The summers woman had talked for hours, held each other for even longer then Buffy came to bed. She was exhausted.

Angel had offered to leave her alone but she had asked him to stay again. He was just trying to sleep when he heard it.

Very feint but to his vampire ears definitely suspicious.

He crept out of the room and down the stairs. From the kitchen door he spotted someone enter.

‘Not a vampire’ he thought. Not only could he enter uninvited but Angel could hear his pulse racing and smell his fear. He was terrified.

Angel watched as the man slowly crept into the kitchen, looking around him nervously. As he walked through a patch of moonlight from one of the windows Angel recognised him as the man Cordelia and Wes photographed earlier. If his car did have a tracer on they would know he was there. Angel wondered why they hadn’t called.

Angel watched from the safety of the shadows as the man opened the fridge. He took out the carton of milk and glanced about nervously before getting something from his pocket. Another nervous look then he emptied it into the milk.

He quietly put the milk back and began to creep back to the back door.

Angel considered stopping him, confronting him but decided the best thing was to go along with it. If Leonard thought Buffy was still drinking the poison he was more likely to make a mistake.

Angel watched him leave then followed him out of the back door and around the side of the house to his car.

Angel also spotted Wes further along the street on a motorcycle. Although he wasn’t wearing leathers this time, it reminded Angel of the first time they had met in LA.

The intruder pulled away from the kerb and drove off. As soon as he was out of sight Wes pulled up outside the house. Angel went to meet him.

“I was hoping you would have heard him.” Said Wes as he dismounted. “Did you happen to see what he was doing?”

Angel nodded.” He put something in the milk, probably the same stuff as before.

Wes nodded. “We thought about phoning you as soon as we realised where he was headed but they risk of waking everyone else up and scaring him away was too great.”

“I understand.”

“Willow is using the computer in the van to hack into the university’s records as we speak looking for this mans license plate. Once we have that we have a name and we can track down more information about him.”

Angel nodded. “Want some coffee?”

“Yes, I could do with a cup.” He said yawning and stretching his arms. “Been a long day.”

They went into the house together.

“Dear lord, what happened to you?” asked Wes as he saw Angels face in the light.

Angel gingerly touched his forehead. “Oh, Buffy and I trained a little earlier.” He said as he went to the fridge to empty the milk down the drain.

“Oh.” Wes hadn’t expected Buffy to be the cause of Angel’s injuries. “How is she doing?”

“As well as can be expected I guess.”

“It may be a while before she’s ready to confront this Leonard. You have considered that possibility haven’t you?”

Angel nodded as he placed a mug of black coffee in front of Wes. “I have. I don’t know what to do. I can’t force her into anything but Leonard isn’t going to wait and stick to our timetable.”

When Wes didn’t supply any suggestions angel continued. “I guess we play it by ear. As long as he thinks Buffy’s weak we have the advantage.”

“It’s not an easy situation, that’s for sure.” Wes sympathised.

Both men then sat in silence sipping their coffee.