Disclaimer: I do not own anything; Characters belong to Joss Whedon & Mutant Enemy. However this story is my own.

A/N: please review and let me know what you think!

CHAPTER THREE

Buffy eventually found a motel, she dumped her dufflebag and headed straight for the shower, she stood underneath the warm spray and thought about the night she'd just spent talking with Angel. It still hasn't processed that he was human, she'd dreamt about it so much and now it had become a reality.

The trouble was that she just couldn't see herself with Angel now, too much had happened and too much time had past for them ever to be a couple again. Besides he already had a wife and a son, he'd made a life for himself and she couldn't ruin that for him. She was happy that he'd finally found a woman that he could truly be with one hundred percent.

Soon after stepping in the shower the water ran cold and she got out. Sacrificing what she knew would be a bad hair day by not blow drying her hair, she was all for sleep. She changed into some grey yoga pants and a white cami and flopped onto the bed.

She put her arm under the pillow and sunk her head into it, her mind strayed to thoughts of Spike. She needed to know why he hadn't even tried to contact her, why he didn't see fit to let her know he wasn't dust. Could it be that he didn't love her anymore? that he'd moved on? The more she thought about it the more she convinced herself that Angel must be wrong and that Spike's feelings weren't as strong as they thought.

With a heavy sigh she decided to shut off and try to get some sleep.

XXXXX

Connor sat in his dorm room, with his laptop opened upon his desk. He sat staring at the screen for a few moments. He began to type vigorously on the keyboard filling in the email he was apprehensive to send, checking for spelling mistakes he hit the send button and sighed.

XXXXX

Buffy woke a few hours later feeling a little bit more refreshed than she did this morning. She glanced at the clock which hung on the wall opposite her bed. It was three in the afternoon, she'd managed to get six hours of sleep in.

Her stomach rumbled reminding her she hadn't ate since the airplane food she'd consumed almost twenty four hours ago. She got up out of bed and quickly changed into a pair of tight fitting black jeans and a red sleeveless top. She didn't bother applying any make up, she checked her appearance in the mirror and collected her dufflebag and walked down to her car. She decided on getting a few packets of potato chips and some cans of soda out of the motel's vending machine to tide her over until she reached her destination.

She ripped open a bag of chips and started munching as she started up the car.

"Ventura County here I come" she said to herself.

XXXXX

The drive itself was long and tedious, she wished that she had of taken Dawn up on her offer to come along. Then quickly banished the thought from her head, having Dawn sat beside her fiddling with the radio or worse singing along to every cheesy pop hit on the radio sent shivers down her spine.

Being alone although it may be boring gave Buffy a chance to think about things. It was at some point through her five hour journey that she realised she hadn't spoken to Willow in three months, and Giles for a further three. She missed her friends, she vowed that when she got back to Rome she'd try to organise a reunion with everybody.

She was on the last leg of her road trip when she saw a sign that she hadn't seen in over three years

The sign 'Sunnydale 15' had been unsuccessfully scribbled out.

Buffy bit her lip as tears formed in her eyes.

She thought about when she sat on the school steps at Hemery. A lollipop firmly attached in hand waiting for Tyler, who was due to finish football practice any minute and get down on his hands and knees and beg her to go to the dance with him.

She idly wondered whether he would've showed, if that creepy Watcher hadn't of showed up and changed her world forever.

"You are the Chosen One, you alone can stop them"

"Who?"

"The vampires"

Buffy considers what the man before her is saying "Huh?"

She scoffed at the thought of her normal life before and thought about Sunnydale. She was literally at a crossroads.

"Left or right?" She sighed

Left took her to her destination and maybe to Spike. Right took her back home.

She came to a complete stop before her cellphone chimed once more. She dug it out of her jacket pocket and noticed the caller ID 'Faith'

"Hey" she said as cheerfully as she could

"Yo B? Please tell me the rumours are true" she demanded

"And what rumours would that be?" Buffy asked

"Angel's human? How could you not call me?" Faith scolded

"I'm sorry Faith I know you guys were close, it was such a shock. I guess I just didn't think"

"Same old Buffy" Faith spat

"What's that supposed to mean?" Buffy argued

"You're shutting us out, nobody knew about this little mission you've been on for nearly three years! You could have come to me" Faith softened slightly

"I know and I should of.."

"You know what tomorrow is dont you?" Faith questioned her sister slayer

"Saturday?" Buffy said with a hint of uncertainty

"Three years... Ringing any bells B?" Faith said angrily "Where are you anyways?"

Buffy stared in disbelief at the open road before her.

"B?" Faith prompted "Buffy?"

"I gotta go" she said ending the call

She braced herself as she sped in the direction of Sunnydale.

XXXXX

Faith stared at her cellphone "Buffy? Buffy?" She yelled "She hung up"

"What's the big deal Faith? Buffy hangs up on everybody. Remember just a few weeks ago she hung up from all of us on a conference call?" Robin reminded her

"This is different okay?" She told him

"Like how?" Robin raised an eyebrow

"It's a Slayer thing, you wouldn't understand" Said Faith turning her back to him

He spun her around to face him "You know what?" He raised his voice "Im getting pretty sick of 'it's a Slayer thing'. You either want me here or you don't because right now you're pushing me away"

Faith stared at his hands on her shoulders keeping her from running away. He noticed and removed his hands from her

"I know this is hard for you. But this isn't about me or you, this is about Buffy and if I know her the way I think I do... She's getting herself into some serious crap"

XXXXX

Buffy stopped a few hundred yards away from the steel fencing that surrounded the crater formally known as Sunnydale.

She took tentative steps towards the fencing.

"I'm new. I'm Buffy"

"Xander. Is me. Hi"

The voices seemed to echo around her.

"Hi, I'm Cordelia"

"Miss Summers?"

"Good call. I guess I'm the only new kid"

"I'm Mr. Giles, the librarian"

Buffy placed her hands on the fence rattling it a little to see if it would hold her weight as the voices from the past continued to haunt her mind

"Hi. Uh, Willow right?"

"Why? I mean Hi. Did you want me to move?"

She tried to brush the voices away, but her tears came rolling down her face. As she began to climb

"Who are you?"

"Let's just say I'm a friend"

As she climbed to the top a vision of the first time she ever saw Spike entered her mind.

"Nice work love" Spike claps his hands

"Who are you?" She asks

"You'll find out on Saturday" he smirks coolly

"What happens on Saturday?"

"I kill you"

Buffy fell to the floor the other side of the fence, she didn't bother to rise from the floor she curled up in the dirt sobbing. "I killed him" she cried