Ten Years

On: Buffy

Disclaimer: This idea with Buffy is what ended up making me decide to do more with the idea of the characters and a decade. Spike is still in the sinkhole of Sunnydale or stuck in someone's collection due to being in the necklace. Haven't decided yet.

Summary: Its been ten years for Buffy since the collapse of Sunnydale, how's life been for her?

There were days when Buffy thought about the fact she never thought her life would be like it is now but it was. As if you had told her a long time ago that she wasn't gonna end up moving to Europe and marry Christian Slater and then die sometime later, she would've thought you were crazy. But a long time ago was nearly 20 years ago (or close to it anyhow) and this is now. Now, she is one of the most accomplished and longest living Slayers (ignoring the whole two deaths thing of course since she tried not to think too much about that), is one of the heads of a multi-national organization dedicated to world savage, is a certified Counselor for not only those in the organization but outside of it as well, and is also a mom and currently engaged. Now, ten years ago, life hadn't necessarily been all that easy after the collapse of Sunnydale. Especially as her and the others had to get their bearings and figure out what to do next for not only themselves but also for every girl in the world who'd been activated by Willow's Spell.

Angel, his Hotel, and David Nabbit had thankfully helped in dealing with everything but it certainly wasn't all that helpful when Xander had chosen to go to Africa. Having left her and the others in a funk for a time on top of everything else and when things were more stabilized, she and Dawn had done some sight seeing around the world. Which eventually culminated in her going back to College after some lengthy conversation and encouragement over it. It helped that Buffy had wanted to go back and actually finish since she never got the chance to do so back in Sunnydale. Psychology had still interested her and since she had actually come to like being a Counselor at the new Sunnydale High before it went down, she decided to pursue that as an end goal. Plus, it was sort of a normal thing for her outside of the life she had known for years and that was massively appealing for Buffy. Now this path had almost come to a grinding halt after a one night stand resulted in her being pregnant but the others refused to let her give up on what she wanted.

Helping her with the baby so that she could pursue her goals. Some Magic had be to used to ensure the baby would be born without complications considering the fact Buffy's a Slayer and all. And when little Joyce Kenny Summers was born, there was a lot of happy tears over the whole affair from little Joyce's Aunts and Uncles. Which, unsurprisingly, there was a lot of those! Buffy had chosen 'Kenny' as her baby's middle name as a way to honor the memories of both Jenny Calendar and Kendra Young at the same time and some saw it as just another California thing entirely considering Buffy's own unique name. Interestingly enough, this had caused Hank Summers to finally pop up out of the wood work but would end up getting the boot and told to never come back again. Initially, there had been some attempts by the Forces of Darkness to take little Joyce for their own ends but those attempts would always end disastrously for them to the point that an oath was made that it would never happen again and would firmly tell Wolfram and Hart 'Hell no' anytime they brought up the subject.

As the end result was just too horrific for even the most hardened of Humans and Demons on Earth to comprehend. Connor would later develop a sort of jealous envy towards the baby as she'd never experience the kind of Hell he himself had gone through thanks in part to Sahjahn and Holtz and despite how he felt, he still dedicated himself as one of her most fierce defenders. This, and being encouraged enough on getting an education to the point he was able to attend College himself, helped keep Connor from going too far off the rails. Now as time went on and Buffy became a certified Counselor, she would meet, befriend, and later become more than friends with a Japanese Slayer by the name of Satsu after an event had taken her to Tokyo where Satsu is based out of. Something that in her own words, had snuck up on her but Buffy didn't regret one bit of it. It also helped that little Joyce really liked the woman as well. This of course only furthered the souring of Satsu's relationship with her parents, whom had hoped she would finally do the right thing where their traditional views were concerned but she honestly couldn't quite bring herself to care anymore at that point once they realized it was just never going to happen.

And currently, Buffy was in the conference room of the Cleveland Headquarters and wanting to be where her little girl was several floors below. Deciding that next time, Joyce would be in there with her! Ugh, I'm too far away from my little Joy!

The phone ringing however, diverted Buffy from her thoughts where her daughter was concerned and watched as Giles spoke to whomever it was on the other end. Part of her hoping she was about to be told to go get her little girl as separation anxiety sucked, darn it! She also scowled a little at Satsu, who'd been grinning at her for some time now as the other woman liked to tease her from time to time over how she acted with Joyce. Not that she had any leg room to stand on herself considering how she was at times as well! "So, who was that, Giles?" Asked Buffy after her long time mentor and father figure hung up the phone.

Growing even more curious when he started to smile widely and she wasn't the only one to be as curious either! "Well… It appears that Xander has finally made his way here." He announced.

Silence reigned in the room until Willow spoke up. "He, he is?"

"He is, indeed."

At this, Buffy instantly shot up from her seat. "About darned time because I was seriously about to go over there and drag him back here!" Declared the long lived Slayer and not necessarily paying attention to any confused and curious glances her way over the whole thing.

For his Xander shaped way's too irregular contact with them from Africa was not something she was ever happy about and knew she wasn't alone in this! Shortly after that, she and the others rushed to him for the first reunion with the man in years. She couldn't wait to tell him about Joyce and as well as Satsu! Well, after kicking his ass first anyway!

Author's Notes: Heh, that was interesting and fun to do with Buffy.