Knocking quietly on the basement door, Xander waited patiently for the muffled ‘Come in’ from the dark vampire that had took up residence since they left L.A. Closing the door quietly behind him, Xander skip-jumped down the small flight of stairs, looking deeper into the room over the banister, his eyes landing on Angel in the semi-darkness.

“Not trying to be wisecracky here Angel, but you look like death warmed over. You ok,” Xander asked, taking in Angel’s disheveled appearance and gaunt face.

“What makes you think there’s anything wrong,” Angel responded quietly, looking down at his feet and turning away, leaving Xander to stare at his back.

“Well normally I’d say it was your clothes looking wrinkled and pretty well worn, but mostly it’s the hair. You’ve not bothered to do anything with it and its kinda just sticking up in some places and flattened in others and well we all kinda know how you are about your hair,” Xander replied nonchalantly.

Looking back over his shoulder, Angel seemed somewhat surprised, not expecting the answer he was given and he self-consciously ran a hand through his hair to lift up any flattened parts.

“Just couldn’t sleep is all,” Angel replied tiredly. Turning halfway to face him, he took in Xander’s appearance noticing the sweats and the towel slung over his shoulder.

“Gonna work out some,” he asked the younger man quietly.

“Yeah, I was thinking about it. Just wanted to be sure I wasn’t disturbing you any since I’m not sure what kind of hours you keep.”

“Don’t you normally take the weekends off,” Angel asked, his forehead wrinkling slightly in a confused frown.

“Yeah but I seem to be having the same problems you are. Can’t sleep. My mind is just kind of running and running, even after I told myself to shut up and go to sleep and it’s still too early to go anywhere, so thought I might sweat it out down here if you’re ok with some company,” he replied with more seriousness than his awkward smile hid.

“No, hey. By all means, sweat it up,” Angel replied, gesturing to the farther end of the basement where the small home gym was set up. “Want a spotter,” he asked, grateful for the distraction.

“Um, sure. If you want to borrow a pair of sweats, I have a few pair in the dryer. I’ve not worn them yet or anything so you don’t have to feel all squeamish about wearing someone else’s stuff. Just bought them the other night and washing them so they’re not scratchy or anything…” Xander trailed off as Angel held up his hand, cutting of Xander’s nervous explanation with a nod and a small smile.

“Thanks. I’ll just go grab a pair and meet you back there,” Angel said with a small toss of his head towards the gym.

Digging around in the dryer, Angel chose the longer pair of sweats and a plain white tee and quickly changed into them, tossing his wrinkled clothes over the chair next to his sofa bed before joining the younger man who was already warming up with the lighter free weights from beneath the seat of the bench press. Quietly the two guys alternated weights and the lifting and pressing and sparring on the punching bag, each lost to his own tortured thoughts and trying to silence the voices in their heads, not hearing Buffy as she came to join them, the look on her face mirroring that of their own. Her eyebrow lifted in question as she took in Angel wearing sweats and he answered with the raising of both of his as he cocked his head slightly to the side. Xander looked at Buffy and gave her a small awkward smile and she returned it with one of her own before taking off her hoodie and tossing it on a bench off to the side.

Not a word was spoken as she walked over to the hobbyhorse and lifted her leg to rest her foot on top before bending her body down to touch her forehead to her knee, stretching the muscles of her legs and back before raising slightly and turning her upper body to the side, and lowering it back down to her knee. Turning back to the bench, Angel quietly counted off the lifts as Xander resumed his set. The three found a rhythm and they moved around quietly; stretching and straining and testing the limits of their muscles as their bodies moved in familiar motions; the silence broken only by their strenuous breathing or the sounds of a fist and/or foot connecting to the punching bag.

15 minutes ticked by, then 30. Then 45. An hour passed and still they continued in easy silence, each understanding that the other was dealing with demons much more foreboding than any they could cut down with an axe or stake. Another hour passed and with it brought sounds of people moving about upstairs and the trio paid no mind. They had become so attuned to the silence that when the phone rang, they all jumped in surprise, turning toward the sound with wide eyes.

Listening to the ring tone, Buffy and Xander’s faced screwed up in confusion when Xander turned towards Angel, asking him “Is that a Barry Manilow ring tone?”

