"Don't worry, pal. She's on her way. Just try and rest."

"Angel," she whispered softly, rushing over to where his bed sat in the corner of the room.

He lay in bed, obviously tired and pale with a slightly dazed look on his face. His time in hell had obviously not gone well. Whistler sat down in a chair next to him, but stood when he saw her.

"Buffy?" Angel managed to ask in a weak voice.

"Yeah, I'm here," she told him reassuringly, sitting down and lovingly caressing his face. "Don't worry about anything. You're gonna be fine. Just listen to Whistler and get some rest, okay? I'll be here when you wake up."

He nodded and shut his eyes, immediately falling asleep. Leaning over him gently, she placed a tender kiss on his forehead. She hadn't killed him. He was going to be okay...

Standing, she made her way back to the other side of the room where Whistler was standing. Somehow, he had brought Angel back to her, and she owed him for it.

"Just you being back here and watching over things is enough for me," he said, his mouth curved upward in an odd little smile. "Snyder went back to get your things."

"Why did you do this?" she asked, astounded by his generosity.

The demon shrugged. "It was just a little incentive to make sure you came back. Besides, I wasn't going to leave my buddy Angel down there in hell for eternity. We go way back, longer than you and he do.

"I was the one who recruited him to help you. You should have seen him. He was a real mess before I came, living on the streets in Manhattan and feeding off rats whenever he could. And God, did he stink. Anyway, I met up with him one night and brought him to LA to check you out. I guess you must've made a big impression on him because he really turned his life around."

Buffy smiled. Angel had been watching her even before she knew it, and it was all due to Whistler and his crew of 'good demons' as Snyder had called them.

"I don't understand, though. How did you bring him back? I had to kill him to stop Acathla..."

Whistler chuckled. "You live on the hellmouth and fight demons for a living, yet you think this is amazing? Angelus woke Acathla, and his blood needed to be shed to stop him. Angel had nothing to do with it, besides the fact that Angelus was inside him. I simply brought back Angel, not his demon.

"It's a good thing I did, too. He wasn't doing too well down there after Angelus went loose. There's a lot of nasty stuff in hell, you know? Angel doesn't deserve that."

"So he'll be fine in a few days, right? That 'superhuman' vampire healing stuff?"

Again, Whistler laughed at her foolishness. These silly humans...

"I brought Angel back, not Angelus," he informed her calmly. "Without the demon, he's human again. It's going to take longer for him to heal. You stuck a sword through his stomach, remember? That's pretty painful stuff. He's bandaged all over, but give him some time to recuperate and then he'll be as good as new."

Giggling hysterically at this news, Buffy grabbed him in a tight hug. "Thank you. Thank you so much."

"Hey, hey," Whistler said, trying to break away from her. These humans and their stupid emotions. It was no wonder they got themselves in so much trouble. "It's no big deal. Really." After a few minutes of struggling around in her arms, she finally let him go.

"That was nice," Snyder's voice interrupted, Buffy's bag at his side. "Very moving." Whistler gave him a look and straightened out his wrinkled clothing. "I brought back your things, and the bill's taken care of."

"Thanks," Buffy told him, a little embarrassed. He was always chiding her for not acting maturely...

"We'd better get going," Whistler declared, nodding to his protégé. "Take good care of Angel, okay? He loves you, and I know you love him, too."

Smiling, Buffy nodded. Within seconds, the pair was gone, and she was left alone to tend to Angel...