Title: Instant Rewind

Instant Rewind
Written by The Main Slayer
Pairing: Buffy & Angel
Rating: M
Summary: Angel wakes up in a world that he does not remember. A world where Wolfram & Hart are still around and all his friends are alive. However, Angel soon discovers that he is no longer working with his friends, but against them...as an important member and runner of the Circle of the Blackthorn. And if that wasn't enough, Angel is torn between wanting to find out how he got there and living a life with the one woman in the world he wants more than life.
Disclaimer: I own nothing; Joss and Co. own everything.

Instant Rewind, Prologue

Angel's blood raced. He was running down the streets of Los Angeles trying to get away from a group of demons sent after him by Wolfram & Hart. Turning a corner, Angel realized that he had hit a dead end. He stopped running and scaled the wire fence. He could make it. Turning around he saw the shadows of his pursuers. He didn't have much time. Just enough to make the jump; Angel braced himself to leap when a large demon fell from above and landed on him. Angel fell back and his head connected with the pavement. Angel shook his head and saw stars. The demons surrounded him and his vision blurred. Groaning, Angel tried to get up but a large metal bar slammed into his head. Angel tired to focus, but his vision darkened and soon everything was black…

Angel awoke sweating and breathing hard. He didn't need to breathe but for some reason, he couldn't help it. He rubbed his throbbing head and looked around. The last thing he remembered was falling and being hit in the head. Now as he took in his surroundings, things were definitely different. He was lying in a warm bed with a silk comforter. There was a clock to his right; the time read 2:30 am. He tried to get his bearings but his head was throbbing. His vision started to blur again and he thought that he was getting warmer. Something stirred beside him and he looked to his left. A woman was beside him. She was wearing some sort of nightgown, low cut in the front and back, purple and short. Her long blonde hair flowed over her back and shoulders and she breathed deeply. He touched her shoulder and she stirred. What the hell is going on? The woman turned around and opened her eyes. Buffy? Angel had to be dreaming or else he had hit his head so hard that he was delusional. Buffy sat up slightly, her gown falling off her shoulders exposing her body. Angel turned away from her and closed his eyes.

"Angel, what's wrong?" She reached out to him and touched his shoulder. He was burning up. Concern showed on her face and she tried to turn his face to her. Angel didn't want to look at Buffy's exposed body; he turned to her and lifted her gown up over her shoulder and tried to get up. What is going on, where the hell am I? Buffy took hold of his arm and forced him to stay where he was.

"Stay here. Let me get you something for her head." Buffy got out of bed and Angel finally got a good look at her. The gown she wore was really short. He was surprised it even covered her body. There were several bruises on her body and some bite marks in areas there shouldn't be marks. Angel wasn't sure what was going on but he knew he had to be dreaming. Buffy went into the bathroom and came out with a glass of water and some Advil. She handed Angel the Advil and water.

"Here, take this. It will make your headache go away and the fever to go down." Angel took the Advil and the water. He downed the water and looked at her again. He looked at her face and saw a large bruise on her right eye. Buffy put her hands around Angel's head and pushed him towards the pillow.

"Go to sleep. You will feel better in the morning." Angel looked up at her face and saw nothing but concern. Maybe some sleep would be good. Maybe this will all be over in the morning. Angel closed his eyes and heard her climb in next to him. She put her head on his shoulder and took in a deep breath. Angel closed his eyes and tried to concentrate on sleep. Within minutes Angel was out.

--

Angel awoke the next morning in the same room he was in the night before. The time on the little clock read 10 am and the cell phone next to it was blinking. Angel rolled over and picked it up. Opening the top he looked at the numbers…Hamilton? Angel frowned. That is not right. Angel then remembered Buffy was with him. He looked over to his left and saw that he was alone. Angel rubbed his head and sat up in his bed. The room he was in was so familiar. Pulling the sheets back, Angel noticed that his cloths were missing. Angel stood and walked to the dresser and took out a pair of pants. Why was this all so familiar to him? Where in the hell was he? Angel walked over to the large bay window and opened the curtains. The Los Angeles skyline and large buildings stared back at him. The only difference was that L.A. was not a burning hell fire but the way it was before his war on Wolfram & Hart began. This was the penthouse he used to live in above the Wolfram & Hart building. He knew that he recognized it. Looking around the room he noticed some toys on the floor and clothing scattered. Angel walked around the room noticing that everything was how he remembered it except for several differences. There was a large picture on the dresser he hadn't noticed before. He walked back over to the dresser and picked up the photo. It was a picture of two children: a boy and a girl about six and four. Angel recognized the features in the seven-year-old boy. He looked like Angel in a way. Angel put the photo down and walked to the bathroom. There were only small mirrors attacked to the wall but no large mirrors. Angel looked in the mirror and no reflection stared back at him. Still a vampire. Angel turned to the shower and turned the water on hot. Dropping his pants, Angel stepped into the shower and stood under the steaming water. He wasn't sure where he was but he tried to focus his mind on the events the night before. He was running from a group of demons and he was jumped and had slammed his head against the pavement. Then a large pipe had connected with his head and everything had gone black. He heard a crash outside the door and quickly turned off the water. Grabbing a towel, he wrapped it around his hips and headed to the bedroom door. Screaming came from the other side and he opened the door to find a little girl crying in the middle of the floor, a boy screaming at her to shut up and Buffy with a blood running down her hand attempting to clean up a broken glass. Seeing the blood made Angel angry and he moved towards the group.

