I wake with a start, with a sudden pain in my left temple. Rubbing my head with my free hand, I realize I must have fallen asleep against the glass. Taking in my surroundings I see that we are about 30 miles outside of Los Angeles – I must have been out for a while. I glance down slightly and see that Willow is still asleep in the same position that she passed out in over an hour ago.

By now, everyone else has moved to the front of the bus and were crowded around Buffy. There was a lot of chatter going on, mostly excited chatter, and I figured I should go up and see what it was that got everyone up out of their seats. Carefully, I take off the brown leather jacket I've been wearing and fold it up. I slide it under Willow's head as I get up and swiftly scoot by her.

As I'm walking up the aisle, I can hear Faith's voice over everyone else's talking.

"Yo, B, I'm starting to feel one half of those double h's. You wanna stop off somewhere and grab some grub for these mini-slayers?"

Buffy tilts her head off of Dawn's shoulder and yawns. She glances around at the handful of us on the bus and asks, "Is anybody else hungry?"

Immediately every hand goes up, including mine. Well, every hand but Willow's. I didn't realize it until now but I am actually starving.

"Well it's unanimous then," Giles says from the driver's seat, "I see a rest area up ahead, I will pull into there so that everyone can get a chance to take care of themselves."

Within minutes, we are pulling the bus to a halt at the shoddy rest stop on US 101, just before Los Angeles. I walk back and check on Willow, who is still out cold, then follow the rest of the crew off the bus. I wonder, what do the few other people that are here in the middle of the day think of us? A rag tag group of girls (and a few guys) that are all cut up and bleeding, but smiling like it's they just saved the world (cause they did). I'm sure it's an interesting sight.

We walk through the automatic doors and immediately, half of us peel off and run straight towards the restrooms. I tried to join them, but was held back by someone holding my elbow. Twirling around, ready to lay into whoever is keeping me from peeing like I've had to do since I sat on the floor across from Willow back in Sunnydale, I notice that it's Xander and immediately soften.

"Hey, Xander."

He smiles, and it's half-hearted but I appreciate it all the same.

"How is she? Willow, I mean. How is she holding up?"

"She's been asleep since we got on the bus actually. Barely moved at all. I figured I would just let her until we get to wherever we're going in L.A."

He smiles again, and pulls me into an unexpected hug.

"Oh", I say softly as I start to hug him back, "thanks Xan."

He loosens his grips slightly and pulls away blushing, a little embarrassed about the hug. It's endearing though, and I place a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"And how are you? Holding in there, patchy?"

"Oh. You know. The whole apocalypse thing? Not new."

We share a knowing look and smile. I turn to walk away again, but he grabs my elbow before I can spin all the way around.

"Wait. Kennedy. I just, I need to thank you. Like, really think you."

Confused, I raise an eyebrow at him. "For what?"

"You kept Willow safe. I mean that was some of the major mojo she had going on back there. It could have been... well let's just say it could've ended with Willow undergoing a major makeover, veins and all." He chuckles, though the seriousness of the comment still remains. "Just, thank you. Willow is all I have now. Of course there is Buffy and Dawn and Giles and everyone else, but Will has been there from the beginning. She's been my bestfriend for as long as I can remember. Losing her is something I just don't think I could make it through. So, thank you."

Not knowing what to say, I just pull him in for another unexpected hug. He wraps his arms around me tightly. I smile into his broad chest. It's a little foreign to me, whatever this feeling that I am feeling is, but I am welcoming it. I don't think I did very much in the way of keeping Willow 'grounded', but I am eternally grateful that she is still here. For Xander, for Buffy... for me.

Xander gives me one last squeeze before letting go and grinning like a fool.

"Guess I'll let you head off to the little slayer's room now, huh?"

Smiling again, I just nod and spin to walk away. I had almost forgot about haw badly I had to pee until now. Luckily, there was a an unnecessary amount of bathroom stalls at this rest stop so I didn't even have to wait in line. Thank god; there's something I won't miss about being back in Sunnydale.

After finishing my business, I exit the bathroom and head straight to the little convenience store located across from them. Shoving my hands in my pocket, I realize all too late that whatever cash I had was in my jacket pocket. I groan and walk out.

"Hold up, junior", Faith calls from behind me, "G man gave me some cash to hand out to all of you. Here's $40, $20 for you and $20 for Red. Just get whatever you need and head back, we're leaving in a few minutes."

I smile and thank her before cheerfully bouncing back towards the store. I don't think that I could have gone any longer without something in my stomach, I already feel like I haven't eaten in days. Once inside, I pick up a few essentials (like gauze, bandaids, a needle and thread, and water) and a few not-so-essentials (sour gummy worms, two hotdogs and a handful of candy bars). With $10 still left over, I happily exit and join the rest of the girls on the bus.

Once walking up the steps, I am extremely pleased to see that Willow is up at the front of the bus talking to Buffy. She looks exhausted still, and is using Buffy as a human support stick, but is up and about. And smiling. My breath catches in my throat.

"Hey you", she says as I round the corner.

I wrap my arms around her waist and pull her as close as I can.

"Hey yourself."

Pulling away, she notices my bag from the convenience store.

"Oh, any goodies for me?", she smiles.

"Well, I mean, there may be some sour gummy worms and a hotdog in here for the next gal that gives me a kiss."

Without missing a beat, Willow leans in a gives me a chaste kiss. She smiles as she pulls away, then playfully snatches the bag away, hugs Buffy, and begins to walk back to the back of the bus. She doesn't make it more than a few steps, however, before her knees give out and she starts to fall forward. Being closer to her than I, Buffy quickly grabs her shoulder and pulls her back to catch her before she falls.

"Whoa, Will. Be careful."

She smiles sleepily and looks up, muttering a barely audible 'oops' before she passes out. Buffy picks her up in one swift motion and turns to place her in my arms. She smiles as I take her.

"She'll be okay, Kennedy", she says as the worry on my face is probably becoming palpable, "she's probably just wiped from that spell. That was some pretty heavy stuff back there."

Still smiling, she places the bag in my hand, and moves into a seat so that I can scoot past her and back to where we have been sitting. Gently, I set Willow down on the bench, with her head on my jacket like it was before. I set her food and a drink next to her on the floor, in a place I'm convinced they won't roll, and head back up to the front to join the rest of the gang.

I sit down in an empty seat across from Rona and Vi, and open up the first aid supplies I bought. Carefully, I wrap the wounds on my hands and knuckles, then roll up my pants to use the needle and thread as make-shift stitches to stitch up the deep wound found on my calf. As I do, however, I notice that the deep gash has already healed to a not-so-bad scratch. Slayer healing is something else. The bus starts to move as I put the supplies back into their plastic bag and swap them for the hotdog and handful of candy bars. Faith, who has sat back down next to Robin and has been carefully giving him water, speaks up above the chatter again as we pass a big green sign.

"Well, slayerettes, welcome to L.A."