I loved this. I always wondered what would have happened if Buffy had encountered Connor, and I like her here, bewildered, but not really that surprised, not really.

When she says it, it's like she always says it, a little high, a little disbelieving, a little question that life is really doing this to her. "Angel?"

Oh, yes.

At the end of the evening, when Buffy has said Angel's name too many times to keep a tear from slipping, Connor suggests, go ahead. Go ahead and hate me. And she looks at him, and asks, Is it really this easy? She doesn't mean hating him. Maybe she means forgiveness, or maybe she means wanting to have coffee with a boy when neither of them wants to kill the other. It's hard to tell, but Connor says, Yes. It really is.

I like how Connor's the one with insight here, the one who has actually come to terms. I would like to see what you do with any sequels.