Authors Notes: Everything up to and around Joyce's death happened, but it spins off from there. Buffy never died and the magick used to defeat Glory caused the Hellmouth to be sealed. Darla and Connor never happened on Angel. Fic takes place in Fall 2005.

Bolded words are lyrics from Letters to Cleo songs
Italics denote flashback.
/.../ denotes internal thought.

It's a cosmic thing and it's all around me dangling like life above me

"Thanks for shopping at Staples. Please come again," Buffy said with a fake smile. It was almost closing time and she had a headache. She sighed and took a sip of her diet coke. Most of the time she enjoyed running the store with Giles. But some nights, like tonight, it was the exact opposite of what she wanted to be doing and she regretted that she had ever let Giles talk her into it. She remembered when he had brought up the idea. It was three weeks after they had completed the ritual to seal the Hellmouth. Dawn had decided to go to Northwestern, Willow and Tara decided to go for graduate school at UC Berkeley, and Xander had gotten a really good job offer in San Diego.

Buffy sat at the kitchen counter, sipping her hot cocoa. She was flipping through the literature that Northwestern had sent Dawn, realizing how much she'd miss her. They had grown so close after their mother's death, and Buffy had such a hard time coming to terms with the fact that her little sister was almost all grown up. Her mind drifted off to the fact that all her friends were leaving. She was no longer tied to the Hellmouth, but she had no place else to go. That's when Giles came into the room, poured himself a cup of tea, and proposed something that would change their lives.

"Buffy, I've been contacted by the Watcher's Council. They've become aware of a hotbed of demon activity in Nevada."

"Nevada?"

"Las Vegas to be exact."

"And what does that have to do with me?"

"They want you to go there and try and lessen the problem."

"Are you kidding me?"

"No I'm not. I talked to a friend of mine who lives in Vegas. He owns a Staples office supply store that he's looking to sell. I figured I could buy it, since I have some experience running a store, and you could work there and slay." Buffy shot him a skeptical look.

But here she was, a few months later, sharing an apartment in Vegas with her Watcher, ringing up purchases at Staples. The half hour until closing dragged on, but finally she was able to lock up and go on patrol.

Think too much, too hard and it confuses me.
Rectify myself to all the things I thought were real
or I'll lock the bedroom door and simply stay at home

She managed to dust three vamps before she decided to go home. Her headache hadn't gotten any better and she just wanted a nice relaxing night. She entered the apartment that she shared with Giles and was greeted by a gray tabby cat wrapping around her ankles.

"Hey Leia, how was your day?" she asked the feline, leaning down to scratch her head. Buffy went into her room, put on her pajamas and slid her feet into her monkey slippers which were promptly attack by her cat. She shooed Leia away then padded into the kitchen to find a note from Giles, saying he was going out and he'd be home late. Buffy fixed herself a nice buttery bowl of popcorn and slid one of her favorite movie, Chasing Amy, into the DVD player. She settled into the couch with the cat curled up at her feet.

As she munched on her popcorn, she watched the story unfold. No wonder you like this movie so much. It's all about an impossible unrequited love. :Sound familiar: part of her mind told her. :No, that's not it. Xander's just rubbed off on me and I like the vulgar jokes.: she told herself, forcing her first thought away.

"I can't stand next to you without wanting to hold you. I can't, I can't look into your eyes without feeling that, that longing you only read about in trashy romance novels. I can't talk to you without wanting to express my love for everything you are." Ben Affleck said from the TV. Buffy sighed remembering the time when she had felt the way he described. Could it really have been six years ago that he left her? Three and a half years since she had last seen him? It seemed like just yesterday and she could still remember every little detail about him. She sighed heavily. Why was she thinking about him so much these days: I'm just lonely: she told herself. /I definitely don't still have feelings for him. That would be pathetic after all these years./ She blocked out the rest of her thoughts, watched the rest of the movie, then went to bed.