Disclaimer: Same as previous chapters.

Chapter 25

As Andrew drove the motorcycle that John had given him. He felt lighter than he had ever felt before, he felt free, he was driving slowly so he didn't go crazy and kill himself and Faith, who was groaning, "Andy man, let's stop for dinner."

He nodded and said, "We can stop at Oxnard for a bit, I want to make sure this bike's alright."

"Andy, you have the coolest friends, don't you know that?" Faith exclaimed, "I mean you could really almost be fuckable if, you know, you didn't have a torch for a guy."

Andrew blushed, his face was as red as a tomato and he tried brush her comments off.

They stopped in Oxnard and were talking over some burgers, Andrew said, "I'm not sure we'll visit my friends just yet, Diana told me there was some unpleasant business there that resulted in the other slayer's death."

Faith nodded, "You want me to get the lay of the land then?"

"Yeah," Andrew said with a smile, "I want to make sure that they can handle me coming back, so ask as many questions you want, alright?"

"You know Andy; you're getting pretty good with illusions, why don't you put one over your face?" Faith said, "It'd be pretty wild, right?"

"Because I wouldn't be able to control myself, I'd probably jump Dean and them and hug them all," Andrew said quietly.

"Ah, alright," Faith winked and laughed.

They hopped on the bike and Faith wrapped her arms around his waist and said, "I guess you like the bike?"

"Yeah but don't tell Dean," Andrew said, "I think I'll save my money and work on this baby."

The bike roared as they continued down the highway it was a powerful machine and Faith moaned, "Andy, this bike's making me want to give up my search for a meaningful relationship."

"Don't give up just yet," Andrew said, "There are some nice boys I know about, I just hope they're all still alive or, if they have been killed, they stayed dead."

Faith laughed as they passed by a sign that said 'Sunnydale: next two exits' and Andrew paused, he looked at Faith, who looked at him. Andrew said, "If I continued on we could be in San Francisco by tomorrow night."

"No," Faith said, "No more running for either of us, alright? We have to confront our fears."

"But Faith," Andrew said, "I've changed so much since I've been gone and these months on the road with you changed me even more, will they like the new me?"

If they don't Andrew Faith said don't change back personally I think you improved I don't know what you were like before but if you like yourself like this don't change back

Andrew smiled and said, "Thanks sis," as his eyes suddenly glittered pure white as he drove into the exit into Sunnydale and felt the oppressive air hit him and he smiled, he was home. As he saw the sign that read: 'Welcome to Sunnydale,' he concentrated and flung a fire ball at it, melting it to the ground.

Faith looked at him and said, "What was that for?"

Andrew shrugged, "I don't know but the freaking sign always pissed me off, always so damned chipper in this craphole town."

"Please Andrew," Faith said, "Use an adult word; it's not a craphole town, it's a shithole town."

Andrew looked at her and laughed as they drove to the hotel section, Faith looked at the hotels and thought, 'Alright, where can we go for couple of days? Preferably a bit nicer.'

"That one," Faith said as she pointed out a motel, "It looks like it's the cheapest one here," Andrew nodded as he drove into the parking lot.

As Faith paid for them through to Thursday Andrew cast a spell to keep the bike from being stolen, Faith ran up and said, "We're in room 202."

"Kay," Andrew said as they walked upstairs and looked at the room, Andrew sighed as he turned on the television and saw nothing but static on it.

"Now this is a crappy room," Faith said, "Only one bed, looks like we're sharing again."

"Wouldn't be the first time," Andrew said smiling and laughing as Faith winked and they went to sleep, Andrew slept fitfully, his mind played tricks on him about his friends and family rejecting him and not wanting him around.

Faith woke up around noon and muttered, "Must've been more tired than I thought!"

"Yeah, first nights does that to you," Andrew said as he sat down and was reading the newspaper.

'Hmm, looks like nothing's changed,' Andrew thought darkly, 'I mean everything's the same; cheerful happiness and, beyond that, a dark hungry void.'

"So, what's the plan lil wizard?" Faith asked as she stretched out, "We going out on the town?"

"You're going on the town, I'm staying here until tonight and try to be discrete," Andrew said as he got up and went to the washroom.

