Summary: it's a solution to the Becoming mess told my way Xander/Willow
romance and Buffy/Angel
Disclaimer: I own NOTHING NONE OF THE CHARACTERS BELONG TO ME except
Christine, DONT SUE!
Rating: PG not any bad stuff
Spoilers: This takes place after Becoming
Late one summer evening, Willow came home from the library. She and Xander had been spending most of their time at school (sickening, isn't it?). Xander had been stuck in summer school and Willow had volunteered to teach a keyboarding class, on top of that in her spare time she went searching on the Internet for anything that would help them find Buffy.
Mrs. Summers had informed the group that Buffy had ran away after ‘The Final Battle' and the group hadn't seen her since. It was almost school time again and their worries began to increase. She unlocked the door and traveled quietly into the kitchen. What she didn't know was that her mother was waiting up for her in the living room, reading the latest Anne Rice novel. When Mrs. Rosenburg heard the door shut she walked sleepily into the kitchen and said, "Willow?"
Will was so startled that she practically jumped out of her skin. She turned to see her mother and she breathed out a sigh of relief. She said, "Don't do that to me. I'm too young to be having a heart attack."
"Why are you home so late? You missed dinner." her mother inquired,
She said, "I'm sorry. I got really into my research and lost track of time." Her statement was true. *I love not having to lie!*
"You've been doing that too often, young lady. We barely see you anymore. That's why your father and I have come up with a little surprise/reward for all your work." she said with a smile,
"At what is that?"
" We are going to go on a vacation. Anywhere you want in California."
"That's so great! I've been really missing the beach lately. Can I take a friend?" she asked cheerfully,
"Sure. Of course you can take Xander. He's become practically family anyway." her mother answered,
*Xander... I haven't seen him for practically the whole summer. It seems as if he's avoiding me. This vacation might be just the trick to make us closer again... like we used to be.* Lost in her meditations she didn't even notice her mother going on about the different places they could go. When her mother finally realized that she said questioningly, "Honey?"
"Yeah?" Will replied dreamily.
Mrs. Rosenburg just laughed good naturally in response, "Where are you today? Your mind is off somewhere."
"Sorry, I just have a lot on my mind."
*****
The bell sounded and Willow watched the teenagers file into the once deserted hallways. After a moment she spotted her best friend making his way to his locker. She followed him and said as she neared him, "Hey stranger. What have you been doing all summer? Making out with Cordy at the beach? That would be a nice change of scenery apposed to the janitor's closet."
He slowly turned to face her and said coldly, "What about yourself? Getting sick of Oz's van yet?"
"Nope, not yet. We haven't been together that long remember." she countered,
There was a long, disturbing silence. Willow looked down to the ground. *What has happened to us?* She then looked up and said, "How is Cordelia anyway?"
"I wouldn't know. We broke up in the beginning of the summer." he replied trying his best not to make eye contact with her, "Listen, I have to go. Are you going to be home later? I think we need to talk."
"Yeah, I agree. I'll be hanging out at home most of the night so just stop by when you have the time." she said over her shoulder as she walked back towards her classroom. Safely in her classroom, Willow closed her eyes and let out a melancholy sigh.
*****
Later that evening, Will had just got out of the shower and into her pajamas when the doorbell rang. She looked through the peep hole and saw Xander standing awkwardly at her front door. *Since when has he rang the doorbell?* She did not hesitate in opening the door even though she was only dressed in boxers and a tank top. He had seen her in less... when they were like five of course.
She said, "Hey, come on in. I'll just put my hair up and I'll be right with you." He just nodded and followed her into her home.
She came out of the bathroom with her hair up in a ponytail and sat beside him on the couch. "I think this will be easier if I go first. Ever since I was hurt you've been acting like... weird... unXanderlike, that's it. You haven't been talking to me barely at all. We're not as close as we used to be. I don't know what's the cause of this estrangement but I want us to get past that. Do you agree Xander?"
"I truthfully don't know what you're talking about. We've just both been kind of busy lately." he said
She remarked, " I can't believe that. No matter how busy we were before we were always close. This is different."
******
Meanwhile... (I love saying that!-the author) Buffy was sitting Indian style on her bed in her old room, listening to Pure Moods while trying desperately to figure out the math problem she was working on. *Ithink it's time to run to Will for help.*
She missed her friends more than she would like to admit. Once in a while she would question herself as to why she had left. The last months that she had been in Sunnydale; Willow, Xander, Giles, and yes, even Cordy had become like family to her. They were there for her when no one else was, and what did she do for them in return? She left, without even saying goodbye. She felt like such a coward.