"What the hell is going on?" He demanded. Buffy looked up and Angel noticed that the bruise on her face was larger than he expected.

"Angel." Buffy breathed. The boy stopped yelling, and looked at him.

"Does someone want to tell me what is going on?" The little girl looked up from the ground, tears in her eyes and ran to him. She wrapped herself around his leg and started crying again.

"Daddy, Liam was yelling at me and mommy got mad and they were yelling! Then I started crying because Liam dropped his cup on purpose!! It was really loud." She cried at Angel's foot and Angel looked up at the boy. Buffy's hand continued to bleed and he walked over to her. He took a towel off the counter and pressed it into her hand. Buffy looked into his eyes and saw pain. He looked at the boy and glared.

"Why did you yell at her?" Liam didn't say anything but glared back at Angel then stormed out of the room, "where are you going! Get back here!"

"Leave him." Buffy whispered. The little girl started crying again as Angel took Buffy by the hand and led her back into the bathroom to dress her hand. He put her hand over the sink and removed the towel. The cut was deep and blood continued to flow from it. Turning on the cold water, Angel put her hand under it. Buffy sucked in a breath as the cold water stung her hand. Angel looked through the drawers searching for the first aid kit. Buffy laughed a little and pointed to the far right drawer. Angel smirked at her and took out the kit. He dressed her hand tightly to stop the bleeding. Angel turned the water off and cleaned up the sink.

"What is going on?" Angel asked mostly to himself.

"What?" Buffy asked him. Angel turned to her and again noticed the bruise. He lifted his hand and touched her face. She turned away from him and he pulled her face back to look at him.

"How did this happen?" Buffy looked at him questioningly.

"What? You know how this happened." She said to him and left him alone in the bathroom. Angel was confused. Dropping the towel, he dried himself and put his pants back on. Angel left the bathroom and headed back into the kitchen. Bufy was cleaning up the mess and the little girl was sitting on the floor playing with a doll. She looked up at him again only this time she had a smile on her face. The entire penthouse was how he remembered it except for the toys and cartoons playing on the television. He noticed the Christmas tree in the corner, and realized that he forgot that it was December. He walked back to the kitchen and noticed that there was coffee. Angel poured himself a cup and watched as Buffy cleaned the kitchen and prepared breakfast. He moved from the kitchen into the living room and looked around to get an idea of where he was. There were several pictures on the mantel: one of the two kids again, smiling at the beach; two individual pictures of the two kids when they were babies; and a wedding picture. Angel picked up the wedding photo and looked at two happy people, those people were Buffy and Angel. She was smiling and looking up at him while Angel looked back, their eyes locked. This is wrong. This is not real. I never married Buffy; Where is Connor?...where the hell am I? There was a newspaper on the table and Angel walked over and picked it up. The date read December 13, 2010. WHAT? This is not right. He was six years into the future.

