Title: A Christmas Reunion

By Angelfan15

Disclaimer: I own nothing! Their relationship would have turned out so different if they were mine.

Pairing: Buffy/Angel, Willow/Oz, Joyce/Giles

Distribution: Let me know where it's going!

Spoilers: This is completely AU

Rating: PG

Summary: Buffy Summers is reunited with her friends and family for Christmas after several years, the trip turns out completely different than she expected…

A/N: I know it's a few days after Christmas now but I have been working on this fic and wanted to post it anyway. I have four chapters written right now. I haven't given up on my other fics either, I have just been insanely busy since I started business school.

Chapter 1: City Girl

Buffy Summers tapped her pencil on her desk and pursed her lips before reaching up to gather her long blonde hair together and placing a hair tie around it. Dropping her hands in defeat she let out a sigh and stood up from her chair. She had to get at least one more chapter written in her book before she needed to get on a plane and fly all the way to sunny California to spend Christmas with her parents and Grandma. She was excited to see her father who she hadn't seen in person in several years. But she had a falling out with her mother when she told her mother she was moving to New York for college. Her mother thought she was making a huge mistake going to fashion school in New York City. Buffy always loved fashion and she felt going to school for fashion was the logical thing to do. Simply put, her mother was right and she was wrong. Again. After spending 4 long years at the Fashion Institute of Technology, which she worked extremely hard to even get into college with the help of her best friend Willow Rosenberg, she graduated but ended up writing her first children's books. Writing a children's book was a surprise to everyone. It's not like Buffy didn't like kids, she just didn't have any or know very many people who had kids. Her best friend from high school, Willow had a daughter with her husband and high school sweetheart Oz. Buffy had only met Olivia a few times when Willow and Oz flew to New York City to visit a certain blonde high school friend. Buffy loved spending time with Olivia when she had been around her. Maybe she could spend time with Willow and her little family while she was home for the holidays. That also meant she would have to listen to Willow talking about how important it is for Buffy to make up with her mother. It's not that she didn't want to make up with her mother, her mother just kept rubbing it in her face that spending 4 years and $19,000 on a degree that she doesn't even use was a waste.

Buffy looked up when she heard the door to her small New York City apartment open. "Hey, girl!" Her friend Amy Madison greeted her. Amy had been Buffy's friend in high school but Amy's parents had divorced and she had moved out of state with her dad before they graduated. Thanks to Facebook the two reconnected and became close. Amy had moved to the City a few years after Buffy and was working as a bartender. "I come bearing caffeine!"

Getting up from her desk Buffy walked over to her strawberry blonde friend, reaching out for the coffee. "Thank you! It is much needed!"

Amy nodded as she took a sip of her own coffee. "I can't believe you are leaving me in this big city all by myself for the holidays."

"You will survive!" Buffy laughed, going back over to her desk. This chapter wasn't going to write itself and she needed to send it to her editor before she left for Sunnydale. If she couldn't spend a lot of time with Willow then maybe she could hide out and write her book. "I'm just not sure the big city will."

"What surprises me even more is that you are actually going HOME to Sunnydale." Amy raised her eyebrows at her friend ignoring Buffy's comment. "You do know your mom is there right?"

Buffy laughed and shook her head. "I am fully aware."

"Even if I do survive you being gone…" Amy said seriously. "…I don't know if you will. Your mom is going to drive you insane!"

"Something else I am aware of." Buffy pouted. "Speaking of, I need to start packing."

Amy looked surprised. "You haven't even started packing?"

The blonde shrugged. "I have been writing…"

"But your chapter isn't even done!" Amy cut her off. "You need to get writing! I need to find out what happens with the character you based off me!"

"I killed her off." Buffy replied seriously. "You would know that if you read the last book."

"You killed…" Amy looked shocked then glared at her friend. "You're lying, you are such a bitch!"

Buffy laughed. "Or as your crush Xander would say- bitca."

"I have NEVER had a crush on Xander Harris!" Amy stomped her foot and huffed. "Go back to writing children's books!"

"I might have another kid's book or two left in here." Buffy smirked at her friends attempt at an insult and tapped her head. "I'm sure I will see Xander while I'm in Sunnydale, would you like me to pass a love note to him?"

Amy shook her head, there was a time when she might have had a slight crush on Buffy's male best friend but that time was long passed. She was in a relationship now with a great guy she met at the hot dog cart while getting lunch in Manhattan. "Are you sure you HAVE to go? I'm really REALLY going to miss you, Buff."

Buffy nodded. "It's mostly for my Grandma, ya know?"

