Chapter 9- An American Slayer in London

Disclaimer: Not mine never was and never will be.

At 6:30 Buffy lugged her suitcases out of the car, which Giles had been driving, when they arrived at the airport. Hank stepped out of the car to give Buffy and her other father figure a moment alone.

Buffy gave Giles a hug and closed her eyes tightly. He hugged her back and said, " Don't worry about anything. Angel is going to make sweeps while your gone and if something bad comes up I'll go along. You just take as long as you need." Buffy nodded.

" I'll be back soon Giles. Thank you." She gave him one last squeeze before smiling at him as she stepped out of the car and waved as the old car wove in and out of traffic.

" Come on, Buffy, we gotta get our luggage checked." Hank led the way through the throng of people to the United Airlines booth. " Hi we have two tickets for the 7:30 flight to Heathrow."

The lady at the desk smiled. " Yes of course. If I could just see your passports, please." After she needed all the information that was needed for an overseas trip, she pointed to a conveyer belt that would take their luggage to the plane.

Buffy wandered off to the nearest shop at a 5 after 7. She had ten minutes to get to the gate's waiting space. She sighed feeling very out of place in the store, surrounded by the magazines, close to expiration date foods, coloring with crayon's for little kids, and many other useless junk that appeals to people who's money is burning a hole through their pockets. That didn't say much for her spending habits because she walked out 5 minutes later with a 2 cheap paperback novels and a couple of magazines. She figured that she would wind up being bored on the trip overseas.

3 and a half hours later the 747 passenger plane that the Summers' were on was flying smoothly above the Atlantic Ocean. The layover in O'Hare was short (they didn't even need to change planes.)

Buffy had her walkman out and reading one of the paperbacks that she had bought. Her expectation of the book that she was reading had been dismal at best but she had been surprised to find that it was a very interesting book.

She glanced at Hank to make sure he was okay (for someone who traveled for a living, he sure did not like flying). He was sitting with his eyes closed, his head tilted back and taking deep breaths. She reached over and pat his hand in support. He glanced at her and gave her a tight lipped smile.

She went back to reading and sat there like that until noon, when they served lunch. She had a non-descript lunch and just looked out the window which currently presented pure white beneath her and pure blue above.

Hank had finally fallen asleep and the on flight movie began at 4 that afternoon. She hadn't heard of it and the lack of sleep from the previous night caught up with her.

When she awoke it was dusk outside and the clouds had disappeared. She had a wonderful view of the orange and red splashed blue of the ocean. She sighed happily and glanced at her watch. Watching the sunset always made her relax, at least before the Slayer thing happened.

When she stopped looking out the window, about 20 minutes later, She checked her watch and noticed that it was 8:15. 15 minutes until her plane touched down. She breathed a sigh of relief that her first overseas trip had happened with only the minor occurrence of turbulence. She stretched and looked at her father, who was also awake. " Have a good rest, sweetie?" Buffy smiled at him and nodded.

" How about you?" She asked yawning and feeling rested considering her placement. He nodded but didn't say anything.

She spent the next 10 minutes getting her things put away and 'locking her tray and seat in an upright position'.

Less than two minutes later a voice echoed over the intercom, " Welcome to Heathrow. It is 8:30pm and the weather 69 degrees. ( Hee…. My puppy just jumped in my lap and I am trying to type over her head! Any way back to the story.) I hope you enjoyed your flight. Have a nice stay in the United Kingdom."

Buffy grinned in excitement. " Wow. So this is the land Giles' hails from. Me too I guess." She looked down at the runway that was lit up by lights to show the path for the plane that was landing in the darkness.

The ride to their hotel was in comfortable silence, Buffy was eagerly looking out the window at the night life of the new surroundings, and Hank was contemplating on the gut feeling that had not dissipated since leaving Heathrow Airport: She would not be returning with him.

Like I said they will get longer. I promise. Cross my heart and hope to do the chicken dance in public ( i like my life). lol. Love ya Nat and REVIEW!