Preface: The Envelope

The last thing Dawn remembered Buffy saying to her was to stay safe. This was a tough job for Dawn. She seemed to always be in trouble. But leaving Dawn in the arms of Xander looked like a hard job for Buffy, so Dawn just smiled as she watched Buffy exit the driveway.

But of course this was 2 months ago, and a 19-year-old Dawn hadn't heard from her sister since. And so many things had changed since Buffy left New York for the City of Angels. Dawn had started collage, and Xander had gotten his first job since Sunnydale. Willow had moved in, along with Faith, and Wood, and Kennedy had moved out. And though everyone had smiles plastered on their faces, there was a dark shade of grey over the household, because of the absence of the little blond slayer. Until the day when the envelope came.

The envelope was a light, worn shade of yellow, with no return address. When Dawn picked it up, and shook it around, there was a rattling of papers from the inside.

"Hey Xan-man!" yelled an obnoxious Dawn, "You expecting a package?"

"I don't think so," Xander replied, "Who's it addressed to?"

Dawn turned the envelope over in her hands, but there was nothing on it. No return address, no nothing.

"There's nothing on it." Dawn yelled back.

"Oh... just give it to Willow then. Probably from one of her witchy friends." Xander said taking the package from Dawn and setting it on the table.

"Come on, Dawn, if we don't get going we're gonna be late." Xander then pulled Dawn out the door and into the car. But Dawn couldn't shake the feeling that the envelope meant something more. _

"I told you," Willow spoke into the phone, "You don't need to have a cauldron to do witchcraft! I've been doing spells without it for years. Fine. Fine. Okay, sure. Just give her 20 eyes of newt. Okay. Oh and Wood? Thanks for taking care of the Magic Box today. Yeah. Bye." Willow dropped the phone and her keys on the table by the door. "Hey FAITH! DAWN? XANDER!" She yelled into the darkness.

"Hey anyone here?" Willow called out. She missed coming home last, and having everyone sitting in the kitchen waiting for her.

"I guess not," she said to herself. She flicked on the lights and walked into the kitchen, opened the cabinet, and pulled out a can of tomato soup to warm up in the microwave. She set the can down on the table next to some of Dawn's textbooks and a faded yellow envelope.

Hmm what's this she thought? Willow picked up the envelope and was about to rip it open when Faith walked into the kitchen.

"Hey Wills, what you up to?" Faith asked.

"Making some tomato soup, want some?" Willow asked, setting the envelope back down on the table.

"Sure Wills," Faith smiled at her. "What's in the envelope?"

"I don't know, it was here when I got home." Willow picked it up again and tried to open it, in the process, giving herself a paper cut. Faith laughed and went into the cupboard and pulled out a Band-Aid.

"By the way, have you heard from Buffy yet?" Willow went over to Faith and took the Band-Aid, opening it, and placing it onto her finger. She wasn't allowed to do spells at home, just incase she cursed the apartment.

"No, not yet. She hasn't responded to the bazillion emails I've sent her." They both walked into the living room and sat down.

"Well, hopefully she will soon." Faith laughed as Willow handed her the envelope to open. She tore apart the yellow envelope, and stared down into it.

"Hey Red, you might want to look at this."

Willow and Faith ran into the office building Xander worked in, panting like maniacs.

"Hey, Martha," Willow said to the buildings receptionist as Faith talked on the phone with Wood, "Have you seen Xander?"

"Yes, he is in his office," Martha answered, "but you need an appointment, so..."

"No time Martha!" Willow yelled over her shoulder, dragging Faith behind her. Willow and Faith dashed down the hallway, and almost tripped over Dawn coming out of Xander's office.

"Dawnie?" Willow spoke up. Dawn blushed a shade of crimson. Her hair was mussed up, and her lipstick was smeared all over her face.

"Um..." Dawn started to say something, but Faith interrupted her.

"No time." Faith said as she pulled both Dawn and Willow into Xander's office. Xander was sitting in a black roll-y chair, trying to fix his hair in his computer screen. He turned around when he heard the three girls come in.