Chapter One

Angel stood in his bedroom as he slowly picked his way through the closet and all the drawers. He knew there had to be some answers. The phone by the bed went off again. Angel rubbed his eyes. That stupid phone had been going off all morning. He didn't want to answer it until he figured out what the hell was going on. Angel opened the closet door and began to rumage through. To the left were his suits and formal dress. To the right was what he assumed were Buffy's cloths. There were more on her side than his; inwardly he laughed. He went through the pockets of his jackets and pants but came up empty. Closing the door he listend for the sounds coming from the kitchen. The TV sounded and breakfast smells wafted into the room. Angel moved towards the nightstand where the phone had been ringing all morning. Angel opened the top draw and sifted through some papers and a couple of books. Nothing. The next drawer had some candles and flashlights in them; the final drawer was not something he was expecting. Several sex toys lay under a towel. Angel shook his head and closed the drawer quickly. There was nothing on top of the stand except a clock, the stupid phone and a lamp. Angel moved to the other side of the bed and found much the same in the other stand. Frustration played across Angel's features. He wasn't going to get anything out of the bedroom. Angel had already gone through the dresser and found only clothing and a large amont of langerie. Angel opened the bedroom door and stalked past the kitchen. Angel noticed that Liam had emerged from his room and was sitting with his sister on the couch. Buffy watched him walk past. Curiosity lined her face, ignoring her, Angel walked to his office. There had to be something there. Pulling the door open, Angel moved to the desk in the middle of the room. Angel sat down at the desk and ripped open the drawers. His rumaging became louder. Anger replaced the frustration as Angel quickly realized he wasn't going to find anything here. If Angel knew himself at all, there was no way he would bring Wolfram & Hart work home. Angel slammed the drawer he was looking through shut and let his head fall into his hands. It wasn't until someone cleared their throat. Angel looked up and saw that Buffy was wearing a pink housecoat and her hair was now swept up on top of her head. She held two cups of coffee. Angel leanded back in his chair and sighed. Buffy walked into the room and placed the warm mug on his desk. Slowly she ran her fingers through his hair, sweeping it from his face. She felt his forehead and frowned.

"You are still warm. Maybe I should get a doctor for you." She said as she took a sip of her drink. Angel closed his eyes and focused on her hand as she continued to run her fingers through his hair.

"No, I'm just tired. I'm fine." Buffy raised an eye brow and winced with slight pain as her black eye reacted angrily to the action.

"I don't know, when you came home last night you were slightly less than yourself." Angel decided to take advantage of the opening she had given him to find out what happened to him.

"I guess, I don't really know what happened last night, to be honest." Buffy stopped what she was doing and looked down at him.

"Really? Strange."

"Do you mind endulging me, and telling me what you remember when I got home?" Buffy laughed at his request but humoured him nonetheless.

"What I remember is Lindsay brought you home in a rather drunk stupor. He told me that you had had too much to drink and got into a fight. Someone hit you over the head. That was all he told me. Of course, he is not known for telling me the truth so anything could have happened really." Buffy drank from her mug again. Angel looked at her face and moved to touch the bruise around her eye again. She rested her head in his hand and winced slightly. Angel frowned.

"Do you mind endulging me again?" Buffy lowered her gaze and smiled.

"You really don't remember?"

"No. Just tell me one thing….it wasn't…me, was it?" Smiling Buffy shook her head.

"No. It wasn't you," Buffy heard a soft knock at the door and noticed Liam in the doorway, "I don't really want to talk about this right now." Buffy moved away from him and took her son by the hand. Leaving, Angel watched the little Liam look up at him. Smiling Angel stood and followed them out. At the table the little girl was sitting in her chair. Liam sat next to her and Buffy sat at the end. Angel walked to the table and sat down at the other end. In front of him was bacon, eggs, toast, a fruit salad and fresh orange juice. Smiling, Angel picked up his fork and watched as three sets of eyes locked on him. He took up a bit of eggs and put it in his mouth. He chewed deliberately and then swallowed. Smiling, he took another bit. The little girl smiled and started to eat her own breakfast. Liam ate slowly and Buffy simply sat back and drank her coffee. Half way through breakfast, the phone went off in the bedroom. Angel dropped his fork and growled in anger. Buffy looked at him and smirked.

"You really should answer that." She said.

"I don't want to." Surprise crossed her features when he said this.

"Really? I thought you would want to be at work first thing. It surprised me when you didn't get up and leave before I woke up."

"Do I usually do that?"

"Yes." Angel let the phone ring. He had no idea what to expect when he went downstairs. At least he could talk to Wesley and let him know that things were crazy. He assumed that Wesley was alive because of the fact that everything was nuts. The phone sounded again. Angel dropped his fork and stood abruptly. He went to the bedroom and picked up the phone.

"What!" He demanded.

"Thank god! Jesus, I never thought you would answer." Lindsay's voice sounded on the other end. Sitting down, Angel rubbed his eyes.

"What do you want?"

"I was worried. You didn't show up for our meeting this morning. I was just wanting to make sure you didn't die."

"Why would I die? I got into a bar fight."

"What?" Lindsay sounded confused, "Oh, that. That is what I told Buffy to stop her from asking questions." Angel fell back on his bed resting his head on the feather pillow. He threw his arm over his head and sighed.

"So what happened and why can't I remember it?"

