The following morning, Buffy and Xander prepared to depart for Los Angeles and leave the familiar house behind. The previous night, they had done all of their packing and loaded Xander's rental with their bags. They spent the morning sharing stashed away bags of chips and bottled water and doubling checking all the rooms for any items that may have gone unnoticed or left behind. Before they left the house for the final time, Buffy stood in the doorway staring into the empty house. Saying a silent, final goodbye, she knelt down and lay her favorite stake on the front porch. Won't be needing this anymore, she mused to herself, although she had two or three stashed in the bags of clothes and Mr. Pointy tucked in her backpack. Xander stood at her side silently. Once Buffy stood, Xander sank down and placed a small token next to the discarded stake.
"That's Anya's ring," Buffy noted somewhat surpised. Xander rose and stared down at the glimmering piece of jewelry Anya once wore with pride. The symbol of their everlasting love he had once given to her seemed so petty now. Yes, he still loved her, but she was gone now and even before that, he had broken that everlasting bond when he called of the wedding.
Silence cloaked the spaces around the two friends as Xander let his memories of what could have been replay in his head and then said his goodbyes, just as Buffy had. Finally, he spoke, "I'm leaving some things behind, too."
Buffy turned to look at Xander. He felt her gaze fall on him and turned to meet her with his own. Her eyes searched him for an explaination she couldn't seek. He understood her unspoken questions emploring him to give her answers.
"I had a dream about her. Anya," he began. Noting the worry in Buffy's eyes he continues on. "She was dead, or dying. Or maybe even possesed by the First. I don't know, but she spoke to me. She tried to scare me. And I decided I don't need to keep holding on to something I can't hold on to. You know?"
"Xander," Buffy almost sighed his name. "You don't have to let Anya go. She was almost your wife and now she's dead. That's not something you need to let go of."
Xander nodded at her words. "Yes it is. I'm looking to find myself a new life, too. One where I don't fall in love with demons or bug people." Buffy smiled and let out a small chuckle. "Besides, I think that's what my dream Anya wanted me to do. She wants me to let her go." He gave a little shrug. "Or I want me to let her go because dream Anya is mean to me. Either way, I'm leaving the past here in Sunny-D, hopefully with all of my demons as well."
"Well, then," Buffy affirmed as she shifted her backpack that hung off one shoulder. She offered her other arm to Xander, bent slightly at the elbow in an invitation to link their arms together as if they were skipping through the meadows together. "Shall we?" Xander looked at her arm and reached his hand to hers, guiding her fingers to entwine with his own.
"We shall." He gave her hand a gentle squeeze then released her fingers as he walked to the car, unlocking the doors before sliding in the driver's seat. Buffy followed him and made her way to the passenger's side, slid in the car next to him, placing her backpack at her feet, and closed the door. One final look at the house for the pair, then they left for the road with Buffy giving Xander directions to the motel her father frequented and the new lives in store for them both.
The hot, midday sun beat down on the weathered pavement as a set of tires rolled down the road and screeched to a halt outside of the newly vacant house. A man dressed in a neatly pressed suit stepped out of a black SUV and slammed the door, clutching a puffy, sealed envelope in his hands. He stood in the center of the road staring at the house now without the presence of a small silver sedan. Another door slammed shut and hurried footsteps made their way to meet the suited man.
"The car's gone," the passenger observed to the driver.
"Yes, indeed the car is absent," the driver confirmed. "Perhaps it was a visitor or the girl needed to go out to find some goods."
"I think she's gone." The driver became rigid with anger due to the possibility brought forth from his cohort.
"I suggest we check the perimeter of the house for clues," he offered to his passenger. "If she is gone, there are a few partners of ours that will not be happy." Both men scrambled to the property that once belonged to the Summers girls and quickly circled the outside of the house peering through windows and doors for any sign of the former, solitary slayer. After a few moments of intense searching had passed, the now furious driver, advanced to the front door and gave it a quick, rough kick. The door splintered at the latch but swung open without much force needed. It wasn't locked.
"I do believe this is not a good sign," the driver mumbled under his breath as he peered into the dark house, stripped of all the things that made it a home. "It's bare. She's gone."
"Uh, hey," the passenger stammered on the porch behind the driver. "What's that?" The dirver turned to look at his passenger and then followed his gaze down to the ground between their feet. A stake and a diamond ring lay on the porch together, posed as if left as a shrine. The driver huffed and pulled a small camera fron his breast pocket, snapped a few pictures, and returned the camera to its sheath. He then motioned to his passenger to return to the car, where they both entered, package still in hand, and screeched the tires as they sharply turned the vehicle around and left the abandoned house behind.
