In this story, Anya and Tara are alive. I'm making it so that Willow used her magic to resurrect them at some point over the years. Anya is married to Xander, Willow to Tara, and Spike has a different hooker every other night.
The year was 2015. It had been over a decade after the events of season seven and at this point in their lives, the Scooby Gang was broken up, each gone their separate ways. There was no need for a Slayer at the present time and the whole world seemed to be lacking much supernatural activity. Very little ever went on anymore and it was as if Buffy had retired from her Slayer duties as her life had been "normal" for the past three or four years.
Alone at his apartment, Giles sat. s. He was endlessly going through a collection of old books - spell tomes and myths and whatever else. Sipping tea, he flipped through a spell tome when he suddeny felt a sharp pain in his chest. He clutched it in silence, unsure of what to think when, suddenly, he felt a great disturbance in the mystical aura of the earth.
He sat, reading a newspaper article about mysterious weather patterns forming over Sunnydale's ruins.
"Oh my..." he said. "I think I'd better make a phone call..."
A week later, alone in her apartment in San Francisco, Buffy sat on the couch, which was rugged and uncomfortable, daydreaming about how boring a "normal" life is. Her place wasn't the nicest. It was really all she could afford. She was working two jobs - one in fast food and one in retail - for the sake of paying the bills and the pressures of day-to-day life were abrading against her sanity. Despite wanting it for a long time, the normalcy now tended to disgust her and she longed for a taste of anything supernatural.
It had been a little while since she had spoken to most of her friends other than the occasional phone call here and there. She and Willow still texted and called each other regularly, and she definitely tried to keep up with the others but it just wasn't what it used to be now that her life was "normal." The only good thing that had come out of this normal life was her relationship with Angel. After years of fearing such a relationship, Angel was able to become free of the curse that forbade it from happening after Willow, now an extremely powerful witch, searched for years and found a spell of untold power that enabled her to free Angel of the curse that tormented him for far too long and his soul was finally restored, while still retaining his vampire powers. Free from danger at last, he and Buffy were finally able to be together and after losing his companies, he now lived with her and the two of them were in a committed relationship and had been for the past two years or so and were on and off for a few years prior to that.
"Something bothering you?" he asked, walking shirtless and taking his place next to her. She glanced at his gorgeous, rock-hard abs as he wrapped his arm around her and kissed her upon the face.
"I'm fine," she said, smiling subtle as she rested her head upon his shoulder. Despite all, she loved him more than anything.
Her relationship with Spike had long since ended, but they remained friends and allies. Occasionally, she wondered what her life would have been like had she remained with him, but in the end she knew that Angel was her true soul mate. That is why she was here with him. They were always meant to be for it was written in the stars and against all odds, the universe willed that they be together for all time. These days, Spike typically rode his motorcycle anywhere he pleased, blasting British rock music and picking up hookers for one-night-stands. Such was a life that Buffy did not want.
Angel flashed a smile. "So, your birthday's coming up soon..."
"And...?" she replied. "I don't expect anything special. I'm not a kid anymore."
"Well, I have a surprise for you," he said, holding two plane tickets before her very eyes that glistened with shock. The tickets were to London.
"How did you afford these...?" she gasped, taking hold of them.
"That's not important. I want you to be happy and that's why we're doing this," he said.
"Oh jeez... I have to get ready. So we're spending my birthday in London? This is incredible! I can't believe this. I've been wanting to go back to Europe again," she gushed as Angel smiled, filled with happiness to see her like this and it reflected in his dark eyes. Buffy, still a valley girl at heart but a no-nonsense and fierce one at that, rushed to their bedroom to start packing as Angel looked at his phone and began texting someone.
That night, Angel laid atop their bed, wearing a black muscle shirt and matching underwear that tightly conformed to his muscular legs. Buffy was just getting out of the shower and getting into her pajamas before she threw herself down upon the bed next to him, resting her head upon his broad chest. She sighed deeply.
"Ya know, sometimes I miss the old days where I was staking undead perverts on a nightly basis, but now I guess my job's done and everything worked out for the better," she confessed.
"You never know what the future might hold, so don't be surprised if a day comes when the world needs the Slayer and her gang again," he told her, kissing her forehead gently.
"I can't believe we're going to Europe again. Maybe we can take a side trip to Paris. After all, it is the most romantic city in the world," she gushed, running her finger up his muscular chest and just under his chin before kissing him. "Maybe we could practice for what we'll do there, say... tonight."
"I like how you think," he agreed, turning off the lamp upon the nightstand as they threw the covers over them and prepared to engage in a night of heated passion that only star-crossed lovers could do.
A few days went by and they went to the airport, ready to board the plane. Angel offered to carry Buffy's luggage, but she was more than capable and declined, preferring to carry her own bags. She was wearing sunglasses and had a craving for an iced tea.
"I hope there's not some bratty kid who screams the whole way there," she confessed. "It should be morning by the time we arrive there. I realy wish Willow could come. She's probably so busy right now though."
Angel remained silent, following her through the airport terminals. They waited a good while before boarding the plane. Buffy took advantage of some of the shops around the airport and Angel just sat at the boarding zone, awaiting her return. She almost missed the flight because she got stuck in line at a coffee shop, buying a cappuccino, but luckily made it in time.