The one thing she had first hand from everything that had happened was that feeling don't go away. You can't just stop caring for someone even if it would be easier that way, less painful.
She shook these thoughts out of her mind and decided to go back to the math thing. *Let's see, what's the hypotenuse of... This is going very well.* Buffy threw the book down on the bed in her frustration.
She wandered downstairs and scoured through the refrigerator to find juice, eggs, a week old pizza and a lot of healthy junk. *Yummy! I need real food! There's nothing in our fridge. Dad to the rescue.* Buffy picked up the phone and dialed her father's work number:
"Hello?"
"Oh, father dearest! I was just thinking that we've both been working way too hard lately and that we should..." she said in her best kiss-up voice.
"What do you want, Buffy?" he said almost hesitantly- not knowing if he should have asked.
"Is it so horrible to want to spend some quality time with your father?"
"Depends on where you intend on spending this quality time."
"Umm... what about the fair?"
He said, "That sounds like fun, considering it shouldn't be too expensive. Sure, as long as you finish your homework first."
She asked in a whiny voice, "Do I have to?"
"YES, now go and DO IT, young lady."
She groaned but said reluctantly, "Okay, see ya' later."
"Bye."
~click~
******
Xander admitted, "I guess seeing you in that hospital bed kind of freaked me out, well... extremely. It scared me to think that I could've lost my best friend."
"It scared me too but I'm still here. We both have chances that we take daily being on the Hellmouth and all but that shouldn't effect our relationship. I miss you, Xand."
"I miss you too, Wills. Now come here and gimme a hug."
******
"So what do you want to do first?" Mr. Summers asked
"EAT," she said simply. The two of them walked over towards the pavilion and got their dinner. They were both famished and ate their dinner swiftly.
After going on several rides they sat down on the grass in the picnic area and watched the fireworks that they have every year. As Mr. Summers glanced over to Buffy who was staring out at the fireworks, he knew that she wasn't here- her mind was somewhere that he couldn't reach. Since she had come running home that stormy night she had been detached- not mean or cold, just not with him. She had become so frustrating to him that he had almost given up on her.
"If there's something wrong just know you can talk to me about it. It might be easier if you didn't have to go through whatever it is, alone." he said soothingly,
*Yeah, look how well Mom took my ‘problem.' You couldn't handle it even if you did believe me.* "Well, if there's ever something wrong than I'll be sure to let you know."
She turned away from her father and stared out onto the landscape. Suddenly, she felt a pair of eyes on her. She turned around to try to find the person who was watching her. No one had seemed to notice her, so she sat facing forwards once again.
Once again she felt like she was being watched and she turned around, quicker this time. Her eyes met the childlike blue eyes of a truly beautiful woman behind her. For a moment which seemed to last a lot longer than it actually did, the two women exchanged fascinated glances. "Buffy? Buffy Summers?"
"That's me. And you are?"
She smiled and then said, "Oh, I'm sorry. You probably don't recognize me, huh? Well it's been a while. I'm Christine. We went to grade school together..."
"You're Christine Sanders? No way." Buffy said in disbelief,
She blushed a little bit, "I speak truth. When I look back at old pictures from that time I even scare myself but it's me."
"You look so great!! How have you been? I haven't seen you since..."
She finished the sentence for her, "Since the funeral. Well, my dad and I moved away to Richmond where my grandparents live and we've been living there ever since."
"So, what brings you here?"
She responded, "Visiting some old friends and relatives."
"Wow, I can't believe it's you. I never thought that I would see you again." they happily hugged.
*****
"Wills, are you all packed?" Mr. Rosenburg asked as he peaked his head into Willow's bedroom doorway. Willow was dancing around her bedroom listening to her headphones which was apparently blasting because he could hear it very clearly.
He called, "Willow!" Still no response. He let out a frustrated sigh, came towards his daughter and gently removed her earphones from behind. She practically jumped out of her skin in fright.
Will exclaimed, "Don't do that to me! You scared me to death. What do you want?"
"What were you doing?"
"I was just..."
"Dawdling, is the word you're looking for I believe. Well, now that I finally have your attention... how's the packing going?"
"Umm... it's a working progress." she said sheepishly,
He grilled, "Exactly how much progress?"
"Not exactly any."
"Get packing or we'll never get going tomorrow." he said over his shoulder as he exited her room,
TO BE CONTINUED...