Disclaimer: I own nothing, am making no money from this and am doing it purely for enjoyment.

Phone Call Interlude Seven

Buffy stepped out of the house and sat down on the back steps, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath of the cool night air. It was late and the house was quiet and dark, but it just wasn't offering the peace she craved right then. Things with Glory were getting intense and she was sure it would all come to a head soon. The constant worry about Dawn, the threat hanging over her, and all of them, was wearing her down.

She jumped at the tinny sound of bells erupting from her pocket - she still wasn't used to carrying around the cell phone. Dean's name flashed on the screen. She almost hadn't put him in there, a strange battle of wanting to keep him "off the books", so to speak, versus wanting to have some proof, physical evidence of their connection. When she'd finally worked out how to add numbers, his ended up being first one she entered, her fingers seemingly moving of their own accord.

Seeing his name now gave her a feeling of dread, which she hated herself for. Talking to Dean had been such a relief for her for years now - like a soft, cool breeze on a sweltering day, you'd just close your eyes and let it wash over you, not wanting it to ever end. She'd ruined that for herself, with her stupid stomach flutters and non-friend-like feelings. Then there was the embarrassment of the way she'd acted when her mom died. She cringed at the memory of that weepy mess of a call. She'd only talked to him once since then, just long enough to give him her cell number since he was on the way out the door to a hunt. She wouldn't blame him if he'd been avoiding her after what she said to him.

"I don't want you here."

What a lie that had been. She had just known how needy she had been then, how easy it would have been to just give into her feelings. What if it had been Dean there instead of Angel? Her pulse picked up at the thought. No! Nonono! It was better this way. Her and Angel could leave things as they were and still be friends (kinda). Things with Dean would be ruined. She relied on Dean to always be there. Lovers always left. But friends stayed. She wouldn't lose Dean like that.

"Hey Dean," she answered, leaning forward and resting her elbows on her knees.

"Next time we see each other, you get a free shot. Just punch me right in the face."

"Uh… As fun as that sounds, why?" Buffy asked, completely bewildered.

"All that crap I spewed about how everything would be fine. When someone leaves… nothing's fine. It's not gonna be fine. Everything's gonna be different and it's gonna fucking suck."

"What happened?"

"Sam's gone. Just took him to the fucking bus stop myself."

"Oh, Dean… I'm so sorry…"

"Tell me I'm doing the right thing - letting him go. Because right now it feels pretty shitty."

"Do you think you could have stopped him? Changed his mind? Because I'm thinking he would have left any way, just with the two of you pissed at each other."

"I don't have to wonder, I saw what happened when dad tried to stop him. They just… exploded. They've been fighting, and it's been bad, but… tonight they just went for the jugular. Some of the things they said…"

And you're the one that stands in the middle and ends up ripped to shreds, Buffy thought with a frown.

"Dad asked what kind of son just abandons their family like this, that he was spitting on mom's grave. And Sam said dad would know, since that's what he was doing by choosing this kind of life for her kids. Asked what kind of father would do that."

Buffy sucked air in-between her teeth with a hiss, "Ouch."

"…dad told him to go and stay gone."

"You think he meant it?"

"Hell no, but what I think, what dad meant and what Sammy heard are completely different. He's so stubborn, I don't…"

"This isn't it, Dean. He's just going to college. He didn't die," the words could have sounded callous from anyone else, but her tone was sincere and she knew Dean would understand.

"I know, it's just… He's gone. What are we- Everything's-"

Dean stopped, giving up trying to express what was going on in his heart and mind, and Buffy felt warm knowing it wasn't because he was frustrated or embarrassed, it was because he knew she'd get it without it being laid out.

"Well, as much as I like the offer of a free shot, I'm morally obligated to decline," she said, lightening her voice. "Since everything you told me was right. It'll suck for a while, really suck. But you'll keep hunting, watching your dad's back, keeping busy. And it'll get better, little by little. You let him go, supported his choice, he'll remember that, Dean. Things between him and you aren't like they are between him and your dad. Once things settle, I bet he'll call."

"…ya think?"

"Yep, I'm sure of it. Then maybe you can trick him into inviting you down and you can go swim in that pool of college coeds," Buffy said, forcing herself to laugh even though her stomach dropped at the thought.

"Hmm, sorority girls... Excellent point, Buf. Maybe this won't be so bad after all," Dean said, taking the offered opportunity to regain his bravado and running with it even though she knew he was still torn up about his brother's departure.

"So, how are things with you?"

"Well, I found out my little sisters really a big ball of mystical energy meant to open a portal to a Hell dimension, so I've been playing hide and seek with the God of said Hell. Fun times on the Hellmouth," Buffy said, keeping her voice carefree,

"Par for the course then," Dean said mimicking her tone. "Dawn's a mystical ball of energy?"

"Yep, some monks made her with my blood and put her here in the beginning of the year, then altered everybody's memories so it'd be like she was always here."

"That's why I could never remember her!" Dean exclaimed like he'd discovered the cure for cancer. "Every time you said 'Dawn' for about a half a second, I'd always be like 'Who the fuck is Dawn?' Nice to know I'm not prematurely going senile."

"I'm sure you're premature in other ways to make up for it, Dean," Buffy said, sugar coating her voice and bumping the conversation off track. As great as Dean was for bouncing ideas off of and venting to, she didn't feel like doing that this time. She just wanted a moment where she didn't have to worry about all that.

"Wanna find out?" His voice was low and gritty, making her breath catch and those annoying stomach flutters go wild, overriding her gratefulness that he was following her lead away from heavier topics.

She forced out a laugh, hoping it didn't sound as breathy to him as it did to her. "All talk and no show, Winchester."

"Oh, I'll give you a show," he said, a grin in his voice. "I'll give you a damned three ring circus."

"Just three? How boring."

"That's it. My skills have been questioned, the gauntlet's been thrown. I'll just have to come to Sunnydale and prove my worth as a man," Dean said, as she heard the roar of the Impala starting in the background.

Her heart pounded at the thought, mind slipping to images of planes of sweat slicked skin and flexing muscles. Wow… she really needed to get laid. Shaking her head, she forced out another laugh. "Your worth as a man? Doesn't that lie in your ability to kill big spiders and open the pickle jar? 'Cause I can do those on my own."

"I'm sure there's other services I can offer."

Warning bells were clanging in Buffy's head, it was time to derail this conversation before it reached the point of no return. "And I'm sure I can take care of those needs just as well on my own," she said simply, hearing him chuckle on the other end. Faint music reached her ears from the background on his end. "What are you listening to?"

"Wha- you don't know Tuesday's Gone? Lynyrd Skynyrd?" Dean asked, sounding truly wounded and forgetting any naughty comeback he might have had on the tip of his tongue - don't think about his tongue, don't think about his tongue - just as she knew he would.

"Lynyrd Skynyrd? Did you grow a mullet and trade in the Impala for a Trans-Am?"

"Don't get bitchy because you have no taste in music. And I'd make a mullet look good."

Buffy snorted at the mental picture. "I'm sure if anyone could pull it off, it'd be you. And I know the song, I just would've pegged you for the Metallica version. Now shut up and turn it up, I like the guitar solo."

Dean laughed, deep and throaty, and cranked the music.

While Buffy listened to the guitar and Dean's loud off key singing she closed her eyes and smiled, that feeling of cool breeze washing over her as the tension leaked away. Laughing when Dean took to impersonating the guitar twangs and then joining her own off tune singing with his, imagining she was in the Impala with him on some dark stretch of highway.