~~3 weeks later~~

She was bored. She was tired of people asking if she was ok and treating her as if she were going to shatter into tiny little pieces. Granted, she didn’t smile as much as she used to, but she was doing a little better she thought.

Sitting up in bed, Buffy looked around. Her room was really nice but it just wasn’t home, not that she really missed California; but rather her best memories were there. Ohio was ok. it was different and not in a bad way. She just wasnt used to clean air and nice people. Her new bedroom was spacious with hardwood floors and a queen-sized sleigh bed and the closet was to die for! Too bad she still didn’t feel like shopping much. Flipping the covers back and swinging her golden legs over the side of the bed, Buffy stretched, raising her arms up over her head and reaching for the ceiling, her flaxen hair tumbling about her shoulders and tickling down her back. Getting up, she walked over to the window, sitting on the window seat and staring at the tree whose branches reached out to her. She could easily imagine Spike making his way up that tree to knock on her window.

’I’m so sorry for every time I took away your invitation to my home Spike. My Mom could always see the good in you, even when I couldn’t and I never should have taken away her invitation to you after she died.’

The gurgling of her tummy derailed her train of thought. “Hmm. Food sounds good right now,” she said to no one in particular. Standing up, she stretched again, catching a glimpse of herself in the full length mirror on the back of her bedroom door. She had lost a little bit of weight. Her face was thinned out and her eyes looked huge. No wonder everyone thought she was constantly sad. She looked it. Her collarbone jutted out and her arms were a bit too thin. The lounging pants she bought just before she came out here were riding lower upon her hips than they had originally upon purchase.

’You’ve got to eat Pet. You’re so thin, you’d snap like a bloody twig if we got to sparring. Time to rejoin the land of the living, Luv.’

Smiling sadly at the voice in her head that sounded very much like a certain bleached blonde vampire, she looked away from her reflection, dropping her eyes to the floor and her tummy rumbled again.

“Ok, ok. I get the point. Food. Hmm. Maybe I can con Xander into a trip to the West Side Market for some nummies. Not like he’d say no. Food is a language that Xander is definitely fluent in.”

Buffy looked over her shoulder at the branches outside her window once more, smiling softly at the image in her mind’s eye and turning away, she felt a calmness settle over her that she hadn’t felt for weeks and headed off to shower in the bathroom attached to her bedroom.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“The Candy Corner. Sounds promising and I am a man in need of sweet, sweet promises.” Xander looked at Buffy and waggled his eyebrows at her. “You be ok for a minute while I go sample some of their sugary samples,” he asked her, looking very much like a pouty puppy.

“Only if you being me something to snack on as well,” she quipped back and watched him make his way down to the end of the lane they were on, stopping at the candy booth some 3 stores down from where she was picking up some chicken for tonight’s dinner. She watched his boyish manner as he tried one of everything they offered. He looked younger, she thought. He cut his hair shorter on the sides but left the top a bit longer and dressed in a red 49ers football jersey with his baggy jeans, he looked every bit the typical college guy. It was only when you looked at his face did you notice the underlying sadness that comes with having seen and lost too much. Xander had lost a little weight too. On him it looked good though and combined with the early morning workouts in the makeshift gym in the basement of the house they rented, Xander was starting to look a little buff. Looking back at Buffy, he pointed at something in the case and gave her a thumbs up and his patented lopsided smile and Buffy couldn’t help but smile back at him. Turning back to the stand, he grinned at the woman behind the counter and even with his eye patch, Xander Harris was still so charmingly goofy, he was able to make you forget about the sadness, even for a little while.

Quickly paying for her purchases, Buffy went to join one of her closest friends in the world.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Arriving back at the house, arms laden with bags of fresh fruit and poultry and juices and myriad other groceries, Xander and Buffy made their way into the kitchen where she found Willow and Giles quietly talking over a cup of tea.

Raising his eyebrows at her, Buffy shoved a sackful of green apples into his chest as she put down her other bags on the counter.

“You bought green apples,” he asked, looking at her with surprise.

“Well, they looked green in the stand and since you said yesterday you were in the mood for some, I figured I might as well grab a few before they changed colour and stuff,” she smiled cheekily at him.

Peeking into all of the bags on the counter, Willow smiled at the 6pack of peach flavoured water.

“Hey Wills, gummies giggle in tummies,” Xander quipped holding a bag and shaking it up over the red-haired witch’s head.

“Ooooh! Gimme!” and she smiled brightly and snatched the bag from his hand retreating to the other side of the counter and perching on a barstool to delve into her gummy goodies.

“We got something for Dawnie too. Shouldn’t she be getting home from the tutor right about…” and with that the front door flew open and an excited Dawn rushed through the house into the kitchen.

“…now,” Buffy finished with a nod.

