver from the now thoroughly soaked redhead. He felt like a fool. Here he was standing in the pouring rain and he hadn't even offered his jacket. *My mum would skin me in a second if she saw this.* Angel slipped off his leather jacket and put it over the Willow's shoulders.

Willow began to protest. "Angel there's no sense in both of us being cold."

"But Willow, you're the only one who can get sick," Angel teased.

"Oh yeah," was his only reply as she was lost in his jacket, which was a good three sizes too big for her. *This is so sweet, his jacket. He's such a gentleman. And his jacket smells so good...no bad stop...this is Angel you're talking about.*

Quickly Angel began to usher her into the street. "My old place is near by. We can go there till this let's up a bit," Angel informed her. All he heard was a muffled ok.

The rest of the walk was made in silence. About a block away from Angel's apartment, the rain and wind started becoming much stronger. Angel grabbed Willow's hand and began to run to his apartment, pulling her behind him. She could barely keep up, but she wanted to get inside so she ran as quickly as she could. When they got to Angel's apartment, he entered some security codes on the pad and opened the door. Pushing her inside, he entered behind her and closed the door.