Dawn and Xander helped Buffy move to a different district in San Francisco albeit closer to her work as a waitress in 'Breakfast at Tiffany's,' a coffee shop. She stayed with them for a while, sleeping on their couch.
Going from commanding 500 slayers to sleeping on a couch hurts the ego a bit. Back then, she was The Boss of everyone, literally. She oversaw the operations. No one did anything without her permission. As of late, the only operations she oversaw was delivering, mostly but not limited to, caffeine-laden beverages to customers. Buffy - not the boss of anyone, in these parts.
The other Slayers didn't like her as much nowadays, not as much as, say, five months ago when the Seed of Wonder wasn't broken in a million tiny pieces. Something about betraying the cause.
Breaking the Seed, hidden all this time underneath Sunnydale, Buffy saved the world again. But not without a cost. Magic expired a bit sooner than forever in the entire universe. Oh, and here comes the betraying part, it broke the Slayer lineage. Those who were called were still Slayers with Slayer powers, but no one is getting called anymore. No one will ever be. It was the greatest betrayal of all, so they keep telling her. She has become a pariah in the Slayer community, which wouldn't have come to existence, if not for her anyway. Ironic, huh? Welcome to Buffy's life, home to punchlines and ironies.
Xander huffed while carrying a big box up the steps into Buffy's apartment, which was on the second floor in a two-storey building. "I think that's it?" Buffy let him in, as he put the box down, he scanned the empty apartment except for the boxes lying around. "Is it just me or don't you have a bed?"
Buffy grimaced at the pieces of iron bed frame wrapped in plastic behind them. "I have a bed but we have, err, you have to assemble it." She walked over to the box with the label, IKEA, and the mattress, pointing at them. "Got the frame really cheap. But the mattress, not so cheap."
"Oh, this is easy, easy as pie. I - am quite skilled with my hands. True story." Xander winked at Buffy and Dawn as he picked up a piece of paper with directions on it. The two girls rolled their eyes.
"Not bad, Buffy. I'm surprised you can afford, like, any of it." Dawn's eyes darted all around the room. The studio apartment had 30 square meters of space inside with carpeted floors. It immediately opened to the living room / bedroom area, occupying the most space, rounded by a closet at the end. There's a small kitchen area to the right and a bathroom next to it. Further down, a back door opened to a small patio.
"I can make the monthly rent. It's not pricey or anything. Also got some money left over from, you know..." Buffy trailed off. Not wanting to be reminded of the past incidents that started in Scotland, ending in the rubble of Sunnydale, but the images are now playing in her head.
"Scotland." Dawn looked up from the floor, at her sister. "You shouldn't be ashamed of what you've done, Buffy. What you did was a great service to mankind. God knows it was too much for one person to bear."
"Yeah, well..." Buffy focused on the hems of her sweater.
"I still don't understand." Xander swtiched from the headboard to the footboard, screwing the pieces in to the sides. "Why would they hate you with such a passion? You saved the world - again. For the nth time. If you hadn't broken the Seed, those monsters would have taken over the planet, killing all living things, which is basically everything and everyone."
"They see it differently." Buffy was not making eye contact to anyone. "I slept with the enemy, broke the Seed, broke the slayer lineage, betrayed the cause..."
"I can see why some would hate you for that, but all of them?" Dawn gave Xander an innocent look. Xander was wincing at her, which was their coded message for 'foot in your mouth big time.'
Dawn crossed her arms, ignoring her boyfriend. "Willow couldn't have defeated all those monsters in time, Buffy. They were pouring in from everywhere, literally. We were there, we know. You had to make a decision, for the greater good."
"Yeah, well, I'm just trying to focus on the now and move on. Something they should really try." Buffy is back to her upbeat and confident self. Her arms lightly swinging at her sides.
Xander winked at her positivity, his eyes smiling. "Done and done. You, my friend, are ready to sleep on that bed." Xander dragged the feet of the bed frame to a different position and placed the bulky mattress on top of it. "There. Now you're really ready to sleep on this..." Xander collapsed on top of it, panting. Dawn and Buffy chuckled at the sight.
