A/N : So yeah, I think I pushed this fic too far and lost my readers :-( If you are still reading please review so I know you're still there!
(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 29

"It's seriously scary, Will" Xander told his friend as they walked home from Revello Drive, "I never saw Buffy so... un-Buffy" he explained badly, "I mean sure she's gotten upset before, over guys, and her family, and that one time in kindergarten when I accidentally sat on her Barbie and kinda snapped the head off..."

"This is hardly the same thing, Xander" Willow shook her head, "This is a much bigger deal, I think she's really in love with Spike"

"I knew this was gonna happen!" her friend complained, "Stupid British bleached moron!" he seethed, kicking out at a fire hydrant and immediately regretting it as his foot throbbed.

He continued down the street hopping on one foot as Willow shot him look.

"Hey, don't use British like an insult" she told him sternly, "Wesley is from England too, and he's totally sweet" she explained, a smile taking over her face for a moment before she to back to talking about Buffy's situation, "And you know Spike isn't so bad. If he were such a bad person he wouldn't be standing by Faith now that she's pregnant"

"Yeah, I guess" Xander shrugged, wincing a little as he attempted a few steps on his injured foot, and limping with exaggeration when he found it still hurt quite a lot, "That's a whole other concept I can't even begin to imagine, Faith as a Mom"

"Kinda wacky" Willow agreed, "She doesn't seem much like the motherly type"

"No, she mostly seems like the whore type" Xander agreed, "I still can't figure out how she and Buffy are sisters, cos honestly I don't see any similarity"

"Maybe Spike did, maybe that's why he likes them both" Willow said thoughtfully, "I just wish he could've figured out he liked Buffy without having to like Faith so much first" she frowned, hating that everything in this situation always came back to how unhappy her friend was.

"You think the Buffster will be okay?" Xander asked her, kicking a stone along the sidewalk as they continued on towards Willow's house.

"I dunno" the red-head sighed, "She did seem a little better when she came back from the bathroom, although she was in a big hurry to get us to leave..."

"Will, I don't like that look on your face" Xander told her when her sentence trailed off to nothing and he caught sight of the expression she wore, "It looks like you just thought of something along the road to badness, and that's not going to lead to anything good"

"I'm probably just being crazy" she shook her head, "but what if... what if Buffy is planning to do something stupid?"

"Something stupid?" Xander echoed, "You don't mean like... oh God, you don't think she's so broken over Spike that she'd seriously want to..." he couldn't even say what he was thinking, and Willow's eyes went overly wide when she realised what he was implying. That thought hadn't even entered her head.

"No, Buffy's stronger than that" she said with a definite nod, though she hated that even a hint of that idea remained in the back of her mind, "I was thinking something stupid like drunkeness or running away to the circus or..."

"Oh my God!" Xander suddenly gasped, "Running away to the circus!" he echoed, getting excited and jumping around like a bug on a hotplate, "Will, don't you remember?" he urged her but she looked blankly at him, "When Ford left last Summer for LA?!"

Willow cast her mind back to that day just over one year ago, when Buffy's next door neighbour had packed up his stuff and headed off to the City of Angels now that he was done with college. The teens had befriended Billy Fordham quite by accident as Xander rode his skateboard to Buffy's house, misjudged his stopping distance, and ploughed right into the new neighbour as his two best friends looked on. That meeting had led to one crush and a new nickname for Billy, both of which came from the direction of Miss Summers. She'd got over him pretty fast, she'd been just eleven after all and as such was fickle about everything she liked, besides boys didn't mean quite as much to her then.

By the time Ford left late last Summer, he and Buffy were pretty good friends, and he liked Willow and Xander too. On the day he left he said his goodbyes, hugging Buffy last and kissing the top of her head.

"Don't be a stranger, Summers" he'd told her, "You know where I am if you ever need to get out of dodge" he smirked, "Just call me your 'run away to the circus' type back up" he'd said, half-joking as the little blonde's eyes had filled with tears.

Now that scene was back in both Willow and Xander's heads so clearly. They'd like to think their friend would tell them if she ever planned on bolting to LA or anywhere else for that matter, but honestly they weren't so sure.

"Will, what do we do?" Xander asked his friend.

"I don't know" the red-head shook her head, looking worried, "I mean, if we talk to her about it, and she hasn't thought of Ford, we might put the idea in her head and we so don't want to do that"

"But how do we know for sure if she's planing to go?" her friend asked worriedly, "Or she could be planning to go somewhere else. Doesn't she have an Aunt in Wisconsin?"

"And one in England" Willow said, her eyes going wide at the realisation of what Buffy might be planning to do.

"We got to do something, Will" Xander said firmly.

"Okay" Willow nodded, hating what she was about to suggest, but knowing it was pretty much their only option if they wanted to know for definite what Buffy might be planning to do, "I have a plan, I don't like it, but I have it, and it's the only way to be sure..." she told Xander as they hurried along down the street towards the Rosenburg house.


"Okay, first, when did you learn to do all this?" Xander asked as he sat beside his best friend and watched her fingers fly across the keyboard, the computer screen flashing up page after page of text and code, and password gates that seemed not to stand in the way at all as Willow worked on getting the information she needed.