Amy nodded back. Buffy's parents, mostly her dad, had asked her to go home for Christmas every year and she would always find a reason not to go. This year her Grandma had fallen and hurt herself, Buffy didn't go into full detail and she didn't push for more information. She knew how close Buffy was with her Grandma and it was important for her to go back home to see her. "Does your Grandma still have that bakery?" Amy asked.

Anne Jenkins owned the best bakery in Sunnydale, okay so it was the only bakery in Sunnydale but it was still the best cookies, cakes and pies anyone in the small town had ever had! The bakery had been there for as long as most people could remember. When Buffy's parents thought Los Angeles wasn't a good place for their daughter to live because she had gotten mixed up with the wrong crowd the whole Summers family decided they needed to move. Buffy wasn't happy about leaving all her friends, so her parents allowed her to pick where they moved. It didn't take Buffy very long to tell her parents she wanted to live closer to her Grandma. Which meant the family would have to leave their city lives to settle down in the small town Anne had moved to once all her children had left home. Buffy had started helping out at the bakery as soon as she moved to Sunnydale and it became one of the popular hang outs for Buffy and her friends.

"Yeah!" Buffy answered then paused. "Well, it's closed right now until she gets back on her feet."

"Oh wow." Amy was surprised. "I didn't think that bakery closed for even a day since she opened it."

Buffy nodded. "As far as I know, she has never closed. She just needs a little time to get better and the doors will reopen."

"They better!" Amy exclaimed. "I mean, I really want your Grandma to feel better but I also want some of her famous chocolate chip cookies!"

Buffy gave her friend a small smile. "I will see what I can do." Standing back up the blonde started to pack up her notebook, pencils and laptop to begin packing. If she forgot anything on this trip it wasn't going to be her work!

0o0o0

As soon as Buffy placed her baggage on the scale at the airport she felt as if she had over packed. She paid for the extra luggage, grabbed her carryon bag and laptop then looked at her ticket to make sure she remembered her gate number. She felt her phone vibrate, taking her phone out, she smiled when she saw a text message from Willow. In typical Willow form the red head was just checking once again that Buffy was still coming. As she was texting her friend back she was pushed, dropping her cell phone and laptop bag onto the airport floor.

"I am so sorry." A dark haired man apologized, reaching down to help Buffy pick up her belongings. "I'm just late for my flight and I don't want to miss it."

Quickly readjusting her carryon bag, Buffy shook her head. "It's fine. You better get going." The blonde watched the dark haired man run to his gate, silently thanking her dad for convincing her to get to the airport early. It was way too early for her but she had a long flight ahead of her and she would try to sleep. As she passed a restaurant her stomach started to growl so she doubled back and decided to get some breakfast before her flight.

After finishing her breakfast she made her way to her gate, she still had a little while to wait before she could board. Finding a place to sit down she decided to check her laptop to make sure nothing had happened to it when it hit the ground earlier when the man had ran into her. If it was broke she would have to buy a new one, which she really didn't want to have to do. On the plus side, it was a good thing she was old school and wrote everything down by hand. She even kept a notebook in her purse just in case inspiration hit, she would be able to write it down before forgetting it. She checked the screen of her laptop, relieved that it looked fine she decided to turn it on just to make sure nothing was wrong internally. Before she could turn it on someone plopped down in the chair beside her, breathing heavy. She looked over to find the very same dark haired man that had ran into her. Surprised, Buffy turned slightly towards him. "Going to miss your flight, huh?"

The man turned to face her fully and Buffy noticed he was fairly attractive with his dark hair and brown eyes. She definitely had a type. "I missed my flight." He replied "They gave me this flight instead. Are you going to Los Angeles too?"

Buffy nodded, not wanting to tell the man that Los Angeles was just a layover. She was still thinking if she wanted to fly to Sunnydale or drive once the plane landed. "Christmas and all."

"Right…" The dark haired man smiled. "Do you have family there?"

Buffy nodded again as she readjusted herself in her chair to get more comfortable and watched the man pull out a bottle of water. "I grew up there."

"Nice." He smiled then took a drink. "My dad is living there, he moved there a few years ago because of work. This flight is what? 6 and a half hours?"

Buffy took a deep breath, why did it have to take so long to get there? She was happy she paid the extra $200 for a non-stop flight or it would have been 18 hours! "That's what my ticket says."

"I'm sorry again about earlier." He apologized again. "I just didn't want to miss my flight."

"Which you ended up missing anyway." Buffy teased him.

The man nodded. "But its okay before this flight is better."

"Oh?" She asked. "And why is that?"

"Well, it's non-stop for starters. That's definitely better." He told her, then smiled. "And it has you."

"Oh! Smooth!" She laughed, then held her hand out for him to take. "I'm Buffy."

"Ford."