"What? Girls? What's wrong?" He asked, startled by the sight before him.

"Envelope. Not. Nothing" Willow said in a hurry.

"Whoa, Wills, slow down," Xander said standing up, "OK guys don't leave me hanging." Xander said looking at the three women.

"Well, there was this envelope when me and Wills got home..." Faith started to say.

"Oh yeah Dawn got that this morning." Xander said cutting Faith off. Willow, Faith, and Xander all turned to look at Dawn.

"What, don't look at me," Dawn said, "It was by the door when I got it this morning! I thought it was nothing."

"Well its not nothing Dawn," Willow said, "Its..."

Chapter 1: Buffy is Back

2 months earlier...

"Stay safe, Dawn" Buffy said as she backed the car out of the driveway. Dawn just smiled at her as Xander wrapped his arm around Dawn's shoulder.

"I'll take great care of her." Xander said.

"You better. Or I'm going to come back here... and... and... Thank you Xander." Buffy said and waved at Dawn, as she drove away with tears in her eyes.

Her reasons for going to LA were unknown to her fellow survivors of the Sunnydale horrors, along with how long she would be down there. She didn't even know how long she would be there. There was a rouge slayer in the City of Angels, and Angel needed her help. So Buffy had decided on a road trip to get down there. It had been almost 2 years since she had been to the west coast where she had spent most of her life. Although there was so much down there that she wanted to put into the back in her mind, there was a part of her that missed the California sun, and the beaches, and the suburbia, a part of life that she didn't get out of the Big Apple. City life excited her, but she didn't get the thrill out it like she got out of slaying a vamp, or shanking a demon.

Buffy had her route already planed out, first she would go pick up Andrew in Cleveland. Andrew had insisted in coming along. Angel had called Giles for help first but Giles was in England so he had told Andrew to go for him, Andrew had spilled to Buffy and now Buffy and Andrew were going on a road trip together. This should be fun. Not.

Buffy was pulled out of her thoughts by her phone.

"Hello?"

"Buffy, I need your slayeryness! I'm trapped! He is holding me like they held Leia in Empire Strikes Back! I have no idea what is going on! I need you to be my Luke! Help me Buffy! Your my only..."

"Andrew? Andrew. Calm down. What's going on? Slowly. Without all the Star Wars references. Please." Buffy spoke quickly before he could get another word in. Although Spike had watched all the Star Wars movies with her, she didn't really want Andrew to go through all 6 movies and the comic books.

"I'm in this building. And he has me trapped here! Like... like... uhh.. I'm drawing a blank! Help a fellow Sunnydale Trekkie out!" Andrew screamed quickly into the phone.

"Trekkie? Really?" Buffy sighed.

"I think that because we fight battles together, and travel the 'verse together, we're Trekkies!"

"Andrew. We don't travel the "'verse" together. Okay, where are you anyways? What building?" The nerve of this guy! Buffy didn't know why Giles kept him around. He was mainly just a pain in the butt.

"I'm in a brick building with the words "Johnson Railroad Parts" on the outside, approximately 3.334 kilometers outside of Cleveland. By Lake Erie!" a scared Andrew yelled into the phone.

"Okay, I'll be there soon. And Andrew? You owe me. Big time." Buffy shut the phone, and sped up on the freeway headed to Ohio.

Chapter 2: Johnson's Railroad Parts

Buffy stopped the car in front of an old run down building with the Johnson's Railroad Parts sign Andrew had told her about. Andrew was always getting in trouble, even more than Dawn, and it was starting to get on her nerves. She looked around and spotted a door, after breaking the lock she grabbed her stake and slowly pushed the door open hoping it wouldn't creak, it did. Time to kick some major ass.

She sneaked into the building like a cat. In the building there was a long hall, with two big rooms on either side. Buffy peeked into one of the rooms, and saw a tied up Andrew, talking to a big sticky blue guy twice Buffy's size. Buffy knew her options. She could either run away, and just drive straight to LA to help Angel, or she could "be a man" and go save Andrew from Mr. Sticky.