"Books, mostly" she admitted, her eyes never leaving the screen, "And practice"

"Wow" was all Xander could find to say as he waited for his friend to find what she was looking for, and explain to him what the point of all the stuff on the screen was.

"I'm trying to find out if Buffy made any calls or sent any emails, possibly to Ford or anybody else, about leaving town" she explained, just as a box popped up in the corner of her screen, making a little 'ping' of a noise.

"Does that mean something good or bad?" he checked, having missed what the text within the box had said.

"Neither, exactly" Willow smiled inspite on the seriousness of the situation, "It means Wesley just signed in to the Instant Messenger" she said, just as another box popped up, stating 'Bikin' Boy says : Hello there'

"Will, we do not have time for this right now" Xander told her sternly, not least because he wasn't sure he wanted his best friend associating with a guy that was so closely related to Spike - they were cousins after all, and the bleached blond had hurt Buffy, which made Xander mad.

"Shoosh!" Willow snapped back at him, "He might be able to help" she said as she typed in a message to Wes asking if he'd had a chance to talk to Spike yet and what was said.

'Yes, I have seen him' he typed in response, 'He is terribly upset, though of course I doubt as much as Buffy is'

'She is pretty broken' Willow told him, 'We're worried what'll happen next'

'I fear Spike will stay with Faith' Wesley explained, though he hated knowing it was true.

This whole matter was so distressing for Buffy, and Willow was pained by association.

'He will not shy away from his responsibilities' he typed and Xander read it, a snort emitting as he did so.

"God, could this guy be anymore... British!" he exclaimed, though the look Willow gave him prevented him from making any further comment as she simultaneously IM'ed Wes, and continued searching for clues on what Buffy's next move might be. Xander decided perhaps now was a good time to go get snacks and Willow agreed, sending him off to the kitchen.

'Perhaps I should have asked at school, to your face, but I confess it still feels somewhat awkward...' Wes typed, 'Do you think you would perhaps like to go to the cinema with me on Saturday?' he asked and Willow let herself be temporarily distracted as she replied to him.

'That sounds good' she agreed, feeling all warm and tingly at the idea of a real live date with the mysterious Bikin' Boy who had turned out to be none other than the young man she'd dreamt of getting close to for some time now, Wesley Wyndham-Pryce.

'Splendid' came his overly British reply, and Willow paused her mad typing for a moment as her mind wandered over all the wonderful things that might happen on Saturday.

She completely zoned out until suddenly Xander returned to the room with an arm full of popcorn and twinkies, crashing haphazardly through the door and making Willow jump. It was enough to bring her back to reality and get her mind back on track.

'I'm sorry but I can't so much talk right now' she typed to Wesley, 'I'm not proud of this but I'm kinda hacking'

'Should I ask what you're doing exactly?' Wes checked and without hesitation Willow explained she was looking for any evidence that Buffy was about to run away from Sunnydale - telephone calls to LA, Wisconsin, or England, train or plane tickets to one of the same destinations.

'I can see why you would think she might run' Wesley agreed, 'It is difficult, to be so close to one you love, and not say a word'

Willow agreed wholeheartedly, a smile spreading across her face as she did so, and her cheeks turning pink, despite the fact nobody was really looking at her or anything. Xander was currently looking for the twinkie that had rolled under the bed, and not paying attention at all, and Wesley was on the other end of an Internet connection, but Willow knew what he meant, or at least what he might mean, and it melted her inside. She and Wes had been so close to each other, liking each other so much, and not saying a word. He used the word love now, and she wondered just vaguely if he was referring to them as well as Buffy and Spike when he said it.

Shaking her head, she brought herself back to the real world for a second time and continued working on the task at hand.

"Anything?" Xander asked as he appeared at her side, his mouth half full of junk food.

"No, not yet" Willow admitted, "but I... oh God" she said suddenly, her eyes going wide.

"What? Oh..." her friend gasped similarly as he caught sight of what she'd seen, an email from Buffy to Ford.

In it she did not explain about her situation with Spike at all, just said she could do with a few days away, and that she'd love to come stay with him if the offer was still open. He must've been right there at his computer since the response was more or less immediate according to the date stamp. He said it was fine and agreed to the plans she'd made. She would catch the bus tomorrow, sneaking out of school at lunch, home for her bag and then over to the bus station and away before any of her family or friends missed her.

'Willow?' Wes typed, a little worried that she was no longer responding to him, 'Is everything alright?'

'Not exactly' she typed back, still feeling a little upset and stunned that Buffy would plan to run away like this without a word. She quickly explained to Wes what she and Xander had found, and why she hadn't responded to him before.

'Can you not talk her out of it?' he checked, but Willow's response came back uncertain, and somewhat negative.

She knew Buffy to be headstrong and defiant when she wanted to be, and the red-head knew it was unfair to ask her friend to stay when she herself couldn't see any way out but running.

'Perhaps I can help' Wes suggested, a moment later, and though Xander looked underwhelmed at the prospect, Willow was thrilled to see the words, 'I have a plan'.

To Be Continued...