“Guys guess what,” Dawn said excitedly, her eyes shining with glee. “My tutor graded all of my placement tests and she said I placed high enough that I could probably finish high school completely in the next couple of weeks! Isn’t that great?” the bouncy teen gushed.

“Oh, Dawnie, that is so great! See what happens when you apply yourself,” Buffy took her sister into her arms and hugged her tight. Coughing lightly, Dawn whispered “Ok Buff, try not to break me please,” and with that Buffy loosened her hold on her sister.

“Way to go short-stuff. Have you picked out what kind of car you want as a present from the Pops upon graduation,” Xander quipped. “I’m thinking something like really big and sleek. Like maybe a limo with a Jacuzzi in the back for those times where you just want to rest in the comfort of a soothing hot bubbly tub of water but watch to check the local scenery out at the same time,” he said with a wave of his hands.

Rolling his eyes, Giles spoke up. “Congratulations Dawn. Have you thought about continuing your education after you graduate?”

“Well Hank said if I did well with catching up and all after missing school for 6 weeks, that I could spend the summer at his house in Spain,” she said excitedly, missing the look of dread that came over Buffy’s face at the mention of their father. Turning away, she busied herself with the putting away of their groceries so Dawn wouldn’t see the hurt look on her face. It was great that Hank wanted to claim Dawn as his own, even though they all knew the whys and hows of how Dawn came about, but the mention of the father that abandoned them when they needed him most still hurt enough to make pretending it didn’t hurt, difficult at best. Juggling the crate of eggs as she tried to place them in the holders in the door of the refrigerator, she missed, dropping one and wincing as she felt it splatter across her bare toes.

“Ew! Yuck!” Buffy stepped back away from the sticky mess, setting the rest of the eggs down on the counter as she reached for the green striped hand towel hanging over the faucet of the sick. “It figures! Just as I find a cute pair of sandals, I go and drop egg all over them,” and she squatted down to clean up the mess. Scooping the egg shell up and trying to keep from smearing the slimy contents that used to be housed inside the shell, Buffy was suddenly hit with a wave of nausea. Grimacing, her mouth drawn down into a frown, she scooped up what she could, scraping off the contents into the sink, another wave hitting her even harder when she smelled raw egg dripping from the towel in her hand. Dropping it in the sink, Buffy bolted for the bathroom, barely able to get the lid of the toilet up before she was losing the remaining contents of her lunch.

Sliding down to sit on the floor, Buffy turned towards the door and the sound of Willow’s voice asking her if she was ok.

“Yeah Wills. I’m ok,” she responded as the worried face of her best friend peeked at her from the cracked door of the bathroom. “I guess that egg was just a little too ripe for me,” and closing the lid to the toilet she flushed and accepted the slender hand that was thrust out at her, helping her to her feet. Standing at the sink, she rinsed her mouth thoroughly before splashing some of the cool water over her cheeks and chin, raising up and looking at the redhead ‘s reflection in the mirror as she dried her face, smiling at her gently before turning to face her as Xander’s head appeared behind Willow’s.

“See! I told you not to over-do it with the stuffing of yourself! You should have seen her Wills. First she polishes off an apple with caramel sauce and then she kept sampling the goodies on the trays of all the candy shops. Then she eats 3 slices of Sicilian pizza at the little pizza place along with a couple of garlic rolls and has one mother of a strawberry-banana smoothie. I tell you, our Buffy was an eating machine!” and with that, he winked at her and strolled into the living room.

“Ok. Who’s up for a Die Hard movie marathon,” he called out to everyone.

“Yes, well as big a fan as I am of Bruce Williams…

“Willis,” Xander corrected.

“…Bruce Willis, I need to go and finish some research or something else more important,” Giles deadpanned and smiling slightly, he turned towards the stairs, calling goodnight as he made his way to his room.

“Not me. I’ve got to go call Janice and tell her the news. She’ll be so jealous! It’s great,” and Dawn rushed to her room with as much enthusiasm as she had when she first exploded into the house upon coming home.

“Anyone else up for a little sarcastic cop comedy with lots of guns and explosions,” Xander asked, looking towards Buffy and Willow. The blonde and the redhead looked at each other for a moment, their faces etched in seriousness before Willow asked “I’ll make the caramel popcorn if you made the root beer floats?”

Pursing her crimson stained lips in concentration, Buffy looked towards the ceiling in consideration. “That is, if you think your tummy can handle it,” Willow asked, her face scrunching up in concern. “Weeell, I don’t need to go patrolling tonight, as its not my turn and since I don’t have to be the sole “Chosen one” anymore, and the Hellmouth is more than covered, then I’d say you’ve got yourself a deal,” Buffy replied and they both turned toward the kitchen, screaming in surprise at the vampire standing inside the backdoor.