"Yea Buffy, what are we gonna do now?" Dawn looked from the Sunnydale crater to her sister.
Buffy simply smiled for a while before responding "We're gonna live, Dawn."
Living was much harder than Buffy originally thought. For the first few months they all lived together. But one by one they left. Giles went back to England to help the Watcher Council put itself back together. Soon after Andrew followed him hoping to become a watcher himself. Faith and Robin moved to LA to join Angel Investigations. Kennedy moved out after her and Willow broke up, but no one knew where she went. Xander got a construction job across town and moved to an apartment that wasn't so far away and he managed to visit frequently. Willow was the only one still with Buffy and Dawn, and for that Buffy was eternally grateful.
Not that she was incapable of supporting her and Dawn, but having another income did help. Buffy didn't make much at The Burger Place, and she was thinking about going back to college. Even more than the financial help though Willow kept things going.
"I love you"
"No you don't. But thanks for saying it."
The sound of Dawn's alarm woke Buffy up. Her head felt foggy and her chest tight. Why did she have to dream about his death so often? "Buffy," Willow poked her head through the doorway "oh, bad dream? It's ok, I'll get Dawn to school today." she gave her friend a small encouraging smile before pulling the door closed. Buffy stared at the ceiling for a while, listening to the others get around. Once they were gone she slowly rolled out of bed and made her way to the kitchen for breakfast. As usual on mornings like this Willow had set a plate of pancakes on the counter with a sticky note that had a smiley face on it. The pancakes stuck in her throat like usual, and like usual she washed them down with a glass of orange juice.
The rest of her day was pretty typical as well Get dressed, go to work, deal with impolite customers and impatient coworkers, go home, get changed, fix dinner, and help Dawn with her homework.
"Ugg" Dawn rested her head on the table. "Math is so hard. Can I switch to reading now?" Buffy glanced over Dawn to the couch where Willow sat curled up with her own book. She gave Buffy a small nod. Buffy handed Dawn her copy of Lord of the Flies. "Thanks sis."
"Maybe Willow can help you with math after your chapter" Buffy suggested hopefully. To her relief Willow gave her the thumbs up. "Great, I'm gonna lay down for a bit. If anyone needs me you know where I am."
Dawn sat on the couch next to Willow and opened her book. Once Buffy had vanished into her room both girls put their books down and looked at each other. "She's getting better" Willow whispered.
"How long is this going to take?" Dawn sat Indian style facing Willow, her hands folded on the book in her lap and concern tainting every inch of her face. Willow placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I know," she sighed "it'll take time, but there's got to be something we can do to help, right? A...a spell, or-"
"Dawn," Willow cut her off. "I'm not doing a spell on your sister." Dawns shoulders sunk. It was clear that was her only hope anymore, and Willow had shut even that down. "I'm sorry sweetie " It was hard to see her like this, Willow saw her as her own little sister and wished she could make everything alright again. "I can make us some cocoa..."
"ok...yea, that sounds good."
Soft snoring emitted from Buffy's room. "Guess I wont ask her if she wants any. Work on your book and I'll bring it to you when it's ready." Willow was used to this, trying to comfort her surrogate family. The Summers' girls really relied on her. Not that she minded. What with Kennedy gone she didn't have much besides her work as tech support. Willow thought about this, about everything that has happened, as she fixed their hot chocolate and almost didn't notice the knocking on the door.
"I'll get it!" Dawn jumped from the couch.
"You keep reading, Missy " Willow shot her a look that said 'i see what you're trying to do but it wont work'. "It's probably someone with the wrong apartment number again. Those guys in 233 sure seem to have mistyped their address on all their party flyers or whatever." There was more knocking. Impatient sounding. 'Must really want in to that party' Willow thought reaching the door 'poor guy's got the wrong place though'.
The door swung open and Willow looked like she was going to say something but stopped. Mouth agape she starred at the visitor. "Hey Red, wanna invite me in?"
She blinked a few times as if she thought she might be seeing things. Finally she was able to breathe out a small "...Spike?"