"Damn you Andrew," Buffy muttered to herself. She decided on attack from the back, running, and jumping on his back, rapping an elbow around his neck. He grabbed onto her arm, and flipped her over, in the process, throwing her across the room onto Andrew.

"What the frack! That hurt Buffy!" Andrew screamed into the ear of the girl on top of him.

"I'm saving your life, don't yell at me Andrew," Buffy grumbled angrily at Andrew as she got up. "Stay here, and find me a sharp weapon. Preferably made of metal." she said as she ran off to kick the blue guys ass. There were moments like this where she missed having a vampire as a partner in crime; they could attack from both sides. *Sigh*. Buffy threw a right hit to the jaw, and then a left kick in the balls. He replied by back handing her across the face, and throwing her again across the room.

"He really needs to stop doing that." She spoke to herself. "Hey Andrew! What have you got for me in terms of weaponry?" She had no idea where her stake had gotten to.

Andrew had a look on his face that meant thinking. "My pocket knife?" He asked.

"That'll work." She replied, and took it out of his hand, and threw it across the room, it spiraling into the demons stomach, resulting in the blue demon falling to the floor in agony.

Buffy wiped her face with her hand, and went over to the demon. He was dead. And he kinda looked like Giles. Weird. She ripped the knife out of the demon's stomach, and used it to cut Andrew's bonds. He ran over to look at his ex-captor. "!" he yelled at her.

"Uhhh... What now?" Buffy asked the hyperventilating freak. He was becoming very annoying. A whole trip with Andrew? She didn't think she was going to last.

"You killed a Novotel demon! These things eat your entrails! They usually come in nests, strange huh? I have to tweet this! Where's my phone?" Andrew squealed.

"They come in a nest? Andrew. A NEST! We have to get out of here. NOW! Run! Leave everything!" She yelled. Buffy was tired, and really didn't want to deal with a whole nest of these guys. She needed to save her energy for the drive to LA, because letting Andrew drive was not at the top of her list of things to do.

"But... my phone.."

"I'll buy you a new one, lets go!" She grabbed his hand and dragged him out of the warehouse. They reached the car, and drove down the street quickly, headed for Las Vegas.

Chapter 3: Lost Wages

"Why are we going to Las Vegas, again?" Buffy asked, looking over at Andrew in the passenger seat. They had already been driving for a day and a half. She really missed Willow's Tired-Be-Gone spell. And Xander's lame jokes. Surviving this road trip was not going to be fun.

"Buffy, I need to hit the slots. Duh." Andrew blew her off. Buffy turned her eyes back to the road and sighed. Spending this much time with Andrew was definitely bad for her complexion.

"You should let me drive," Andrew spoke up, "I'm a really good driver."

Buffy thought about this for a second. She was getting sleepy... "Yeah, no." Buffy replied, "You crashed the last four cars Giles bought you"

"OK first of all that crash was not my fault." So typical of Andrew to blame someone else.

"All four." Buffy said with a laugh.

"And second," Andrew said ignoring Buffy last comment, "If you let me drive I'll tell you why we're really going to Las Vegas."

Tempting, Buffy thought but if Andrew crashed her car he was gonna wish he was dead.

"Maybe..." Buffy said pulling into the parking lot of a Double Meat Palace, "If you buy me a burger."

"Deal," Andrew smiled.

"You realise that thing is made out of cat right?" Buffy said, smirking to herself, remembering her days of working at the Palace. And Spike. And Sunnydale.

"WHAT?" Andrew spat out his bite of burger.

"I'm just joshing you Andrew. What has your panties in a bunch? Is it why we're going to Lost Wages?" Buffy laughed as Andrew blushed red.

"Fine, I'll tell you. There's... there's a girl." Andrew whispered. Andrew likes a girl! Time to interrogate.

"A girl? What is this girl's name Andrew?" Buffy asked.

