Disclaimer: I claim no right over the characters from BtVS portrayed in the piece of
fiction. All rights of the series Buffy the Vampire Slayer is reserved by Mutant Enemy,
Sandollar, Kuzui Enterprises and Fox. This piece of fiction is not to be reproduced
anywhere or edited without the express consent of the author as named above.

Warning: This piece of literature contains scenes with violence, strong language and
religious references that may be considered offensive. Parental disgression should be
applied.

Chapter 3: The new home


Charlie Philips looked out the windows of his small house. It sat nestled again a cliffside
on the banks of a small sea. The night was exceptionally clear and a full moon made
the sea gleam like in a fairy tale. He smiled and gulped down his hot cocoa. He would
through the night, if the inspiration he felt at that moment didn`t leave him. He was right
in the middle of a similar romantic scene in his latest novel. He was an author and good
enough to earn him enough money to live on that alone.

Charlie looked out the window again. Something flew past the silhuette of the moon.
Something impacted with a huge splash in the water just 20 meters from the beach. He
swore, and dashed out the door.

He got close to the water`s edge. In the moonlight he saw something float in the water.
He ran faster ignoring the icy water as it flowed past his ankels.

Soon he was swimming towards the thing. He already shivered from the cold as he
reached it.

He gasped in surprise. In the water a girl floated face down. Her very long blond hair
spread like a halo around her and her white ballgown giving the impression of a
drowning princess from the middle ages. She seemed to be unconcious. Charlie knew
how to perform a water rescue, so he turned her over and quickly began his return to
the shore, but questions rolled through his mind: "Where had she come from? Would
she survive? Who was she?".

He finally got her up on land. He was shivering from the cold water as he turned her
over. He gasped, she was unharmed eventhough she had at least fallen over 20
meters. But she wasn`t breathing. Quickly he gave her first aid as his years in the navy
had taught him.

What seemed to him to be a very long time passed. Then a jolt seemed to pass through
the girl and she began coughing up water. Charlie leaned in to stop her from swallowing
it again.

After a short while he took her into his arms and carried her into the house. He would
have to call up the police or rescue services to help him. She could have serious
internal injuries, and while he knew he probably shouldn`t have moved her, he judged
that he would rather make her warm and dry than risking having her going into shock
right here on the beach.

As he was about half way to the house, she surprised him by talking.

"Where am I?", she asked in a very weak voice.

Charlie swallowed his surprised response and instead said: "You`re at Lake Thompson
in the state of Washington".

To that the girl smiled and mysteriously whispered: "At least I landed on the right
continent".

Charlie Philips carried the girl inside.

However months had passed between the explosion at Sunnydale High School, and
Buffy`s return.

Willow Rosenberg had cried at Oz`s departure, but the beast in him had become
stronger of late and she was getting ready to move to Los Angeles to study at UCLA, so
Oz had left her. At least they had decided to take a break, while he tried to sort out his
life.

Angel had gone first and eventhough it was unlikely that he would stay for long in LA, he
had actually bought a building in which he had promised they were all welcome to move
into.

Xander and Cordelia had finally after their recovery both chosen to go to UCLA although
they were in for a harder time than her, as they still had to pay their way from the money
that they could scrape together. However the cost for rent was out of the way, as they
would also be moving in with Angel, it would be a little easier for them.

Two weeks after Wendy`s death Giles had taken his leave from the Council and left it to
his successor a strange englishman named Wesley and his prodigy a black girl named
Lara to keep Sunnydale safe. Rupert and Jenny Giles were also retiring to a different
profession as Giles picked up his old profession of curator at a very large and well
paying museum in Los Angeles, while Jenny would take the great job she had been
offered at a newly started software company riding the dotcom wave. They had already
bought a large home close to the museum. Willow was sure that it was already littered
with ancient books, mysterious relics, spell components, a large Internet connection and
more than a little computer equipment.

Still Willow couldn`t shake a strange foreboding feeling as she drove out of Sunnydale
as if she wasn`t leaving behind her troubles but instead heading towards new ones.

Charlie Philips noticed that the girl wasn`t actually all that tall, and she couldn`t be more
than sixteen. He had stripped the cold wet dress of her and wrapped her in blankets.
She was sleeping on his bed like nothing had happened. He had already called over the
paramedics, they couldn`t be more than moments away.

There was a knock on the door.

Outside stood two paramedics. The apparent leader asked: "Where is she?". Charlie
motioned for them to come inside and pointed to the bedroom. They rushed to her side.

As one of them carefully examined her."You say you have no idea, where she came
from", the other asked.

