DR: Now for our third set of characters, two young women from Sunnydale. Please note I'm not that sure about the BtVS timeline. I'm hazy about the bulk of the show, and very hazy on the collage years... so ifI mess up, sorry.

Disclaimer: Just like I don't own SG-1, Dino Crisis or anyone else here, I don't own these two.


"Here you are young ladies. As you can see, you have a large living area, with adjoined kitchen, and a balcony at the far end. Bedroom is through there, and this door leads to the bathroom." The porter placed the bags he was carrying on the small dining table and turned to the two young women. "Will there be anything else?"

"No, thanks."

The porter smiled as pleasantly as he could, then walked out of the suite. Must be one of those girl-girl couples, he thought as he closed the door behind himself.

After the door had closed, the one who had stayed quiet turned to her companion.

"Well, here we are Buffy." She grinned.

Buffy Summers grinned in return. "Yes, here we are. A real vacation for once!" She laid the small bag she was carrying on the table and strode out to the balcony. "Just think, for two weeks, I don't need to go on patrol every night, sharpen my stake, or worry about saving myself and everyone around me again."

Willow watched her best friend as she leant against the low wall that ran along the edge of the balcony, staring out to sea. At last she had a chance to truly relax. With her duties as a Vampire Slayer, Buffy never really had the time. But with the Hellmouth going dormant for a time, which Willow had sensed when in one of her deep magical trances, the whole gang had a chance to unwind, be normal for while. Or at least as normal as a Vampire Slayer, a Witch and an ex-demon could be.

As she moved out on the balcony with Buffy, Willow put her arm around her shoulders. "For a whole two weeks all we have to worry about are drinking too much, sunburn, and err, eating too much." Her face shifted to her panicky, worried look. "And drunk guys, and err drug pushers, and…and weird men in dark alleys, and…"

"Well, apart from the sunburn, normal worries then. And at least these weird guys don't plan on drinking your blood straight out of your neck."

"Oh, well then, that's okay." Willow said, her face brightening. She started back into the suite. "Come on, let's unpack, and then head down for the beach!"

"Yeah, be with you in a minute." Buffy muttered. As Willow went inside, Buffy stared out on to the Caribbean, and mulled over the way her life had gone. Certainly plenty of low points so far. Finding out that she was destined to be a Vampire Slayer had defiantly been one of the lowest. Just above being dead, losing Angel, twice, and a whole host of other nasty memories that Buffy would be glad to never remember. And what had the future in store for her? That was bleak. She was a Vampire Slayer, but she was also mortal, while there seemed to be an endless supply of demons, vampires, twisted humans and a whole host of other monsters out there waiting to kill her. And one of these days they would. Finally, her luck would run out, she was destined to die young.

No, that's not the way to think of it, she told herself, as she lowered her gaze to the beach below the hotel, where dozens of tourists like her were playing in the surf, lazing on the sand, and generally enjoying life. She still had a lot to live for. She had her friends, and that was one of the things that kept her going. She had never told anyone of them, but them being there for her, helping her, taking some of the burden for her, had helped her stay alive and more importantly, stay sane after all these years.

Willow had been there from the beginning, backing her up with her computer skills, finding out the most obscure stuff about these demons without a voice of protest. She was loyal and always did the right thing. And now she was a full powered witch, she was able to help herself every now and again. Although her recent break up with Tanya had been hard on Willow, she was strong, deep down, and was surviving. In truth Buffy had never trusted Tanya, and this difference had built a wall between the life-long friends. This trip to the sun was a step towards healing those wounds.

But Buffy would not get too close again. After she lost Angel the first time, Buffy had nearly lost it. It had been a long while before she had recovered, only for him to drop in again. Their parting the second time was just as raw, just as emotional, and it had hurt her deeply. But she had accepted that it was just as hard for him, so she had let him walk away.

After that, Buffy had been determined to find a nice, normal, mortal man, who was in no way strange. But fortune had not been kind, and she had ended up with a trooper from a secret US military force, only for him to go as well a while later. After that Buffy had had a string of bad luck when it came to romance, and so she was no longer searching for love. Buffy had started to build emotional distance between herself and everyone around her, so that when her number, or theirs, finally came up, the pain would be less.

Her friends knew this, Willow especially, but they did not know how to stop her doing so. That was part of the reason Willow had brought Buffy on this trip, hoping to get her more relaxed and open up more. She was worried about her.

Leaning out the French windows, Willow could see that Buffy was sliding into one of her dark moods again, where she would question everything in her life. Willow knew that Buffy needed to stay out of that region.

"Hey, aren't you going to unpack and join me on the beach?" She asked sweetly.

As Buffy turned around, a smile drove the shadows that were forming on her face away and the Buffy that Willow had known was back. "Oh, yea, though I doubt my swim suit will fit any more. I can't remember the last time I wore it."

As Buffy breezed in, Willow beamed. Maybe over this holiday, she could get Buffy out of the black hole she was threatening to fall into.


DR: I know, a little short, but then I was originally planning of writting a proper novel length story. Plus I've found it hard to write stuff for these two. I'm on much firmer soil with SG-1 and DC... Don't forget to R&R! (I know things are building slowly, but I need to explain how everyone gets there, and what happens to bring them all to the point in the first chapter...)