They spent the day trying to get organised. Buying supplies for the journey, and tending to wounds that were starting to heal. Robin had perked up over night, he sat quietly, but he smiled, even joined in with the conversation occasionally, and whenever he thought no-one was watching he squeezed Faith's hand, which made her feel strange. Nice, but still new. She wasn't used to having her emotional buttons pressed, and she was still afraid for him. They needed to head for a bigger town, somewhere they could pick up clean clothes and get themselves properly organised. They needed money. Giles had savings, and oddly Xander had a bit put away, and a couple of the girls managed to get hold of emergency money transfers from obliging parents, but essentially they were a group of teenagers, and Buffy hadn't even been working for the past month.

Giles piled them all onto the bus to head further East for the time being. He needed to get to an International airport as soon as possible, and they could do with the kind of medical attention that a big city could supply, but first he wanted to get as far away from Sunnydale as he could. No-one was up to answering questions about why an entire town just fell into a big hole in the ground. He wondered whether they would blame it on the enormous cave system under Sunnydale. Even he had to admit there was enough mileage in the sewer system to cause a little concern. So long as what was left at the bottom of the hole didn't leave suspicions. He guessed it was just a pile of ash by now thanks to Spike and his little ball of sunshine, but he wasn't taking any chances. Just one identifiable slayer body, last known address 1630 Rovello, care of Buffy Summers, and they were all suddenly under suspicion. He hadn't voiced his concerns to Buffy. She didn't need to know and it probably wouldn't come to anything. It just made a good argument for heading East.

The Arizona sunlight shone through the bus windows. It was designed for short journeys and the air conditioning was crappy. Everyone was hot and grouchy. Giles had been on edge all the previous day, worried that the engine would overheat out in the desert and leave them stranded, but they'd pulled through okay. They always pulled through okay.

Faith smiled to herself looking out of the window at the bleached desert. Robin was sleeping, his head rested on her shoulder and it was good to know he was there, with her. Maybe having someone to look out for wasn't so bad if it made her feel like this, she rested her head against his, feeling the smoothness of him. Maybe she would head to England with the others, maybe to Cleveland, or maybe they could go to New York catch up with Robin's dad, who lets face it, was a Watcher from way back and might be able to help out with the gang's plans. After all she was a fugitive still, she couldn't afford to be hanging out with last known associates or picking up plane tickets. She might even head back to Boston and look up a few old haunts. It would be good to have someone to show them to. She was willing to bet good money she could get Robin to jump into the old Quarry pool. She grinned as he made gentle noises in his sleep.

Andrew was sitting in the middle of the back seat playing word games with the Slayers.
'Is it bigger than a breadbox?'
Vi grinned. 'Yes'
'So, it's mineral, it's orange, it's old, it's wet.' He corrected himself, 'but only in the middle…and it's bigger than a bread box.'
Xander had been listening to Andrew torture the game for nearly half an hour. They needed someone with serious snark around here. He missed Anya, he hated to think it, but he missed Spike. Dawn cut across his thoughts.
'For Gods sake Andrew we just drove past a sign for it.'
'We did. Is it a place?'
The girls all nodded, and Andrew faced with looks of condescension, stared back puppy eyed. 'I give up.'
There was a chorus of 'The Grand Canyon!'
One of the girls said, 'Do you think we left behind our own Sunnydale Grand Canyon?'
Another chipped in. 'Wouldn't it be weird if it ended up being a tourist attraction.'
Dawn grinned, 'I can just picture little kids sitting on the edge staring down into the mouth of hell, enjoying a picnic lunch.'
They all laughed.

Willow and Kennedy sat further up the bus behind Giles. Kennedy was half asleep trying to wish herself cooler, but not wanting to move away from Willow. She was half listening as Willow muttered to herself.
'I can't think it could have been anything bad. I mean anything bad would have felt bad right. I would have known something wasn't right.'
Kennedy mumbled. 'Did it taste chalky?'
Willow smiled, 'No, exactly, it didn't, so it wasn't evil, it was good. It felt good, I mean it felt really good, so I'm not going to worry. As soon as I get hold of Giles' books I'm not going to worry.'
Kennedy forced herself to sit up a little. 'Well it doesn't seem that weird really. Kind've natural, and it isn't getting stronger or anything. I think it's to help us.'
'Help us what?'
'Help us find everyone. There are maybe thousands of girls out there and we're lucky if half of them have any idea what's happening to them. At least this way if we walk past one we'll know it. This way we can help them out.'
Willow furrowed her brow. 'You think that's what it's for? Inbuilt Slayer radar? That would be cool.'
Kennedy smiled and Willow blew gently into her hair to try and cool her down.

Xander got up from his seat and moved over to where Buffy was sitting alone.
'Is this seat free?'
She looked up at him and grinned.
'Actually my boyfriend will be back any second. He's just gone to the restaurant car to fetch ice water.'
Xander sat down next to her.
'If he brings any back I might date him myself. Who'd a thought we'd ever be driving across Arizona in a portable yellow oven?'
'We live the crazy life.'
'Buffy?' Xander's face took on a serious look. 'I'm not going to be weird about it or anything, but I just wanted to say. You did this. Take a moment for that. I mean there aren't going to be any ticker tape parades or wild parties, apart from the one last night and someone should really have stopped me before the third tequila and the singing of ballads in front of people, but you did this. We all fought, we all carried out the plan and I'm not complaining, but there were moments back there when I know we doubted you, and I'm sorry for those, I think you doubted yourself even, but you came through. You thought up this incredible plan, and you managed the plan and you got us all back on board. You got the job done. You rocked.

I don't know what I want to do with the rest of my life but I think I'm done in construction. I mean my entire resume just collapsed into a hole in the ground. I don't think that's going to look too good to prospective employers, but it's more than that. I think I want to build something bigger. Willow's idea this morning. We could really get things started. We just turned this into a fair fight for the first time in…well ever, and I'm in it for the long haul.'
He paused and Buffy smiled a watery smile at him.
'You've got to stop doing that Xan. You make me look like a softy in front of the girls every time you go all inspirational on me.'
He grinned. 'Maybe I can't help it. Are you okay? I mean, you can tell me. I know I'm not known as the big sympathy guy, especially where the vampire exes are concerned, but I think I can empathise with this one. Confused feelings for those of suspect moral standards, and big loss and pain, combined with ultimate redemptive acts. Seriously I'm right there with you.'
Buffy smiled and leaned onto his shoulder.
'You know what I miss?'
Xander tried to see her expression. 'What?'
'I miss the backchat. I mean it's great that we're all alive and we all get on and everything, but this bus needs some serious sarcasm. Everyone is being too nice.'
Xander grinned.
'I'd kinda noticed that too. You know, we stick together, I think we might just pull through this okay Buff.'