Dawn tapped on his belly as she lay beside him. "Grandpa Xander ain't fit like he used to."
Buffy sat beside them and rustled his hair, leaning down. "You think we should buy him a cane?"
"I resent that." He grabbed both girls' necks, placing them in a headlock.
"Okay, okay, I yield." Buffy broke free, standing up. Dawn continued to snuggle up to Xander. The PDA was making the Slayer a little uneasy still. Her bestfriend from high school and her little sister shacking up. She shuddered at the visuals threatening to play in her head. "So you guys have been a really great help. But I got a lot of settling in to do, what with all these boxes."
Xander kissed Dawn before getting up, extending a hand to help her up. "All righty. The little girl is kicking us out after we helped her move. Really heavy boxes by the way. I'm not hurt at all, nope."
"We'll hang out soon. After I'm done with moving, like really done."
Dawn hugged her sister. "Call us anytime for whatever."
"Yeah. We're here for you, Buff. You may be the slayer but..." Xander gave her a hug. "I got nothing."
Buffy snickered. "I will call. Promise. You guys take care." The couple exited hand in hand. Closing the door behind them, the blond Slayer jumped to her bed. She closed her eyes for a nap but ended up sleeping the whole night through.
Buffy pried her face off the bare mattress, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, eyes fluterring open. Her phone's alarm woke her up at 7:00 A.M. She got up, grabbed a towel from from one of the boxes and took a shower.
Walking to work, Buffy closed her eyes and tilted her head to the morning sun, welcoming its warmth. She's liking the cool and dry weather of San Francisco more and more. The coffee shop was fifteen minutes away.
"Can I get you anything else?" Buffy smiled at the cute guy at the table. She's minutes away from the end of her 8-hour shift, just before the sun goes down. Perfect.
"Just a check, thanks." The guy replied with a smile.
Cute but gay. Buffy thought to herself as she went back to the counter. She grabbed her last order, five drinks on one tray.
"You sure, you got that?" Her male co-worker behind the counter with dreadlocks and thick goatee asked her. His tone was half-concerned, half-amused.
"In four months, have I ever spilled a drink?"
Just as she was crossing the aisle, a girl in a crochet dress tripped her.
"Ack!" Buffy screamed as everybody in the room gasped. She landed on her back, below the table of her destination. One of her was foot raised, holding the tray in place with all the drinks intact. "Ha!"
"You wanna grab those for me? Thanks." Buffy was still lying on her back, balancing the tray with her foot. The people hurriedly grabbed each of their drinks from the tray. Some folks across the room started to clap their hands.
"Lots of clumsy people in San Francisco." Buffy muttered under her breath, pouting. "All of them girls."
It's funny, it's just like high school all over again, Buffy mused. And life is like one big cafeteria where people trip over the outstretched foot of a bully. Only the bully here is life itself. Life kicks you when you're down, especially when you're down. Buffy's life anyway.
So, you got the popular kids, the jocks, the cheerleaders, the geeks, the average Joes and Janes, but here's the new addition, the Slayers. An up and coming all-girl crowd. First of all, Buffy was Slayer, way before it was even popular, oh yeah. Nothing can change that fact. Unless she died, and they didn't include her in the Slayer history books. Errr.
She was the Chosen One, she and Angel were given a whole new universe all to themselves. They were to start over, to give birth to a new better world order. Only she declined. How could she take the offer? If she had, her friends would have died along with the old world. For the new world to thrive, the old one must die. She swapped all that to stay here, and be this outcast in her own community. Ironic, isn't it? Story of her life.
Buffy has been to heaven and hell, and back. Doesn't that get any street cred around here? She's defeated The Master, The Mayor, The Trio, The First, the Hell God, the Dracula, the snaky monster thingy, the vampire with no soul, and pretty much the everything in between!
She's like the sole surviving ancestor of the Slayer lineage, hello? Other than Faith that is. Can't it buy her some well deserved, well earned R-E-S-P-E-C-T? Buffy pouted to herself.