"Okay. Now it comes down to the tough choice. Count Chocula, or the Captain?" Anne asked, placing the Count Chocula box on the kitchen counter and then the Captain Crunch.

Liam looked from the brown box to the red and back again. "The Count," he decided.

"Ooh, good choice. Let this be a lesson to you, Liam. Keep eating chocolate for breakfast for as long as you can get away with it," she told him, pouring the sugary cereal into a bowl. Anne studied her son as he took a couple of bites. His skin was looking pale, and he had dark circles under his eyes. "What time did you go to sleep last night, Li?"

Liam shrugged, looking down into his cereal bowl.

"Liam," she said in a warning tone.

"Maybe…midnight?"

"Liam! Midnight?" Anne scolded.

"What? I wasn't tired! And then I needed a bedtime snack."

"And what was your bedtime snack? Sugar cubes?" Anne asked. "That's it, we're gonna cut back on the sweets if you're too jacked up on the sugar." She was pouring herself a glass of orange juice when she heard the front door open.

"Liam? Hello!"

"Hi, Mrs. Beckett," Liam called.

"Oh, hey. We're just finishing breakfast," Anne called to her son's teacher.

"Sure, no problem," she said, joining them in the kitchen and placing her school bag on the table. "Mm, Count Chocula, a classic."

Anne nodded. "Yup. But only for now. We're gonna try a sugar-free diet. Somebody can't get to bed on time," she said, looking pointedly at Liam. He shrugged. Anne looked back at Mrs. Beckett, who was probably only a few years older than herself. "I have some errands to run, but you two have fun. And no blinds up until…"

"After two. I remember," Mrs. Beckett nodded.

"Okay. Great. Thanks," Anne told her. "Be good," she kissed Liam's sandy blonde hair before grabbing her purse and heading out the front door.

***

Anne pulled into the University parking lot and took notice of the college kids still doing all of the same things she'd been doing in school – drinking lattes with soy milk, talking politics, listening to some incredibly cool boy playing the guitar. Of course, there had also been the demon fighting, the underground government operative, the sister from another dimension. So maybe she hadn't ever had the normal college experience… or the normal high school one. She was having the normal suburban mom experience now…kind of.

Getting out of the car, Anne made her way down the familiar path to the library, past the row of frat houses that had felt the consequences of being built on the Hellmouth. Demons in need of female sacrifices, ones who fed on fear, even a cursed house that made the victims overcome with the desire for…well, passion, to say the least. Anne tried not to remember that. It had been years and years ago, but she couldn't lie, not everything about that curse had been exactly horrible…

"Hey Buf…Anne."

"Hey Andrew," Anne greeted the man who still always managed to look like an awkward seventeen-year-old in her eyes.

"I got you a latte, but I wasn't sure if you took real sugar, Sweet-N-Low, or Splenda, so I brought them all," he said, gesturing to the array of white, pink, and yellow packets on the table in front of them.

"Thanks," Anne said slowly. Most of Andrew's geekiness had worn off, but he still treated her like she was a celebrity sometimes. She sat down and stirred the contents of a Splenda packet into her latte as Andrew sat across form her, opening his notebook.

"So, we were right at the part where you first met Spike," Andrew reminded her, clicking on his pen.

Anne raised her eyebrows. "Well that's putting it nicely. He was trying to kill me," she reminded him.

"Oh, right. So…how'd it go?" Andrew asked, like he was asking her about a midterm.

"Well I'm obviously still alive, so it didn't really go according to plan," she explained. Andrew nodded and Anne realized that he was waiting for her to continue. "What is this for again?" she asked.

Andrew's eager smile seemed to deflate a little. "Oh, my TV show," he explained. Anne nodded, vaguely remembering what sounded to her like another one of Andrew's hair-brained schemes. He wanted to write a TV show based off her exploits in high school. "I'll say its fiction, of course. But I think there'd be a big market for a show like this. It'd watch it, at least…" he trailed off with an awkward shrug.

"Yeah," Anne nodded again.

Andrew had known her for long enough now to know when he should speak and when he shouldn't, and he waited for a few minutes. "It's weird to think about how that was all just a few months before Angel changed."

"Angel," Anne repeated, being jogged out of her thoughts. "Do we have to talk about that? It still gives me the wiggins."

Andrew offered her a lame shrug. "I could try getting in touch with the others, but you're the one with most of the information," he told her, confirming her fears. "Angel was the first time you and Spike got together, wasn't it?"

"What? No!" Anne denied vehemently. "We didn't…we never…not until a long, long time after me and Angel."

"Oh, no, I know. I just meant the first time you guys teamed up. You know, joined forces," Andrew offered.

Anne paused. "Oh. Well…yeah. He wanted Drusilla, so we traded. Kind of stupid, making a deal with a vampire. But he loved her. No denying that…" Anne trailed off.

"And," Andre started tentatively, "Drusilla, she was insane, right?"

"Believe me when I say totally and completely," Anne confirmed. "Out of her mind. Always saying these completely crazed things. She was vicious, though. And as crazy as she was, she could see things that normal people never could." He'd told her once, about all that Dru had seen, about how she'd seen it, even before he head. "She's all over you," Dru had told him. And she'd been right.

Anne and Andrew talked for a little while longer before Andrew had to make a screen writing class and she had to food shop. She got up from the table as Andrew packed his notebook and pen back into his messenger bag. "Well…I'll see you next week," Anne told him awkwardly.

"Yeah," Andrew nodded.

"'Kay…bye." She turned around and made for the library doors.

"Buffy."

She paused and slowly turned.

Andre jogged over to where she was, so that he was standing close enough for her to head his whisper. "Do you miss it?" she blinked back, like he'd slapped her. "The excitement, I mean."

Anne opened and closed her mouth a few times. "Well I…Yes, Andrew, I miss my friends, and being young. But it wasn't ever exciting. It wasn't a TV show and at the end, nobody yelled, 'Cut' and we all got to go home. I miss being young. But things are better this way, really."

Andrew nodded slowly, giving her a tight-lipped smile. She could tell that he wasn't completely convinced. "Well…I'll see you."

"Sure," she nodded before heading to her car again, driving away, and not looking back.