Buffy walks home at night. She stops by a fence and takes out her compact to check that she still looks human, but it's really just a gag for Angel to show up behind her without her noticing. 'Cuz it's a mirror. And he's a vampire. Geez. I'm thinking that gag stopped being cute about 3.2 nanoseconds after its first use, but Strega tells me they're still mining that particular vein of comedic fool's gold over on Angel. Buffy asks what Angel is doing there, and he mentions that "it's a dangerous time" because of the situation with Faith. Buffy asks Angel if he came looking for her, or if he was hoping to find Faith. Blah blah blah. I'm not spending more time than necessary on Buffy/Angel angst. It's played, people. And again, only 33 and a third percent of the participants are still on the show, and I have these cute little kittens that I'm fostering, which makes it very difficult to recap this episode. I'm just going to watch the kittens for a bit while these two angst it out. Hee! It's like the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center in here, except with kittens instead of subatomic particles colliding at very high speeds. Hey, maybe I should name them Muon and Gluon. Much better than Thing One and Thing Two, which is what I've been calling them so far. Okay. Back to the show. Buffy mentions that she's going to get a case of the "bumpies," and Angel says, "Aspect of the demon," in this really wistful voice like he's reminiscing. "I remember my first aspect of the demon. It had red sparkly streamers, and I went by Katie O'Shaughnessy's house every day hoping she would notice." Buffy totally flubs her delivery of the next line: "You know the drill." Which, in my opinion, would have made more sense as a question but instead she recites it as a statement. What is up with the odd delivery? Don't these people run lines? Buffy is still upset; I still have no patience for this. Angel stops her and tells her that he's not going to let anything happen to her if he can prevent it, and that he'll always be there for her. "Hey. I love you. Even if you're covered with slime." Hmmm. Let's compare and contrast. Angel: "I love you, Buffy. No matter what." Riley: "I love you, Buffy. But only if you love me back in the exact way that I have decreed you should."

School. Willow, Xander, and Oz are excitedly discussing the game, but they shush when Buffy approaches so she won't think they were having fun without her. Cordy approaches and says something pointless and then goes off to talk with her herd. Xander looks over and says in that tinny TV voice that can only mean telepathy is going down, "I wonder if she and Wesley have kissed." Buffy remarks about how much that bugs him and Xander mutters, "Man, you read my mind." Close-up on Buffy as she figures out what aspect the demon gave her.