"Abigail. She's beautiful. But that's not why we have to go pick her up. She has a book that Giles wants. And in return, we have to drive her to LA with her brother, Daniel, to find their Uncle who was kidnapped." Andrew said.

"No way. You decide to tell me this now? We're almost to Las Vegas!" Buffy spat out.

"I know, I know, you would have said no! So I had to wait. And the boy is cuuutttteeeee." Andrew taunted Buffy.

"Really cute?" Buffy asked innocently. Although he probably wouldn't be an Angel, or a Riley, or... Spike, she needed to move on. He was still the only man she ever thought about in that way anymore, though she would tell no one.

"Really cute." Andrew answered slyly.

Buffy was interested. She loved Spike. She may still love Angel. But if she was ever to get over this vamp "phase" as Faith called it, she needed to find a normal guy. Time to put on the bubble Buffy act.

"Well what are you waiting for?Lets get moving!" Buffy squealed as she yet again dragged Andrew out of the building.

Chapter 4: American Idiot

"I frakin' won! I won Buffy, I won!" an ecstatic Andrew jumped up and down in excitement. Buffy rolled her eyes.

"Andrew, you won 5 dollars. I don't think that is in the jumping up and down level of happiness. When you win over 100 dollars, we can talk." Andrew hung his head. Buffy felt pity for him, and patted him on the back.

"Go buy yourself some ice cream. I'll wait here for the siblings." Andrew ran towards the counter in glee. Buffy sighed, and turned her head back towards the casino's door. Suddenly, the words to Green Day's "American Idiot" played over the speakers.

"It's a sign." Andrew said walking back over to Buffy.

"Why because your American and an idiot?" She replied.

"Ha ha ha, no," Andrew dead-panned, "Look." He pointed to two people, a girl and a boy, walking towards them. Both looked around Buffy's age, the boy with black hair, and the girl with blond. They were as different as they were alike, which confused Buffy, but she knew these were the people they had been waiting for. Buffy stood up, and walked over to them with Andrew. The girl, Abigail, looked over at Andrew, and her eyes widened.

"DREW-DREW! OH. MY. GOD! IS THAT YOU! I'VE MISSED YOU SO MUCH!" the girl ran over and tackled Andrew to the ground.

"Drew-drew? I'm totally going to use that against you." Buffy smirked as Andrew and the girl lifted themselves off of the floor. Andrew gave her a dirty look.

"Buffy, this is Abigail. Abigail, Buffy." Andrew introduced them, and they shook hands. Abigail beamed at Buffy, and she couldn't help but wonder where she got her source of happiness from. "Buffy will be driving us to LA. Oh, and this is Daniel." Andrew said, and pointed to the boy who had come in with Abigail.

Buffy was stunned when she turned to look at the boy. She hadn't noticed him much when he first came in, but now she could definitely see what Andrew did. This boy was HOT. Buffy blushed as she shook his hand.

"Hey. 'Names Daniel." He spoke in a deep sensual voice. Boy, Buffy just wanted to lick him up!

"Burdfryy." She said, star struck. Realizing her mistake, she corrected herself. "Buffy, Buffy Summers."

"Nice to meet you Buffy." Daniel replied. "So lets get this show on the road? I want to reach LA before lunch tomorrow." Buffy smiled. The rest of the trip was definitely going to be fun.

Chapter 6: Uncle Brad

As Buffy drove she couldn't help but steal glances at Daniel, who was sitting in the passenger seat. He was so hot! Buffy thought to her self, perfectly normal rebound material.

"So, how do you guys know 'Drew-drew'?" Buffy asked Daniel, pointing with her elbow at Abigail and Andrew cuddling in the back seat. Daniel laughed.

"We all went to high school together." He replied.

"But I thought Andrew went to Sunnydale High, home of the Hellmouth." Buffy stated.

"He did, he was only there for senior year. He went to my school and dated my sister from freshman year to junior year. But I thought you went to Sunnydale High too. Wouldn't you know this?" He asked. Buffy bowed her head in shame.