"We're working on it. I'm not sure exactly who is trying to kill you but we are getting close."

"Someone tried to kill me?" Angel asked.

"Not so loud! Do you want Buffy to know?" Angel was silent as he allowed Lindsay's words to sink in.

"No."

"Good. Leave it to me. Hamilton and I will figure it out. Now, we have a meeting in a half an hour with the Kamish clan, I suggest you get yourself ready and be down here." Lindsay hung up the phone and slowly Angel clicked the phone shut. I suppose I should go down and figure out what else has changed. Angel was consumed by his thoughts barely noticing that Buffy had entered the room. She sat down next to him and gently touched his arm. Lowering his arm, he looked into her heart-shaped face. Angel examined her from head to toe. Her housecoat hung open and he noticed that she was still wearing the nightgown from last night. There were faded brusies on her arms and a healed bite mark on her neck. Angel recognized the pattern and was suddenly revolted with himself. The only way a mark like that would be there is if he had done it himself. His stomach twisted as he discovered several similar marks on her arms and inner thighs. Buffy stayed still while Angel looked her over. She felt the heat rise before it became visible on her skin. Angel watched as her skin turned several shades of red before he averted his eyes. Buffy smiled as she pulled his head back to look into her eyes. It was unlike him to look away from her. She couldn't believe after all these years that he still made her feel like a little school girl. She would blush when he raveged her with his eyes and she would turn into a puddle when his hands touched her skin. She leaned into him and placed her lips on his. The kiss was soft and gentle. A kiss she remembered from when they first met all those years ago in Sunnydale. He hadn't kissed her like this in forever it felt like. Now things tended to be more…rough. The marks on her body attested to that. Buffy moaned softly as she pushed her body against him. At the touch and feel of her form, Angel went ridgid. He let his hands fall from her neck and sat very still. Buffy let go of his face and sat back. She looked at him curiously and her brow furrowed.

"What?" She asked. Angel smiled.

"Nothing. I'm sorry. I just don't feel like myself right now." He stood from the bed and walked to his closet. He opened it and pulled out a suit. He looked at the colour and smiled to himself. It would be a Buffy thing to buy him a blue pinstrip suit. He put it on the bed and turned his back on her to get dressed. Buffy watched him as he took his shirt of revealing his sculpted back. His tattoo danced as the muscles in his back moved. He dropped his pants and pulled on his suit pants and his white shirt. He did up his belt and walked back to the closet in search of a tie. He hated getting dressed like this. He always felt like monkey putting on a suit. As he sifted through the different ties, Buffy giggled to herself. Silently she stood and moved to stand beside him. She picked up a navy blue tie and held it up in front of him. Angel smiled and lifted his head so she could place it under his neck. She scoweled and put it back. It took her another three minutes to locate a simple black tie with blue interlaced in it before she smiled and looped it around his neck. She slowly proceeded to knot the tie into place. Satisfied, she walked to the bed and picked up his jacket. She helped him put his arms through and then studied him.

"You always look good in a suit." She said to him. If Angel had been human he would have blushed.

"Thanks." Angel picked up his cell phone and put it in his pocket. When he turned around Buffy was holding his briefcase. He took it from her, nodding his head, then headed to the elevator which would take him into the belly of the beast that was Wolfram & Hart. Buffy followed him silently. He looked into the living room where Liam and his sister were sitting. Angel then realized that he had no idea what the little girl's name was. Moving to the kitchen, he examined the fridge where a schedule had been written. On it listed several activities each child was enlisted in. Angel caught the name and smiled…Isabella. He walked away from the fridge and into the living room. The little girl's olive green eyes looked up in wonder at him. She smiled and extended her arms. Angel bent down and picked her up. She nestled her head in his shoulder and kissed his neck. Angel planted a kiss on her forehead and looked at Liam. He definitely looked like Angel. He smiled at him, Liam smiled back returning his attention to the cartoon.

"Be good." Angel said. He placed Isabella back down on the couch and walked back to the elevator. Buffy was waiting for him. He stood in front of her and smiled. She leaned into him and for once, he didn't resist. He kissed her slightly on the lips then once more on the forehead. He had to figure this all out.

"When will you be home?"

"I don't know." He replied honestly. Her face fell and Angel realized that this was a common answer.

"Don't be too late."

"I won't." He promised. The elevator opened and Angel stepped into it. As the doors closed he realized that he had just woken up in what he would consider Heaven. A life with Buffy: children, a real job, a wife, a family…but he knew that this was not real. It was too good to be real. The elevator stopped and the doors opened and Wolfram & Hart stood in front of him. Here we go.