Sorry it's been awhile. Real life kinda did its thing and pulled me away and then the muse had a tummy ache...its been a mess. Anyhoo...back with the updating. ^^

Buffy kneeled in front of the small refrigerator, peering at its contents when she heard the hollow-sounding chime, looking up to find that the seatbelt signs had lit up.

“Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your First Officer, James Hubbard, speaking. Captain Lucas has turned on the seatbelt signs so we ask that you please take your seats if you are up and about as we are now on our initial approach for LAX. We will be landing here in approximately 10 minutes. Please be sure your seatbelts are fastened and secure and your seats are in the upright positions. We thank you for flying with us and we hope you enjoy your stay in the city of angels.”

Turning back to the refrigerator, Buffy selected a bottle of water before standing up and making her way to her seat. Dropping into her seat tiredly, she picked up the separate pieces to her seatbelt, fastening them across her navel before opening her water, drinking thirstily, allowing a loud sigh to escape her lips after she drank half the bottle’s contents. Replacing the lid, she leaned back and turned her head to the side to look out the window. Around her the nervous chatter slowly quieted, giving way to the sounds of shuffling and clicking as the Scooby’s righted their seats and fastened seatbelts. Closing her eyes, she thought of Spike, her throat closing around the knot that suddenly formed there.

’God, Spike! Why aren’t you here with me? I need you…I need you so much. I miss you, Spike. I’m scared of facing this thing again; looking at the crater you left. I’m scared of what I’m going to find, but most of all what I’m not going to find.’

A slight dip in her tummy pulls her from her thoughts for a moment and Buffy opens watery eyes to watch the inky sky speed past her window as the jet begins its decent.

’I need you.’


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Pacing quietly back and forth along the side of the bathtub, Faith reads the little booklet she holds in her hands, mentally checking off each step as she reads through the instructions.

’Remove the test stick from the foil wrapper and take off the overcap, blah blah blah…hold the test stick by the thumb grip, the tip pointing down and the result window facing away from your body…yeah ok. Pee on it for 5 seconds…put the cap back on and lay it flat somewhere with the little window thing facing up…wait 3 minutes. One line, not pregnant. Two lines pregnant.’

Stopping her pacing by the head of the bathtub, Faith turns her head slowly, her disheveled hair falling over one eye as she looks behind her to the longish piece of plastic sitting across the back of the toilet. Staring nervously at it, she stands rooted to the spot and she begins to count to herself in a voice still husky with sleep.

“One-one thousand. Two-one thousand. Three-one thousand. Four-one thousand….”

Some minutes pass by and worried brown eyes are still locked on the test across the room. Taking a deep breath, she walks over to the toilet, still counting as she sits down on top of the closed lid.

“…one hundred and seventy-eight, one hundred seventy-nine…”

Picking up the 8 inch piece of white plastic, her voice barely a whisper, she angles the test to see better into the clear little window.

“…one hundred eighty.”

Her nervousness gives way to numbness and she slides almost bonelessly to the floor, two little pink lines staring boldly back at her from beneath their clear plastic window, leaving Faith to feel as if she took a tumble down the rabbit hole and feeling lost to the world around her.


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Loading their bags into the back of the midnight-blue GMC Yukon Denali that was provided to them, the small group stands close together in the California humidity, no-one saying anything but taking comfort in their nearness as they wait for Angel to get off of the phone.

Walking towards them, he closes the little silver phone he was speaking into and stops to stand next to Giles, his eyes falling onto the slight golden girl in front of him.

“They are expecting the storms to hit sometime in the early morning, around 5am or so. Right now they are prepping the areas they’ve been excavating to try to avoid as much of the rain as possible but its not looking so good. Sunnydale and the surrounding areas haven’t had any rain since before you closed the hellmouth, so the drought came in handy in helping them dig. They are way ahead of schedule already, and most of what used to be Sunnydale has already been cleared, but with the storm, they are worried about mudslides in the remaining areas so they are erecting barriers and tarps. It’s up to you guys. We can head out there now and we might have 2, maybe 3 hours at best if you want to look around before the storm arrives,” Angel said quietly, shoving his hands into his pockets as he looked over each of them, his coffee-coloured eyes coming to rest on Buffy once more.
Looking at each other, they all nod quietly, before Giles turned to address the dark vampire.

“Yes, I daresay it would probably be best to go now and try to salvage anything we can before the storms come.”

Nodding once, Angel stepped around the small group, climbing into the driver’s seat as they all climbed inside, Giles taking the passenger seat as Willow, Buffy then Xander climbed into the backseat.

Leaning forward between the 2 front seats, Buffy spoke softly.

“Angel can I use your phone to call Dawn please? I promised her that I would call when we landed.”

Starting the SUV, Angel then leans back, reaching into his pocket to retrieve his phone, handing it back over his shoulder to Buffy before he puts the SUV into drive, glancing at her in the rearview mirror, worry lines forming on his brow at her reserved tone.

Dialing the number to her voicemail, she hits the option to leave a message instead of retrieve them and speaks quietly into the phone. She feel’s Xander’s arm come to rest behind her shoulders, feeling his forearm flex as his hand lands on Willow’s shoulder to her left, squeezing it gently. Pressing the pound key, she closes the phone and hands it back to Angel with a quiet ‘thank-you’ and she leans back against the comforting arm behind her, her small mouth drawn into an anxious frown and she feels Willow’s hand on her wrist and she turns her left hand over to grasp the redhead’s, both squeezing lightly in silent support as the 5 of them drive off into the night, back to the one place they thought never to return, each lost in his and her own thoughts.