Quite a few hours later and after a long plane ride, the sun rose over the Atlantic Ocean and they had entered the sky above the British countryside and London was near. Buffy rested her head upon Angel's shoulder as she stared out at the sunrise, wondering just what her life had in store for her.
"Mom..." she whispered to herself as she gazed out the window. She really missed her, but tried to maintain a close relationship with her father. Being the Slayer certainly had drawbacks...
Once off the plain, she and Angel retrieved their luggage and left the airport, catching a taxi to take them to where they needed to go. A bit confused, she wondered just where that was. Angel retained his usual expression as his lover watched countless people walk down the paved sidewalks in a hurry. Eventually, the cab pulled up to a skyscraper.
"This is it," Angel said, paying the driver.
"It's beautiful," Buffy mused, getting her bags from the trunk.
Into the building they went, going to an elevator. "Is this a hotel? It doesn't seem like one," Buffy asked, perplexed. It looked like a typical building full of business people going about their daily occupations. The elevator seemed not to have any intention of stopping. "How far up are we even going?"
"The very top floor," Angel replied calmly.
They reached their destination and the doors opened, leading to a small room that had nothing in it except for a single locked door, which Angel opened with a key. What Buffy saw next left her both ecstatic and confused. Before her very eyes was a semi-large foyer of a room and standing in it were all her friends: Willow, Tara, Xander, Anya, Faith, and Giles.
"What're you all doing here?" she asked, her jaw dropping. "Did you all come this far just for my birthday?" She was overjoyed and wondered if Angel arranged all this just for her.
"Buffy, we have something to explain to you, so you'd best brace yourself," Giles said, folding his hands after he slid his glasses further up the bridge of his nose.
"And it's really big. I mean, like really, really big to the point you're gonna need a bottle of wine or a furry kitty to cuddle with just to recover from it," Willow added, always being descriptive.
"Cut to the chase and tell her already," Anya interjected, filing her nails.
"We think there is a new plot to take over the world and it's being orchestrated by some evil mastermind who attempts to command legions of the undead in a deliberate plot to bring about the destruction of the world as we know it," Giles admitted.
It hit Buffy fiercely and she didn't know what to say, but in some weird way she was almost expecting something like this to happen again... Just later and not sooner. She sighed deeply.
"Alright, who's behind this and what exactly are they doing?" Buffy asked almost instantly.
"We don't really know yet," Giles answered.
"And what's with bringing me here? What is this place?" the Slayer asked.
"This is your new home," Giles answered once again.
"What?" Buffy retorted, surprised and excited.
"This is where you'll be staying. This is where all of us will be staying," Giles continued. Behind the group was a hallway that had numerous doors lining it. At its very end was a glass doorway that led to a balcony that overlooked the city skyline. There was also a staircase leading to an upstairs section where the bedrooms were. "We're all moved in already. All that's left is for the two of you to move in."
"Did you know about this?" Buffy asked Angel, turning to him.
"I did. Giles called me and told me everything."
"But not before he called me," Willow interjected. "Tara and I were doing each other's tarot readings and the phone rang and it was him and he explained everything and we gathered all our stuff and rushed here. I called them and told them to come along."
"Xander was busy watching a sports game when the phone rang and Willow filled us in and that's when we showed up," Anya said as Xander stood with his hands in his pockets.
"So this is why we brought like everything we own... which isn't much," Buffy said to Angel, whom nodded.
"I wanted it to be a surprise. I didn't wanna ruin the whole week before your birthday and make you stress about saving the world again," he said.
"Well, we have to get busy and start tracking down whoever this is and whatever they're up to," Buffy declared adamantly.
"Ah, yes... I agree," Giles added.
"I wanna kick some ass," Faith said, always being the bad girl.
"Not before we celebrate Buffy's birthday," Willow said before she disappeared into one of the rooms down the hallway, only to return a moment later, carrying a giant birthday cake. "Tara and I baked it. It's all-vegan and gluten-free. I think you'll like it," she blushed. It was very nicely designed and had "Happy Birthday, Buffy!" written in big letters upon it.
"We know it's your favorite," Tara blushed, folding her hands.
"Ah, Will... You shouldn't have!" Buffy exclaimed, looking at it.
"It's like the gang's all here," Xander said, throwing his arms over both Buffy's and Willow's shoulders.
Buffy paused for a moment. "Yeah... the only one who's missing is..." and before she could even finish that statement, loud British rock music could be heard from somewhere nearby and the elevator doors opened. From them came a tall man with slicked back, blonde hair and dark sunglasses. He donned a leather trench coat and held his phone in his hands, which was blasting the music. "Spike..." finished Buffy, smiling.
"Sorry I'm late. Overnight I got caught up in a rainstorm by Liverpool and oh, my... it was rather nasty, riding a motorcycle in all that downpour. Luckily, I met this prostitute at a bar and she showed me to the backroom and some things happened. I don't even know what her name was, but oh, well..."
Buffy ran to hug him and he returned it and despite the obvious affection, Angel wasn't jealous at all because he knew that even though he was Buffy's soulmate, those two would always have a deep bond and mutual respect for one another.
"Come on, Buffy! I'll show you to your room!" Willow enthused, grabbing her luggage and leading her down the hall into one of the doors.
The girls went there and Angel followed, carrying the remainder of their luggage. This was a new beginning and Buffy was really excited about it, but first wanted to shower and get herself together after the long plane ride from San Francisco to London.
PLEASE REVIEW! What do you think so far?