Title: Find Your Way Home (1/?)
Author: Ally
Email: slaygal242@hotmail.com
Disclaimer: With the exception of a few characters, no Buffy or Angel characters belong to me. They belong to Joss Whedon, Fox and UPN.
Rating: G to R (can't really write smut)
Category: Story/Romance/Angst
Keywords: Alternate Universe/Futurefic
Pairings:
· Main: Dawn/Xander, Buffy/Spike
· Others: Angel/Fred, Willow/Oz, Faith/Tara, Cordy/Doyle, Gunn/Anya, Joyce/Giles, Wesley/Virginia
Distribution: You want this? Take it; just tell me where it's going.
Summary: 10 years later. Buffy comes back to a very different Sunnydale.
Author's Notes: Did you ever have a story you can't get out of your head? Well, this is mine. Hope you like it.
Feedback: Always Appreciated. I have to know whether to finish this story or not.






"Dawn, are you almost ready to go?" her mother asked, coming into her room.

"Almost" she said, turning around. She saw her mother looking at her strangely. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. It's just at times like this, you remind me so much of Buffy" she said, her eyes tearing.

Dawn felt her heart breaking. At that moment, she was so angry with her sister for leaving them. It was so tough for them after Buffy left and Dawn didn't think they would make it through the days. Somehow, they did, though they did go through some rough patches. One of them was when her mother was diagnosed with cancer. It was one of the toughest times of her life, but her friends were there for her.

That's also when her mother and Giles got closer. They started dating when her mother first got sick and he stayed by her side through the whole ordeal. Giles even proposed before her mother went into surgery.

Dawn smiled at the memory, letting it wash over her. Her mind then fast-forwarded to the wedding. She was the maid of honor and cried through the whole thing.

"Dawn, are you ok?" her mom asked at her faraway look.

"Yeah, mom. I'm fine. Just thinking about stuff" she said, shaking her head.

Her mother smiled and nodded. "Are you almost ready? Justin is getting restless."

She smiled back. "Tell him I'm almost ready" she said.

"All right, but he's ready to go now" she said, walking out.

Dawn hid a small smile and put her hair in a ponytail. She knew Justin was getting antsy, but she wanted to look good for her boyfriend…no fiancée now. He had just proposed and the whole gang was going out to celebrate.

Once she made sure she looked good, she was ready to go. She shut off the lights and bounded down the stairs. "I'm ready," she said, entering the room.

"Finally" Justin said, getting up.

"Sorry buddy" she said, ruffling his hair.

"Aww, mom" he said.

"C'mon get your coat. The others are probably already there."

"K, be right back" he said, bounding upstairs.

She laughed and turned to her mother. "You sure you'll be Ok by yourself. You know you could come."

"I knew, honey. But with you two gone and Giles in England, I'm gonna catch up on my reading. You go have fun with your friends."

Justin came down then and tugged on Dawn's hand. "C'mon, let's go. Xander said he'd teach me to throw a strike."

"Ok, bye mom."

"Bye, grandma" Justin said, going over and kissing her on the cheek.

She looked to see if Dawn was looking and slipped her grandson a $10. "Don't tell your mom," she said, smiling.

"Thanks, grandma" he said, smiling.

Dawn came back into the room, keys in hand. "Ok, let's go."

So they said goodbye again and hopped in the car. As they headed towards the bowling alley she looked over at Justin. "How are you doing?" she asked.

"Fine. I can't wait to see everyone again."

"And you're ok with this whole engagement thing?"

"Are you kidding me? I think it's great! I just want you to be happy, mom."

They had pulled into the parking lot by then and Dawn wiped away a few tears. "You know, you're the best kid a mom could have," she said, hugging her son.

He hugged her back and said, "I know."

They laughed and finally got out of the car and walked into the bowling alley. Since Angel owned it, he had closed it down for the night. Still, the place was crowded with her friends. She felt familiar warmth spread through her as she saw the Scooby Gang mingle and talk.

When Buffy first left, Dawn thought things would never be the same. She liked Buffy's friends and didn't know if they would stick around. They did though and accepted Dawn as one of their own. And while the dynamics had changed and grew, they were still as close as ever.

Taking a deep breath, she collected herself and walked over to the group. "Hey, guys" she said, smiling.

"Well if it isn't the woman of the hour" Spike said, going over to her. The others followed, hugging her and wishing her good luck.

It took all her willpower not to cry, but managed to succeed. "Thanks guys. I don't know how to thank you."

"The look on your face is enough for me," Angel said, smiling.

She smiled back and said, "Where is the man of the hour anyway?"

"He went to go get some ice. He should be back soon" Willow said, her daughter on her lap.

"Ok" Dawn said, sitting down.

"Well, since almost everyone is here, why don't we start to bowl?" Angel asked.

There was a collective cheer and while they knew could spread out, they split up into teams of five over three lanes. That way they could talk and have some fun.

After some light arguing and switching lanes, everyone was set. Willow, Oz, Faith, Tara and Anya were on one lane. Doyle, Cordy, Angel, Fred and Gunn were on another, while Wesley, Virginia, Dawn, Spike, Xander were on the final one.

Just as they were about to start, the doors burst open and Xander barreled through with two bags of ice. "Hey everyone. Sorry it took so long" he said, setting the bags down.

Dawn smiled and went over to him. "Hey" she said, quietly.

"Hey, how's my favorite fiancée doing?" he asked, with a smile.

She felt the butterflies intensify in her stomach. They had been going out for almost a year, when out to the blue, he got down on one knee and proposed. She was shocked at first, but after it wore off, she said yes. That was a week ago and she was still on cloud nine.

"Fine. How's my favorite guy in the world doing?"

"I don't know. Where is he?" Xander asked, looking around.

She laughed and hit him and the chest. He gathered her in his arms and she sighed contentedly. Nothing could be more perfect than this moment.

"So, no second thoughts?" he asked.

"No, why are …"

"No, never. I love you Dawn and nothing will ever change that " he said, kissing her soundly on the lips.

"If your quite done, we'd like to bowl now" Faith said, from her seat next to Tara.

Xander sighed. "You know how to ruin a moment Faith. You know that."

"It's what I'm good at" she said, smiling.

He groaned, but Dawn just grabbed his hand and led him over to the others. Justin immediately ran to him. "Xander!" he said as he picked him up.

"Hey, kiddo. You ready to bowl?"

He nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah!"

"Ok, then. What are we waiting for? Let's do this!" he said.

They cheered again and soon the sound of balls rolling and pins getting knocked down could be heard.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was almost midnight, by the time Dawn and Justin entered the house. They had a great time, but Justin was exhausted and fell asleep in the car. So Dawn had to carry him to bed.

She noticed the kitchen light was on, but didn't want to disturb Justin. She heard her mother talking to someone and figured it was Giles.

So she climbed the steps and slipped Justin into bed. She didn't want to wake him, she left his clothes on. She put on the night light and was about to shut the door when she heard him say "Night, mom."

She smiled and said "Night, honey." Then she shut the door and tiptoed downstairs. Her mom was standing there, looking at her. "Hey mom. I was just gonna go see you."

Her mother's face looked strange and she said "Honey, there's someone to see you."

"Who?"

"You should just go see."

This piqued Dawn's curiosity, so she went into the kitchen. And there standing at the counter was a face Dawn hadn't seen in almost ten years. She stood there, stunned for a moment.

"Hey Dawn. Miss me?"

That shook her out of her stupor and she said "Buffy?"