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Chapt 3: Some Gifts are Never Free

Buffy's face held a thoughtful shock. She wanted adventures, yes, but could she live without every person that made up her family? Things were finally okay, life was of the good, granted yeah boring, but still good. Would she really be able to leave all of them behind just to fulfill a whim, a passing fancy of thought that should never have crossed her mind?

Slowly other thoughts laid themselves out in front of her. The feelings of not belonging her any more. That her job her was finished. This time she could say a proper goodbye to everyone. One thought kept running over and over, she Buffy Summers, The Slayer, could have a life away from demons and apocalypse, a real life without facing yet another early grave. This might be the only chance she got of living to a ripe old age with fat grandchildren at her feet.

A smile broke Buffy's lips only to be pulled away just as quickly, the vision of Dawn and Xander on their wedding day pulling from her with an almost physical force. Suddenly the coffee and dinner she had earlier hit her stomach like a ton of bricks. How could she even think of leaving at such a huge time in her sister's life? Dawn had been through so much and deserved all of the happiness that she could get from life, how could Buffy selfishly destroy this time for her.

Cordy watched silently as the hope that had just filled Buffy's eyes moments before crashed and burned leaving her look like she was going to be ill at any moment. Soon and quicker than she had thought Cordy was going to use a bit of information that the Powers had granted her into the future of this world. They were trying to give her a gift, one that she should have gotten a few years ago. Now with Buffy alive again the rules had changed, they could still give her the peace that she had died for and still give her the fight that The Slayer aspect of her thrived and craved for. Granted the Powers always had a way of making their gifts work for them, Cordy herself could attest to that fact. Whatever gifts they would receive would always come with a price, one just had to decide if the price was right and unlike the game show no one had an audience calling out the answers.

"How can I?" Buffy looked at Cordelia wanted this new start no matter what the cost, but unwilling, and seemingly unable to pay the price the Powers seemed to want out of her.

"First things first, get on the phone. Call everyone and set up a meeting. Meetings are what the Scoobies do best, then you leave the rest up to me." Cordelia stood and shimmered back into her white robe. "Getting them all together is the easy part, everything will be easier explained to all of them at once, rather than one at a time. For whatever reason, we're in this together. I'll explain more of that to you to later. When the whole gang is together just give me a shout, they are calling me back so I can't stay, but I'll be there." Buffy was standing and just looking at her in such a manner that Cordy couldn't help it and did something so out of character that it shocked the both of them right to the core. With a quickness Cordelia actually hugged the other girl in comfort before disappearing from sight.

For more than a moment Buffy just stood in the same spot feeling like Alice trapped in Wonderland. The only words that seemed to form in her head were the same words as Alice. "Curiouser and Curiouser." The jangle of the telephone snapped Buffy out of her daze and back in to the present. The called I. D. showed that it was Dawn, leaving her feeling dread at the thought of the hour or so her sister was going to ramble on about wedding plans that Buffy probably wouldn't get to see the culmination of. Man this wanting a new life was starting to suck.

"Buffy, how soon can you get here?" Dawn's voice on the other end, was frantic, not with the sound of worry, but frantic nonetheless. The sounds of a commotion could be heard in the background but not loud enough that Buffy could figure out just what the sounds were.

"As soon as I can pack a bag and catch a flight, why?" Concern overwhelmed every other feeling that had bombarded Buffy just moments before.

"Pack enough for a week, maybe two if things don't work out exactly as planned, just in case." There was a sound of metal on metal and Dawn yelling into the background for quiet.

"Dawn's what's going on?" The plastic of the phone was showing and giving off the sounds of strain as Buffy gripped the receiver tight enough to crack the casing.

"Just get here as soon as possible, don't bother with weapons, just pack clothes and anything else you'll need. Hurry Buffy, you have to be here before we can tell everyone. Oh no!..." Dawn's voice faded as the receiver was dropped and footsteps could be heard running.

"Buffy, are you there?" Xander's voice came through out of breath and tired. It sounded like he'd just been running a marathon.

"I'm here, what's going on Xander? What's happened to Dawn?" Tears were threatening to spill from her eyes at the thought of her sister being hurt and her on the other side of the world and not be able to do anything about it. How could she even think of going away and leaving them, they needed her. This adventure into the future was just not meant to be. Now Buffy didn't know if the tears were for her sister or for her. Man why did life have to be always about the suckage.

"Dawn's going to be fine Buffy, just get here as soon as possible. As soon as you get here, we'll fill you in on everything and like Dawn said pack enough for at least two weeks." That damn metal clanging could be heard again and this time there were animal type noises mixed in along with the silence that had come from Xander hanging up the phone.
With a quick call to the local cab company and to the airport to secure a flight that was leaving within the hour she was off and racing.

In a flash Buffy was in the bedroom pulling out suitcases. Throwing clothes off hangers and out of drawers and into the cases that were on the bed and the floor. In the bathroom she opened the closet door and threw stuff in her bag without thinking twice about anything that she would need. Everything was pretty much always kept ready to go just in case. As an afterthought Buffy added the worn photo albums of her mothers and her own shoe box full of memories. They came with her everywhere since they are the only things that had made it out of Sunnydale. She'd hidden them on the bus that morning, just like now. They gave her strength and right now to get to Dawn she was going to need all the strength she could tap into.

After a quick call for a cab she hefted the cases onto one another she secured them with the traveling strap, grabbed her handbag and left the loft, locking the door behind her. She'd be in London tomorrow morning luck on her side in the way of an almost non stop flight. All she could do now was wait for answers and pray that everything was all right. She didn't want to think about another life to live right now when people in this life needed her. It was all she could do not to phone Willow and have her magic her to London. Chances were good though that Dawn had already called Willow and she like Buffy was already on her way to London, and whenever Willow tended to still use her power for personal gain it tended to go haywire and backfire.

Tomorrow morning would have to do, there was no getting to London any quicker, she just hoped that everyone she loved wouldn't be dead by the time she was through customs.