"Just call her." Buffy rolled her eyes and continued to stare out the car window. They had been driving for ten hours straight. The rain was not helping.

Xander glanced in the car rear-view mirror at Buffy. She was frustrated with him. What was it with men refusing to ask for directions?

"Come on, Buff. It's probably around the next bend."

"Xander, you said that two hours ago." He glanced in the mirror again and saw Buffy staring at him.

"Well, just for a sec'." They pulled their car to the side of the road. The sunset was beginning to color the sky in deep pinks and oranges. Rain slid down the car windows, like side winders in cool desert weather.

Xander reached in the backseat for his outdated cell phone. Buffy crossed her arms. With some digging around in his pocket, Xander focused on the number written hastily on a spare post-it note.

"I wonder if Sookie's at work." Sookie Stackhouse was Xander Harris's cousin -from his dad's side of course. They had never really been close, but they liked each other; Sookie was always nice and admired Xander for his family quirks. In the back of her mind, she understood his turmoil in love all too well.

After Anya died, Xander was inconsolable. Getting calls from her demon friends, it was decided that Anya would be honored in a special memory service in Bogalusa, Louisiana and the only person he knew lived in the small town of Bon Temps. Far away from the simplicity of the big interstates, Xander was failing miserably at navigating Louisiana's back roads. Only now did he resort to calling up Sookie at her work. He knew how dedicated she was and knew before he picked up the phone that this was pointless.

For a moment there was no noise coming from the other end of the line, then he could hear faint ringing at the other end. A few moments passed like that - Xander on the phone and Buffy sitting silently with her arms folded across her chest. "I guess she's busy." Xander hung up hastily. He let out a sigh and grasped the wheel with both hands. "Back on the road again, eh, old buddy?" Buffy stared at him.

"I think I know another number."

"Who do you know knows Louisiana backroads?"

"Who do you think?" Buffy took the phone from Xander and quickly dialed a number with a lot of digits.

Great, Xander thought, long distance.

After a while, Buffy spoke. "Faith? Oh. Really?" She paused. "Well, how are you holding up. Uhuh. Five by five? Great. Xander and I are trying to get to Bon Temps. Yeah. Louisiana. Long time? Could you try? Thanks. Uhuh. Okay. Yes. Got it." Buffy motioned to Xander to give her a pen and some paper. "Just a sec."

He handed her some graphing paper that Willow had left in the car after he helped Kennedy and her pack up and leave for the airport. They were living in South America now. Willow spent the majority of her time in grad school and Kennedy, like Buffy, had become a police-officer specializing in vampire retrieval. With vampires as ever present as ever, all the police departments opened new "special forces" units, and the slayers were very welcome. Now and Kennedy had an apartment together. The last he had heard from them, Oz and Maggie, one of Kennedy's ex's, would be passing by and wanted to visit. Xander had forgotten to call and ask how that weekend went, but he could sense the strain in their voices when they told him about it. Shaking his head, Xander tried to listen in to the phone conversation.

Buffy scribbled some random arrows and shorthand over the miniature grids. "Thank you. Kiss." She hung up, remembered something, and frowned. Looking at Xander, Buffy smiled. "At least we're not too far."

"And you can entertain me with Faith news." Buffy grinned, nodding her head. She had been on the phone for almost an hour.

"Do you really want a dose of Faith buzz, Xan?" He frowned.

"That's cold. Point taken, but cold. Sure, what's happened since the Big Fight? Faith and Robyn. They sure did move away from Sunnydale quick."

"You're right. Well, luckily she still had her cell with the New York City area code, otherwise, we'd be doing some quality meandering. Robyn got a grant to start up a correctional school for inner city kids and Faith is one of his top counselors. She's been there, you know?"

Xander grunted. "Huh."

"The only bad part is the occasional slurs people throw at her. I guess New York isn't one of the most accepting cities out there." Buffy was remembering how Faith told her this.

Faith had pulled up to a gas station in a not-so-great neighborhood. Robyn was standing outside by the pump, stretching his legs after a more-than-strenuous drive. He smiled her way where she was standing behind the glass front of the store. Like a "bashful B" (she liked to call it) she gave him a flirty look back. The woman standing beside her sighed and rolled her eyes. "F***ing mixers." Faith turned around almost shaking in her black nike's.

"Excuse me, lady."

"You're a disgrace. The whole lot…" As quick as the woman spit out the words, Faith back handed her, sending her sprawling in the beer section.

"Drink up some more, b****." Everyone in the store was quiet and most left. "Thirty on number six." She laid down the cash and smiled at the man behind the counter. He put it in the computer. "Have a nice day." Walking out of the store front, Robyn jogged to meet her halfway.

"What happened in there?"

"A b****," she said, giving him a kiss and walking back to the car. "Let's get out of here. They kissed again and her hand caressed his face. Turning to the side, she whispered in his ear after a pause. "You drive," she said, slipping the keys in his pocket. He took her hand in his.

"But Faith…," he said, eyebrows raised in worry.

"Where was that apartment again?" He sighed and got back in the car.

"About an hour from here."

"I thought so." They drove off.

Recalling this episode, Buffy was more than embarrassed by the time she had spent on the phone. In the time she had talked to Faith, Buffy and Xander would have reached Merlottes twice over. "You're going to want to take the second left."