Faith said, "Yes sir," and got dressed and as she got out she called, "I'll bring back lunch and supper, what do you want?"

"Anything but Doublemeat!" Andrew yelled, "That stuff has to be toxic."

Andrew heard the door slam and looked around the room, he smiled at all of the crosses that were everywhere and shook his head; it was like Sunnydale hadn't changed any bit. As he sat back down and relaxed he worked on a couple of illusions he created a silent fireball that exploded into a thousand different shapes, he then shaped the illusion so that it looked like a deer running through a forest and laughed and dispelled it with a gesture and went back to sleep.

Five hours later he was woken up by Faith who held out two bags of tacos and grinned, at least it wasn't Doublemeat burgers, but they shuddered as they ate the tacos.

Faith shook her head and said, "I got into the school and looked for your friends and I found them."

Andrew perked up and said, "Are they good? Are they all there?"

"Yeah, they're good. I tried introducing myself but they seem to be a bit insular," Faith said with a shrug, "I got the feeling that they were being polite but they didn't want me there."

"Don't pay it any mind," Andrew said, "A group as close as they are, are probably a bit mistrustful of outsiders but if they give you trouble I'm going to tell them off."

Faith grinned, "Though I did see Dean," she said in a sing song voice, "And god if he doesn't look rugged, half the girls in that cafeteria were staring at him."

Andrew's eyes suddenly turned pure white and Faith wagged her finger at him and said, "Someone's jealous."

"I am so not jealous," Andrew said but quickly added, "Were you able to find out if he was dating someone else again?"

"Okay, the gossip going around is this; basically Buffy was apparently accused of murder but the charges were dropped and your mom and her friends fought to get her back into school," Faith said, "And she ran away for like five months."

"What the hell!" Andrew screamed, "She was on the streets? What happened that was so freaking bad?"

"You were on the streets longer," Faith said with a wag of her finger.

"That's different," Andrew said, "She was alone, I had you with me and I had money, thanks to Lindsey's little allowances, she probably had nothing."

"She looked fine," Faith said, "But who knows what happened on the streets."

"I'm going to ask her when I see her," Andrew said angrily, "And find out what really went on."

"Anyways, I am going to this Bronze thing," Faith said, "You going to come with or stay here?"

"Here," Andrew said, "I got a couple of cells from John; we'll use them to keep in touch. Call me if something goes bad."

She winked and said, "What could go wrong?" as she ran out.

Andrew groaned, 'She probably just jinxed us all,' he thought as he looked outside at the sun slowly setting below the horizon, a couple of hours later Andrew was practicing his martial arts against an illusionary opponent when his phone went off.

"Yeah Faith, what's wrong?" Andrew asked.

"Remember that vampire that killed Diana? He's back and he's pissed. I just killed one vampire that said his name, remember Kissing Toast?"

"Kakistos!" Andrew corrected and said, "Get back now, I'll get ready. I owe him one for killing Diana, she was a good woman."

Andrew didn't have to wait long for Faith to come back and she was terrified, he hugged her tightly and said, "Don't worry he's not going to survive this time I'm going to burn him into ash

Faith returned the hug and said, "Thanks Andy; also I kinda ousted myself as the new slayer in town so your friends decided to open up to me."

"That's good Faith," Andrew said as his eyes were globes of white fire, who knows how many people Kakistos killed or turned just because he didn't end him when he had the chance.

"Okay," Faith said, "I'm going to the high school tomorrow as they want to discuss things with me, I think it's about my training."

"Alright," Andrew said angrily, "But tomorrow I'm going out and I am out for Kakistos alone."

"No," Faith said, "We'll do it together, alright? Remember what happened when you went human torch on him in Boston?"

Andrew nodded and said, "Prepare for tomorrow, we can make up for Diana's death," as he went to sleep.

The next morning Andrew woke up to see Faith gone and a note.

'I had to go to the school early, don't worry I got the cell phone and if anything happens I'll call you Andy.'

'Okay,' Andrew thought, 'She will prepare in her way, I'll prepare my way,' as he created an illusion of a vampire that would act just like the real one except it wouldn't be able to kill him.