"Well... I was in my own little slaying world in high school," along with being in love with Angel, Buffy thought, "I didn't notice much outside of my close inner circle of friends."

"Well, now you know." He smiled at me. Buffy blushed again. Wow, with all the blushing I'm doing today, I may as well turn into a tomato, she thought.

"Buffyyyyyyyyy." She heard the annoying voice of Andrew from the back. "Are we there yet?" Buffy rolled her eyes.

"Drew-drew." Buffy said, mocking his tone, "Noooooo." Daniel laughed.

"Hmph. Well tell us when we do. We're gonna hit the sack." Andrew replied calmly to her mockery.

For the next 5 hours, Buffy and Daniel chatted while Abigail and Andrew slept in the back, waking up every once and a while for bathroom stops. Buffy learned a lot about Daniel. Like how their uncle, Uncle Brad, was an important wizard, who went from outside of Las Vegas, to LA, and suddenly they lost contact with him, so they needed to find him. And how Daniel was very caring about his sister, always looking back to make sure she was okay. And that his hands were very soft... like a babies.

"Time to wake up!" Buffy sing-songed into the back of the car, "We're in, Los Angeles!"

Chapter 7: Oh, it's you.

Buffy bit her nails and paced outside the door to Angel's office for 15 minutes before Andrew came up to the door and knocked on it for her.

"Andrew!" Buffy hissed harshly and looked back and forth from Andrew to the door.

"What? You didn't look like you were going to do it any time soon," He stated, "I thought someone should do it. And we have to go back to the hotel to get Abigail and Daniel."

"I was waiting for the right moment."

"Buffy, hon, you always stall like that."

"I do not!"

"Uhuuhhhhh.."

"Don't make me kick you!" The two started arguing, and didn't notice the tall, dark man come out the door.

"Buffy?" Andrew and Buffy both turned and looked at the speaker.

"Hi Angel. I came when you called. May I come in?" Buffy spoke slowly. Angel nodded, and opened the door to his office, gesturing for Buffy and Andrew to walk in.

"Oh, why hello people I don't know?" Andrew said awkwardly.

"Be nice." Buffy said as she slapped the back of Andrew's head.

"I am being nice, your the one who's being a..."

"Ok..." Angel interrupted Andrew, "This is Fred." Angel said pointing at a brown haired girl.

"Hi!" Fred said.

"Helloooo foxy mamma." Andrew said as he raised his eyebrows at Fred in a creepy stalker way. Fred looked at Buffy with a terrified look on her face. Buffy just rolled her eyes,

"What about Abigail?" Buffy asked.

"She was so five minutes ago." Andrew said sitting down in a chair right across from Fred and got out a bag lunch that had goldfish and a juice box in it. Buffy gave Fred a reassuring look as she sat down next to Andrew.

"This is Gunn," Angel said ignoring Andrew's little out burst, "And you remember Wesley." Buffy smiled at the English man and gave him a small, 'hey'. Wesley just gave her a little nod. Angel pointed at a green demon leaning against the wall in the corner of the room. "And this is Lorne."

"Hello, I've heard so much about you." Lorne said politely. Buffy nodded and smiled. With not much else to say the group fell silent.

"Sooo," Andrew said ending the awkwardness, "About that slayer..."

"Right," Angel said," I got a call from a mental hospital saying a very unstable patient had escaped. In the process killing a doctor, three nurses, and an employee at a grocery store. I went down to the hospital and the girl's parents were murdered in front of her when she was ten, then the murderer kidnapped her and he drugged, and tortured her until she escaped. But what..."

"What Angel is trying to say," Lorne interrupted, "Is that if you and Faith are alive then how is little miss psycho slayer running around LA?"

"And now we come to the Sunnydale surprise." Said a man standing in the doorway. Both Buffy and Andrew turned in their chairs.

"Spike!" They said at the same time.

"Bloody 'ell bint, don't burst the ears!" Spike said as he lit a cigarette.

"Smoking kills." Buffy said.

"But luv," Spike said with a smirk, "I'm already dead."