A/N: Hey, i'm spikesbabyblues. Writing this fic under the name Jo along with darla winifred. We hope you enjopy this story. We also want you to know that we now have our very own spuffy fictiona rchive. so go check it out and submit. On with the story. Hope you enjoy and plz,plz,plz, review.

In This Together by Darla and Jo Chapter 1: Living Arrangements by Jo

Buffy Summers wandered around on the Quad of the UC Sunnydale. There were mass numbers of students swarming around about her and they all seemed perfectly at ease. They all seemed to know exactly where they were going. Buffy felt lost, like a fish out of water. She was confused; she had no idea where to go. She had nowhere to go. A change in situation in her relationship had made things a little complicated. And with only a few days until classes started, she had to figure something out. But first she had to kind out where she was, and how to get where she was going.

She walked into the crowd of people, trying desperately to catch the attention of one of the passers-by. But she was not having much luck After five minutes or so, she saw a young redhead looking at her. Buffy was about to call out her when the girl came over

"Hi, you look pretty lost. Can I help you?"

Buffy smiled gratefully "Yes, I am so lost. Thank you so much. Could you tell me where the housing office is?"

"Um, you go straight down here" the girl said pointing straight in front of her "Then you turn left. Walk a little further and you'll see the sign for housing" she finished

"Thank you" Buffy replied, thanking god for the girl.

"No problem"

With a small wave Buffy left the girl to go about her business.

It took Buffy a further ten minutes to find the housing office, as she kept forgetting the directions she had been given. She let out a sigh of relief when she finally saw the building in view. She opened the door, and cursed silently. There was an extremely long queue of people waiting to be seen. 'Great, looks like I'll be here a while' she thought, not at all amused, or happy. But she took her place at the end of the queue, and got ready to wait.

And wait she did, an hour or so, she was next in the queue. Her feet hurt. She was grumpy, and the person in front seemed to be taking forever. But finally it was her turn. She smiled sweetly at the woman behind the counter

"Hi, I need a dorm" she told her matter of factly.

The woman looked taken aback

"Ok, did you apply for a dormitory? If so, name please"

Buffy looked sheepish as she answered

"Well actually no, but there are circumstances and I really need a dorm"

The woman smiled apologetically "I'm very sorry, but all they dorms are gone. You would have to applied at least a month or so ago. As it is now, we have no spare dorms. The people who applied have to get the rooms"

Buffy looked deflated, and felt near hysterical. But she tried to remain calm as she pleaded her case "Please, a lot has happened, I really need a dorm."

"I'm sorry but it just isn't possible. Your only option is to find something off campus" the woman gave a soft smile

"Please" Buffy tried again.

"I'm sorry" the woman repeated once more, a bit more forceful this time to let Buffy know that there was no chance. Buffy just nodded mutely and turned away and walked out. Now what was she going to do?

Buffy groaned and slammed her head down on the table. Pushing the newspaper out of her way. She had been searching for an apartment for over two hours with no luck. She was really worried now. She kept asking herself, 'why the hell did this have to happen to me? What the hell am I going to do? She hadn't been able to find an answer to those either. So now she was wallowing, close to tears. She would probably have cried had someone not tapped her shoulder right then. Her head flew up; there standing in front of her was the girl who gave her directions earlier. Buffy managed to give her a weak smile.

"Hi," the girl said cheerfully "I'm Willow. I thought I'd say hey"

"I'm Buffy" she introduced herself

"Nice to meet you" Willow said as she took it upon herself to sit down across from Buffy "Did things go ok at housing?" she then noticed the open newspaper, and the apartment ads. "Is everything ok?"

Buffy looked at the girl, and for some reason everything began to tumble out

"No, I didn't apply for a dorm because I thought I had somewhere to live this year. And now I don't. Housing told me they don't have a spare dorm. I can't afford any of the apartments in this paper, and classes start in a few days, and I have nowhere to live" her voice got higher as she got more panicked, and as she finished the tears began to spill over. She put her head in her hands and let them fall for a moment. She felt Willow place a hand on her arm in a soothing gesture. And she was grateful for it. When she managed to calm herself down a little, she looked up at he new friend with puffy red eyes.

"Sorry"

"Don't apologise to me," Willow admonished, "What are friends for"

Buffy gave her a watery smile.

"So, what happened, if you don't mind me asking, with the place you were supposed to live?"

"Well, I'm not from around here. I just moved here a month or so ago. Because my boyfriend went here, and I moved here to be with him. But I wouldn't sleep with him and he cheated on me, so I moved out. I couldn't stay with him after that. But now, I have nowhere to go. Willow I don't know what I'm going to do" Tears threatened to fall again, but she did her best to bite them back.

"Oh, I'm so sorry Buffy. But maybe we can find something"

"I've tried. I've been sitting here for two hours and I can't find anything," Buffy grumbled.

Willow nodded, searching through her mind trying to think of some sort of solution. And then it hit her

"I have an idea. Come with me" she jumped from her chair. As soon as she was joined by Buffy she started walking in the direction of the main buildings.

A few minutes later, she was inside a small office. There was a middle- aged man, wearing a pair of dark trousers and a beige coloured sweater and glasses perched on his nose. Willow was talking quietly to him. Buffy felt a little awkward standing there, looking on. But if Willow thought she had a solution the Buffy was willing to stand there all day. It didn't come to that however, as a moment later the man looked away from his conversation with Willow and Willow turned to face her again.

"Buffy this is Professor Rupert Giles" Willow introduced "Professor Giles, this is Buff-"she looked at Buffy

"Summers" Buffy supplied

"Nice to meet you" The professor greeted "I understand you have a bit of a problem"

"Yes, I came here to be with my boyfriend, but we split up and now I don't have anywhere to live."

He looked sympathetic, sighing, "That is too bad" he looked towards Willow, who gave him a pleading look. Sighing again he turned back to Buffy

"I have known Miss Rosenberg for some time, as she is from Sunnydale. I trust her to be a nice, reliable girl. So, I have an apartment over my garage, and I am willing to allow you to rent it. If you wish, and I'm sure we can come to some arrangement about the price of your rent. So, do you want the apartment?"

Buffy could have squealed in excitement, but at the same time she could barely remember the ability to speak. So she nodded dumbly, then realised she probably looked like an idiot

"Yes, yes I want it, thank you so much Professor Giles"

"You're welcome. Willow will show you where to take your things. Come at any time after 6 tonight"

Buffy nodded and thanked him again over and over eventually being dragged out of the room by Willow. As soon as they were far enough away from the office, Buffy let out the squeal she had been suppressing, and threw her arms around Willow

"Thank you so much, you are a life saver"

"You're welcome" the redhead smiled shyly

"You are officially my new best friend" Buffy declared, linking their arms as the walked out of the building. She felt more at ease and more at peace. At least now she wouldn't be homeless. She had living arrangements. Now she just had to figure everything else out.