He trained hard with the few martial arts he had learned from Diana and his sparring with Faith; he hoped he'd be ready to fight Kakistos.

After a couple of hours Faith called him, panicking and saying, "Buffy and Dean are going after him with me, they don't know how powerful he is, get over here!" and gave him the address and quickly hung up.

Andrew muttered, "Damn!" He grabbed his keys, jumped on his bike and rode down to where they were.

At Kakistos's lair Dean saw the fledges and mutter, "Son of a bitch!" he looked at Faith and yelled, "What the fuck did you do to piss this guy off?"

Kakistos walked out and Faith winced, he looked bad, He pointed at his eye and said, "This won't even heal properly."

He looked at Faith and said, "Where's your friend? The little fire starter; I owe him a lot as he had killed my minions and killed my two favourite childer!"

Buffy looked at Faith, who didn't want to ruin the surprise just yet, just said, "He's not here."

"A pity, I'll have to track him down later," Kakistos said annoyed and pointed at his fledges and yelled, "Tear them apart!"

Dean and Buffy got ready to fight as did Faith ,who prayed that Andrew was going to get here and soon, as she kicked one of the fledges away.

Kakistos grinned, they wouldn't be able to stop his fledges forever. As he began to smirk his associate, Mr Trick, was leaning on the door to the lair and muttered, "Was it getting warmer?" He backed away as the door suddenly was pushed inwards and nearly got impaled by white hot metal.

"I know that smell. Whelp, come out and meet your fate fire starter!" Kakistos yelled.

Faith nearly shrieked with joy as she saw Andrew walk in, white fire rippling around him while Dean and Buffy looked shocked, Buffy whispered, "Andrew?"

Dean's heart was in his throat; it was him, he was back.

Andrew looked at Kakistos and growled, "You have a lot to answer for you goat faced bastard."

Kakistos growled and said, "I've been dreaming of tearing you apart fire starter."

"I hope they were good dreams," Andrew growled as the white flames began to swirl around him angrily, "Because I am not making the mistake of leaving you alive this time," his eyes turned pure white as the flames exploded from him and began to swirl around the fledges, angrily vaporizing them.

"I am prepared this time fire starter," Kakistos screamed as he turned on a bunch of machines that sprayed cold water on Andrew.

As the ice cold water sprayed towards him it evaporated into steam, Andrew yelled, "Goat face; I can still see you, can you see me?"

Kakistos looked around, 'Mr Trick assured me these machines would stop him, heck I paid him a lot of money,' he was still thinking that when a bolt of white fire struck him in his chest.

"Damn you fire starter!" Kakistos yelled as the steam dissipated and he rubbed at the smoking injury.

Andrew looked at Kakistos and suddenly the white fire exploded from him like a miniature sun, as Kakistos was overwhelmed by the white fire his last thought was, 'He would've been a glorious childe.'

As the flames receded Faith ran over as Andrew started to wobble a bit on his legs, she whispered, "Hey Pyro, you feeling better?"

"What happened to little wizard?" Andrew asked with a dopey smile.

"You're a total fire starter," Faith laughed as he got up.

Buffy walked over to Andrew, who was still looking around, and suddenly hugged him close to her, she whispered, "Please tell me you're staying?"

"Yeah," Andrew groaned, "Dad's not getting me to leave this time."

She let go and Dean looked at Andrew dumbstruck, 'My little Andrew did THAT! When he was here last time he could barely manage a fireball and now he was this powerful.'

Andrew looked at Dean and sighed, it looked like a reunion wasn't going to be by the book until his thoughts were suddenly broken when Dean picked him in a hug.

"Dude, you're staying, right?" Dean asked, almost pleading, "Please tell me your here to stay?"

"Yes," Andrew laughed, "I'm here to stay."

Dean suddenly kissed him hard muttering, "That, uhh, trick you did was good."

"Umm," Andrew said as he tried to get out of Dean's grasp, "Could we take this to the library?"

"Oh," Buffy said, "Yeah, they'll freak when they find out that you're back."

"Come on Faith," Andrew said, "You can ride with me."

"Cool," Faith laughed as Dean suddenly regarded her with jealousy.

Buffy looked at Andrew and said, "Umm, don't you need a ride in Dean's car?"