Buffy flopped down on the plushy motel bed. It had been weeks since she slept in a properly made bed, let alone one that was clean. It was late afternoon by the time they had found the motel, checked in, and settled for the night. It was too much too soon to just bolt to L.A. and she was tired of rushing all the time. She had all the time in the world now, and she intended to enjoy every second of it. Xander wiggled the door open, balancing bags of fast food and a drink tray in one hand, while fumbling his keys and the room key in the other. Buffy sat on the bed and watched Xander as he awkardly managed to get himself in the room, the door shut, and the keys flung on the doorside table without spilling any of the food or drinks.
"You 'right, Xander?"
"Dandy," Xander replied to Buffy's question. "I come with warmish food of the drive-thru variety and cold beverages of the thck and thin variety."
"Huh?" Buffy shot him a confused look.
"I bought milkshakes," he clarified.
"Ooooh," Buffy gushed over the thought of a warm meal and a delicious, frothy shake to rinse it down. Frankly, the well-lit motel room and a TV with three static filled channels seemed like a paradise compared to what she had been living in for the last few weeks. She sat upright and held her hands out to retreive the drink carrier from Xander as he slid on the bed next to her, placing two plastic bags stuffed full of burgers and fries and personal pies in the space between them.
"What's the entertainment for this exquisite meal, mi'lady?" Xander mused mimicking his best aristocratic accent.
"Snow, more snow, or snowy news," Buffy responded as she stuffed a handful of fries into her mouth. "Unless you want to blow $12 for a movie and we skip breakfast."
Xander snatched the tv remote up and flipped to the movie menu. "Motel has a continental breakfast buffet tomorrow morning, and I packed plastic baggies to squirrel away foods and other gooey goodies. Horror, drama, comedy, or uplifting, spiritual animal movie?"
They flipped throught the menu and landed on an action movie with lots of explosions and gunfire. Between the pair of them, they polished off 6 burgers and 4 large fries, a couple pies, both milkshakes and their drinks as well. By the time the movie ended, both their stomachs felt heavy and filled to the point where they couldn't move. The movie ended and the tv switched to one of it's three static filled channels, but the two friends had long passed out on the soft bed after gorging themselves with the luxury of a full meal that consisted of more than just stale perishables and room-temperature water. Hours passed as the two slept until a shrill noise echoed through the room, jolting Buffy awake more so than Xander, who grunted and rolled to his side.
"Oh, shoot," Buffy exclaimed realizing the noise was the sound of the cell phone Giles had gifted to her just days before. She sprang from the bed to her backpack, glancing at the digital clock on the nightstand. It was just after 4a.m. Who is calling me at 4 in the morning? She finally grasped the phone, flipped it open and held it to her ear.
"Hello?"
"Buffy!" Dawn's cheery voice filled the other line.
"Dawnie, I love you," Buffy began groggily, sleep still on her mind. " But if you ever call me this early again, I will fly to Ohio and shove your phone down your throat."
"Oh, sorry," Dawn apologized. "I forgot about the time difference. It's 7 here."
"Which I would also be angry for receiving a deafening phone call at that time as well. Whadya want?" Buffy grabbed the motel key and slipped out the door as to not wake Xander from his sleep.
"Giles wanted me to give you a call," Dawn explained. "He wanted to know if, you know, you made it to see Angel yet."
"No," Buffy sighed and wiped sleep from her eyes. "I'm heading that way today. We're at that motel, you know the one dad used to stay at."
"We?" Dawn questioned sharply.
"Oh, right," Buffy shook her head to wake herself up more. "Xander found me the other day. Well, it's not like I was missing, but he came to the house. He decided to come with me. Says he's tired of being alone after running off, well, alone."
"Mmm-hmmm."
"What's that supposed to mean, the 'mmm-hmmm'?"
"Oh, nothing," Dawn began. "Except the Xander hanging with you because he doesn't want to be alone." She drug the emphasis on her last word.
"It's not like that, Dawn," Buffy explained. "Besides, it's nice to have someone with you who can drive. Totally beats taking the bus."
"Right, and then you can hold hands over the gear shift and play license plate games together while you fall in love."
"Dawn!"
"What's that Buffy?" Dawn faked yelling into the phone as if the connection were breaking up. "I think I'm losing service. Must be that Ohio nature I've heard so much about. You need your sleep anyway. Give Xander a kiss, then tell him you love him for me. Bye!" The connection between the two phones died and left Buffy in an awkward silence fueled with aggravation from her younger sister's teasing. Xander is so not in love with me, she thought to herself. He's just broken a little. We all are.
She took the room key in hand and unlocked the door. Once inside, she laid her phone and the key on the stand and made her way back to the bed. She curled up on the bed facing Xander and stared at him for a long while. His hair had gotten shaggy and curled around his forehead and over his ears. He lay with his patched eye against the coolness of the bed and his mouth was slightly open. She turned to face away from him and let her mind fill with thoughts about what Dawn had said. There is just no way that could ever happen, she reasoned. We've been friends for so long. It's like he's my brother. Just then, Xander slipped his arm around her waist and pulled their bodies together. He buried his face in her hair and began snoring softly.
Or maybe it's not so crazy, she thought.