"No, she seemed to fall right out of the sky", Charlie said. Immediately realizing how
stupid and impossible that sounded. "Well, maybe she jumped down from the cliff", he
conceded.

"Suicide attempt?", the paramedic asked his partner.

However the other paramedic had a sudden inspiration and said: "Nope, she was out to
prove something to her teenage friends. I say it was a dare. And anyway there is
nothing wrong with her. I can feel no broken bones, nor is there any visible marks:
neither bruises, birthmarks or otherwise".

His partner accepted the idea, and more strangely suggested: "Well I guess we could
leave her here. She`ll be fine after she gets over the shock of the cold water. If you
would lend her your bed, she should be out of your life by the morning".

This ran counter to all Charlie believed and knew about medical and paramedic
procedures, but he said nothing. He was entertaining strange thoughts, as he guided
the two to the door.

As they had left he walked back into the bedroom and once again looked at the blond
girl. She still slept, however a warm red flush gave her beauty a greater depth. Charlie
studied her. She seemed to have the deep tan of a girl, who likes to be outside, but
none the wrinkles of a regular sunbather. She had no moles, birth- or beautymarks as
he had seen, when he had undressed her in fact her skin seemed as flawless as that of
a newborn child. Maybe they had been right about her, but the trajectory of her fall had
been straight, she had come from above.

Charlie sighed in confusion and left the bedroom to her. He spent the night on his couch
awaiting the morning where more answers would probably come.

And the night passed.

Charlie heard her move about before he saw her. Then a voice asked: "Is there
someone?". Her accent was californian like that of his agent. Quickly he answered:
"Yes, I am in kitchen. It`s the door on the right, when you exit the bedroom".

She walked into the room once again dressed in the white gown he had found her in. It
looked like something right out of the a romantic hollywood movie, it was not good for
anything except making the wearer look good and she didn`t really need the help.

"Uhm, I am sorry for last night. I had a small accident and kind of landed in that sea
outthere", she said as if that explained everything. But before he could answer, she
said: "Thank you for rescueing me". Her tone betrayed a certain amount of urgency like
she was about to leave.

"No problem. I had some paramedics examine you, but they gave a perfect bill of
health, so you can be about your business anytime. But I would be very happy, if I could
share my breakfast and maybe some of my daughter`s more practical clothing with
you", Charlie said with a smile.

Buffy looked up and down the older man. He had to be in his late fifties. He was
muscled like he worked out everyday and had the kind of aura of friendliness you would
expect from an uncle or grandfather. She accepted with a smile.

As they ate, he looked up as if he had suddenly remembered something and asked: "By
the way how did you get into that sea last night?".

Buffy sat in silence considering her options. She could lie and tell him some story or…

"I was put down in the wrong place", she stated.

His eyebrows shot up in disbelief and distrust. "Really I don`t want to ask this, since I
am still hoping. You weren`t set down by a UFO or some other nonexistent stuff like
that, were you?". He was disappointed that she would lie like that.

Buffy laughed, shook her head and said: "No, no aliens, no UFOs or X-files stuff like
that. No, I could tell you, I jumped out of a plane, if you would believe it. But the truth is
sometimes stranger than fiction and my truth is a part of a different reality, a reality in
which good people like you shouldn`t be involved".

Charlie considered her answer for a minute. She had more or less admitted to hiding
the truth from him. However she also wouldn`t tell him, because she thought he would
think her answer a lie. That worked for him. Sometimes knowing a person was honest
meant more to him than an answer.

They finished breakfast in idle conversation about the world situation. The girl seemed
to have only questions, but Charlie hadn`t talked to someone in a while and used the
opportunity to have someone but himself listen to his voice.

Finally he said: "Well, let`s go pick out two sets of my daughter`s old clothes for you and
then I`ll drive out into town".

A few hours later Buffy stood in a middle sized town in the sunshine dressed in jeans, a
t-shirt and a leather jacket that Charlie had gotten for his daughter but which she had
long outgrown.

"So where will you go from here?", he asked as she looked at the busstation.

"Back home, if it`s still there", she answered.

"Is it a long trip?", Charlie asked.

"Yeah", she answered and sighed as if remembering something that weighed heavily on
her mind.

"Good, then can I help you a little more", Charlie took her hand and laid a few hundred
dollars in her hand.

Buffy looked at the money in surprise and she was about to give it back, when Charlie
said: "You can`t fool me. I know you have no money and those will get you to California
I hope. We`ll call it a fee".

"For what?", Buffy asked as she put the bills into her breast pocked.

"Peeking", he said with a grin and drove the car out of the lot, as Buffy blushed from ear
to ear.