"No," Andrew laughed, "Got my own ride," they both looked shocked; he had a car? But when they saw him on the bike Dean groaned; 'Every damn time he's here that kid had a new surprise,' and growled as Faith jumped behind him.

Buffy looked at Dean and patted his back and said, "Don't worry, no way mom is going let him keep the bike," when she realized what he growled about and said, "Maybe they're just friends."

"They had better be 'just friends,'" Dean growled.

Andrew looked behind him as Dean's Impala followed them, he looked at Faith and said, "Dean's going to be jealous of you for, like, ever and I doubt he's going to let me drive the bike again."

"Let him be," Faith laughed as they whipped through the streets, "And if you can't use the bike can I have it?"

"No way, John gave it to me," Andrew said, "And besides, I love this thing now."

Faith laughed again as they drove into the parking lot at the school, he saw his grandfather's truck there, which was definitely good as he could see Grandpa again.

He was about to go into the school when Buffy and Dean managed to pull him back and Dean said, "We want to make sure that no one has a heart attack when you come in."

"Alright," Andrew said, "I'll wait here with Faith."

Dean shook his head and said, "Faith can come in with Buffy, I'll wait with you."

Faith winked at Andrew as she walked in, Dean looked at Andrew and said, "So, you and her?"

"No way Dean," Andrew said, "She's like my sister, though we did share the same bed a couple of times."

Andrew giggled at Dean's growl and said, "We never did anything, she's my best friends and besides, I still like you."

Dean's eyes widened as he pulled Andrew in for a kiss, he whispered, "It's been awhile for me," as Andrew hugged Dean tightly.

Buffy yelled, "It's alright, you guys can come in now."

Dean grabbed Andrew's hand and led him in, Andrew looked around at everyone in the library; it looked like nothing changed much here, except Xander had a new look to him and Willow had a red haired boy next to him.

Bobby ran towards him and hugged him, trying to pull him from Dean, who wasn't about to let him go but Andrew managed to let go.

"Jeez kid, where have you been?" Bobby said, "I mean we sent letters, cards and everything."

Andrew looked puzzled, "What do you mean letters and cards? I never received anything. I mean I tried to send letters but Lindsey never took them to the mailbox for me, I even tried sending one myself."

"Wait a moment, who's Lindsey?" Dean said darkly.

"The guy dad sent me to live with in Boston. I mean didn't dad tell you that he sent me to a boarding school?"

"No," Buffy said, "He told us something entirely different."

Faith quickly jumped to Andrew's defence and said, "It's true; I met him in Boston and he saved me from a gang and after that he went to live with me and my Watcher and when Diana was killed we started our way back here."

"Yeah," Andrew grumbled, "Faith and I; we've been on the road for about seven months."

Buffy glared and said, "Dad didn't tell us you were missing."

Bobby shook his head as he hugged Andrew again and said, "Why didn't you call us? You know we would've come for you."

"Not sure really," Andrew said quietly.

Dean sat Andrew down and said, "So what else happened on your trip here?"

"Umm," Andrew said, "I met your dad; we were doing a show in New Orleans and he saw us and we travelled with him for a couple of months then he dropped us off in LA and gave me the bike he had."

Bobby sputtered, "Motorbike! You've been on a damned bike? Consider it taken away until your 18."

Sam and Dean looked at each other; he was with their dad? They hadn't heard anything from John for awhile.

"Doesn't matter," Dean said, "You're not leaving again."

"Nope," Andrew said, "I'm here to stay but Grandpa, Faith doesn't have a place, can she stay with you guys?"

Bobby looked at Faith and said, "No way am I leaving a young girl out on the streets, especially since she helped you out Andrew."

"Well guys, we should give Dawn and mom heart attacks," Buffy said, "When Andrew comes home."

Dean whispered, "You can ride with me, alright? Bobby can take the bike home."

Andrew sighed, 'There goes my bike,' as Dean took him back to the car.

TBC

So Andrew will be finding out what happened in Sunnydale while he was gone and we'll have more of what Andrew did on his year and a half away from his friends. What do you think the Scoobies reaction to Andrew being a fairly powerful wizard should be? As they're too shocked right now to think about that.

Please rate and review.