It was a strange feeling to be back home. Her chest tightened and her eyes widened. There were pastel walls with posters, butterflies, her dresser with the mirror that reflected her now twenty-five year old self.

Mr. Gordo stared back at her from behind Illyria, whose presence made the entire room feel less like Buffy was back in the world she had begged for and more like being stuck in a dollhouse crafted by cruel fates.

"Buffy?" Joyce's voice called from the hallway. They could hear her mother's steps as she narrowed the gap from door to door toward Buffy's bedroom.

"Mommy?"

The door had already been cracked open and that familiar scent wafted in like it had been centuries. The scent of this old house, and of her mother.

When Joyce opened the door, her eyes scrutinized her lazy daughter at the bed, but Buffy was already at the dresser with makeup in hand. No one else in the room but her.

"Are you ready, Buffy?"

"Meet you downstairs."

"Let's no be late for our first day?" Joyce's tone, that stern motherly voice that used to annoy Buffy on a daily basis, that casual scorn she so carelessly ignored now suddenly warmed her heart.

She wanted to jump her mother and wrap her tightly in her arms. She was alive!

"We're clear." Buffy freed Illyria from the closet, a place once previously reserved for Angel. "Oh god," suddenly the memories came back and she added, "I am not ready for this."

The blue tinted demon emerged from the closet to stick out like a sore thumb in the pastel, girly room of a sixteen year old Buffy. If Buffy thought she was out of place and out of time, she caught a glimpse of the reconstructed Winnifred Burkle and their situation finally sank in and pulled her shoulders down with cement weights.

"Why here? Why now?" Buffy pondered as she turned from the mirror to the demon.

"You reached for this moment, this version of time and now we are here."

"Where did I go?"

She realized that her original self, the child she was had not been in the bed when they emerged into this timeline.

"I do not know. Dimensions are complicated. Is there someone in this timeline that would understand?"

The thought crossed Buffy's mind. In this moment her former self would have gotten up, rode with her mother to Sunnydale High, met Xander, Cordelia, and then completely and utterly blown up the one person that may just know what's going on.

"Giles."

Alone with her mother at last, Buffy followed her out of the home, hopped into the vehicle, all to the Joyce's surprise at the up beat attitude of her daughter.

"You look different." Joyce spoke once the doors shut. "You seem happier."

"I've missed you." Buffy caught herself, "you know, it's been a while since we've gotten to have some quality mom and daughter time."

"We're just going to the school, Buffy."

"I'm excite-O gal. New school, quality mom time. I'm all for it!"

Joyce narrowed her eyes. How could Buffy, whom she admittedly almost didn't recognize, and certainly didn't grasp this new attitude, found herself needing to navigate a new path through this sudden change. "What did you do?"

"Can't a daughter enjoy these little moments with her mom?"

Joyce shook it off. What she didn't know, she'd simply make a mental allowance for.

As soon as the car stopped before the school, she turned one last time to her daughter, a cautious smile, then fear as she knew that wonderful connection would break as soon as she spoke.

"Okay, have a good time. I know you'll make friends right away. Just think positive honey, and–"

Buffy grasped her words from her and fed them back, "try not to get kicked out? I remember. I mean, I promise!"

Was this really her daughter? Could Buffy have grown so much over night, or during the move? She begged for this change, this maturity to grow within her daughter, but it almost scared her. Perhaps too much change was bad? She'd consult the parent help books.

"I love you, Mom!" Buffy, out of character as kids passed her by, leaned back before the door shut to gift her mother those beautiful words she had not heard in too long.

"Love you too, Buffy! Have fun!"

What was this? Joyce pondered if perhaps Buffy was a robot. A mature, loving, Buffy-faced robot.

— —

Buffy rounded the halls of Sunnydale High. Despite it being years, she suddenly found herself back in the mindset of the girl she once was and let her muscle memory trace the corridors as she had for three years right to the double doors of the library.

It scared her how much this felt like home. The faces of the students, familiar and otherwise. She touched the metal press handle of the door and could almost see Xander and Willow seated at the table with Giles, book in hand as he paced between them.

"Giles, you are not going to believe thi–"

"Buffy Summers!" A voice tore her from this dream world. She shot right back to reality, almost bemused, but caught in her throat all the same as Principal Flutie was already behind her like a shadow in the night. "I believe we had a meeting in my office."

"Well, I thought I'd get some books first."

"We wouldn't want to set a bad example on our first day would we?"

Pulled from her Watcher yet again.

In the school hall, Buffy let out a deep breath she had held since the door closed behind her in the office. That strange man, and his fate. She made a mental note about making sure the principal would be clear of any Hyena People. Then she remembered someone else as he rushed into her and knocked her school bag to the floor.

Deja Vu, but this time for real.

"Can I have you?" Xander begged her with his heart and blurted with his silly little mouth. He quickly reeled back and covered, as she suddenly remembered, "can I help you?"