Looking a bit embarrassed, Angel quickly strode over to the small table next to the pullout he slept on and picked up his phone, glancing at the ID before answering with a quiet ‘Hello’.

Buffy and Xander looked at each other with raised eyebrows and Buffy shrugged as if to say ‘I have no idea who Barry Manilow even is,” and they turned to go back to their workout, Angel’s quiet replies to the conversation he was having which whomever, picking up gradually in tone.

“Where are they now?”

“Have they been able to identify what part of town?”

“Oh really? Well make sure you keep that area corded off. I don’t want looters picking their way through anything and making off with whatever they find.”

“What is the body count so far?”

“Yeah, she’s here with me now. I’ll let her know.”

“What time? Ok, good. I’ll see you then. Thanks Wes,” and with that he closed the phone.

Turning back towards Buffy and Xander, Angel walked slowly, his face worried and thoughtful as he quietly spoke. “I have to go back to L.A.”

Her eyes searching his face, Buffy waited quietly for him to finish.

“What’s in L.A.,” Xander asked the taller man who stood beside him.

“Search and rescue crews were called out a couple of weeks ago to excavate the crater formerly known as Sunnydale. They were originally trying to find the bodies of those who stayed and trying to figure out why the entire town just collapsed into itself and have found the remains of where the Initiative used to house themselves. Evidently some of the rooms are still intact and they are trying to gain access.”

Looking at Xander for a moment, Angel turned solemn eyes to Buffy, taking an unneeded deep breath before continuing.

“They’ve found what was left of your house Buffy. I’ve told Wes to keep everyone out until I get there.”

“We,” she spoke quietly, her voice raspy with unshed tears that seemed to well up suddenly. “I’m going with you,” she spoke again, her tone not allowing for argument.

“Yeah, I figured you’d want to be there too. Wes has sent the company jet out here to pick us up. We have to meet it at 9 tonight so we can be back in LA and then drive out to Sunnydale before sunrise.”

Ok. I’ll be ready,” and with that Buffy walked back towards the stairs leading up into the kitchen.

Finding Giles standing at the counter making tea, Buffy stood quietly, watching him add a splash of milk to his cup before he turned to look at her questioningly.

“Buffy, is everything alright,” he asked, his forehead furrowing as he took in the seriousness of her face.

“I’m going back to Sunnydale. Tonight.”


(¯`·._.·._.·´¯`·._.·._.·´¯`·._.·._.·´¯`·._.·._.·´¯`·._.·._.·´¯)


“Buffy, are you sure you’re not mad at me for not wanting to go,” Dawn asked her sister for the 3rd time since they left for the airport.

“Dawn, its fine. I understand,” Buffy replied, trying to easy the worry the slim brunette was radiating in waves.

“Because really, I can just tell my tutors that this trip was a necessity and I’m sure they’ll let me take the tests when I come back. I don’t want you to have to…”

“Dawnie! It’s ok, really, Buffy interrupted her anxious sister. “Xander and Willow and Giles are going to be there as well, so I’ll be fine and Faith and Robin are going to check in on you nightly and I’ll call you every night to check on you myself. What about you? Do you think you can handle being around Andrew without wanting to strangle him,” she asked, an eyebrow shooting up as she looked at Dawn, knowing full well that the sometimes annoying reformed ‘nemesis’ and her sister had managed to become quite good friends.

“I’ll manage,” the blue-eyed girl next to her replied, laughing as she continued.

“Besides. I told him I hid one of his Space Wars dolls and wouldn’t give it back until you came home to make sure he would behave.”

“It’s not Space Wars! It’s Star Wars, and they aren’t dolls! They’re collector’s items,” came a muffled voice from the 3rd row seat and both Buffy and Dawn turned in their seat to find Andrew leaning over the back of his, digging around through the bags.

“Tell me where it is Dawn! Chewbacca is a fierce wookie and not to be toyed with! He deserves better treatment,” and with that he flipped back around to sit in his seat, exasperated and pouting.

“Besides. He’s worth a lot of money,” he finished whiningly.

Rolling their eyes at him, both girls turned around, sitting quietly as the airport shuttle merged with the oncoming traffic onto the airport ramp.