"Xander!"

"You know my name?"

This gave her pause. In this timeline, she hadn't met him up until this moment. She too had to reel herself in and nodded, smiled, and gathered her things on the floor with him. "Thought I heard someone talk about you, just figured."

She paused.

In this moment, this carefully constructed minute in time changed the world for both of them. Even though she barely remembered it other than the first time she had laid eyes on her best friend, she didn't realize then what it meant, let alone that she had left a stake behind, which gave him a chance to find her again with Willow and etch a friendship from then on.

In his eyes, so innocent, so new, she could see the man he became. The carpenter, the man who lead armies of Slayers. She loved him already and perhaps her eyes betrayed her as he buried into them with a curious smile.

"Hey, um, you want to meet up later?" She offered. This was a chance to gather that stake, ensure her belongings were gathered, but still craft that moment. She had business, and wasn't sure if she could rehash the routine of a day she had thought was long lost and forgotten to her.

Xander was flabbergasted. This absolutely beautiful blond Los Angeles, the stunning woman crafted as perfectly as Cordelia and yet seemed so nice and spoke to him, he was speechless.

"Yeah!" He managed to blabber out, whether she understood or not he didn't care. She wanted to see him again!

Buffy nodded, it was already late and she knew class would start. Giles now was more important to her than reliving the school that nearly killed her. She pulled away, but kept his gaze as he stumbled to his feet as well. How goofy he was then, and just a kid. She loved it. She missed it.

"See you in class then, uh–" She played with him, to make him believe she truly didn't know him well enough.

"Xander! Xander Harris!"

"Xander! Got it!"

"A blast from the past." She whispered to herself as the doors opened into the library.

It was as she remembered. The stuffy smell of old books with the faint scent of tea that emanated from Giles' office. The sight of the table she and her friends researched and planned so many meetings at.

She wanted to cry. Almost.

Here beneath her feet stood the Hellmouth. That much remembered as Giles popped up and slammed the great big volume 'Vampyr' upon the counter.

"Giles!" She let those tears fall.

It caught him off guard. Had he scared her so? He wasn't prepared for her to come behind the counter and hug him.

"Mrs. Summers?" He peeled away from the strength of the emotional girl. Certainly the strength of a slayer wrapped around him.

"Sorry. I just–"

"Are you all right, Mrs. Summers?"

"I am now."

"Well, I, suppose you're here for this?" He returned to the book on the counter. Unsure of how to react to her display, he immediately went into Watcher mode and chose to forget it.

She watched him. Carefully, and held herself back. It had been too long.

"Perhaps I should–"

"No, it's fine." She glanced at the volume, that thick, ancient tome she had only remembered seeing once in her life in this very moment. "That the Slayer's Handbook?"

"Uh, well, yes. It belongs to the Slayer, the one girl in all the world–"

"One girl, chosen, yeah. Heard it all before."

"Mrs. Summers." He pressed as he cleaned his glasses.

"Buffy."

"Right, uh, Buffy. It's no coincidence you bing here. You are the Slayer. Your sacred birth right–"

She intercepted again, "I know. We've been through this before."

He was lost.

As was she as her sudden situation slapped her across the face. Class had already begun and she was late. He would still be here, she told herself and made as best an excuse and gesture before she rushed out.

"Hold that thought! I'll explain everything."

He watched her rush through the doors, trample in and out of the moment like a doppler effect that whizzed past him.

The book on the counter, his eyes on the what little memory he had of her at the door as it closed behind her and he scratched his forehead.

"Curious girl."

The class scattered like insects as the bell freed them from their History period. Buffy, once without a book, still so, chose to listen rather than take Cordelia's one moment of kindness. It was odd to see that face again and though she never hated Cordelia, she was surprised to have missed her.

Still, as they fled from the door like fleas from the dog, Buffy ignored Cordelia, who she remembered was only interested in her for having moved from Los Angeles. Buffy instead darted to the drinking fountain where Willow met with her, unaware of who this blond girl was that smiled at her there on the metal pedestal of gross tap water she needed to drink.

"Willow?"

"Who? What?"

This moment would have played out differently and much later in the day with the inclusion of Xander and as the memory returned, the revelation of a dead boy found in some student's locker. That lead Buffy to her true introduction to her Watcher, but now that she knew better, she'd have a chance to do things right. Ignore Cordelia and get with Willow quicker, accept Giles and hopefully survive having to deal with high school a second time.

How ever would she survive it?

So, she thought, how did this go again?

"I heard you were the person to see if you wanted to pass History. Was thinking maybe I could use a study buddy?"

"Oh, you bet mister, I mean, I could totally help you out! Do you have sixth period free, we could meet at the library?" Willow though this moment was different, new to Buffy, still played out as she remembered.

"Sounds great, and maybe bring Xander too? I kind of met him in the hall."

"I heard, you're kind of–"

"Yeah, the talk of the town. I know."

"Well, not much happens here, but we could definitely study together."

"Great! Meet you in the library then, uh, sixth period, right?"

"You bet!"

This was her escape. In this moment, she would have gone to another couple of classes and then found Willow in the courtyard with Xander and Cordelia, but that was her then, and the situation began to sink into her heart like a black hole that dragged her down with curiosity.

Why here? Why now?

Or perhaps, she thought, why this day?

Suddenly the weight of many worlds pounded at her door. Everyone she already met that she must meet again. Every situation anew that she must navigate somehow to make different, to keep the same, or just survive the day. That, and she remembered the boy in the locker. This suddenly bore into her soul as it lead to the discovery of the Master, the great vampire that dwelled beneath in the sunken church.

Do I have to do this all over again? Do I have to–

"Mrs. Summers?" Buffy caught her at the door of the library. "Have you heard?"

Once the doors were closed she nodded and though pensive, tried to seem present. The grim reality of what this day had become finally settled like sediment within her mind. She'd have to deal with The Master's harvest all over again. Darla, Angel, all of it.

Angel.

"Do you know?"

"The boy? Yeah, vampire."

"Will he rise?"

"No, he's just dead."

He watched her every move, every thought that played out like a wrinkle on her brow. "Can you be sure?"

"Been there done that, pretty sure." Buffy escaped him again. This strange tangent of lines he couldn't understand, not that he'd be able to understand her anyway.

"I don't understand this attitude–"

She stopped him at the staircase. It was time to fill him in. The sooner the better for he would be their best asset to understand this sudden jump in time, and perhaps the whole mortal coil's rusting corruption by fate itself.

"Giles, we've done this before. This conversation, or well, it was different then, but, this moment, I'm not the Buffy you met before."

He blinked.

This was a moment to clear his glasses and gather his thoughts. This was certainly the strangest Slayer he had met before.

"I don't understand."

"I don't either, but you have to believe me," she added, "I'm not sixteen anymore. We've been through so much, the Master, Glory, the Hellmouth."

"Mrs. Summers, are you well?"

From the corner of his eye a figure emerged as instantaneous as a blink. Only focused through his glasses which fogged up just as quick as he had put them on when he saw the blue figure of a woman stood by the table across from Buffy Summers.

"My God!"

Buffy glanced, it was almost a shock to her as well if she didn't know already that Illyria could pop in and out of time and space. The demon glanced back at the watcher she knew close to nothing about, with no familiarity of the one she did know.

"You were supposed to stay in my room." Buffy rolled her eyes.

"I got bored. Trapped in that tiny closet. You cannot breath in these walls you humans confine yourselves in." Illyria glanced back at the Watcher. "Rupert Giles."

Identified by this strange creature, he had no clue how to respond.

"Buffy," he finally used her name, "What's going on?"

The illusion had shattered. Reality flooded in and crashed against the walls of her dreams. This was the moment it all had to begin anew. She couldn't relive her life. All of those moments, those memories had already happened once before and she try as she may to relive them as they were, there was reason Buffy and Illyria had found themselves in this timeline.

"Giles, this is–"

Illyria interrupted, her dry tone and dead delivery was what the Slayer hoped to avoid, but so be it.

"I am Illyria. One of the old ones, when nightmares walked this plane and humans were the gnats we burned like moths in a flame." She continued, "For eons I ruled over this world, over many dimensions, and–"

"Okay, demon girl. Long story short too late, we came from a different dimension." Buffy cut her off.

"How? What? Dear lord." Lost in time, he begged for answers.

"We were kind of hoping you'd have a book, or know something about dimensional portals or time coil space thingies? I don't know, Giles, but I need your help in this."

"You're trying to return to your time?" He tried to understand.

"We cannot." Illyria stepped in. "Time is fragile, like human flesh. We are stuck here, even I, the great Illyria, cannot alter that."

The name was lost to him. He'd have to research this and suddenly realized the stacks were behind him.

"Right, well, certainly something very strange is happening." He added, "I should consult my books,"

"Great! You do that and I'll go to class. Again."

The two suddenly felt the weight of Illyria's presence. Buffy was not overjoyed to be twenty-five and in high school again, but she had a place she could fit into and eventually she knew Giles would understand, better than her, and fall into place, but Illyria?

"Uhm, I don't think you being here is going to work." She looked over the blue demon.

"Perhaps you could, uhm, help me research?" Giles was unsure. This was not his first demon, but one that would help him? An old one? He did think and ponder the knowledge he could pull from this creature, but all the same Illyria was a demon.

"I will help the Watcher."

"No, I mean, the look." Buffy paused. She was right. It took a second for the ancient creature to realize the Slayer's intention and with just the wave of her hand across her face, the body formed the girl that Illyria now called her home, her prison.

"You want me to lie?"

"Dear lord." Giles' thoughts betrayed him. All of this was too much to take in. All on his first day with his first Slayer.