Buffy strolled out of the Hyperion dressed in knee-high black leather boots with silver spiked stiletto heels, a short black leather skirt with side splits and a backless, strappy silver sequinned top. Part of her hair was clipped up loosely, while the rest fell in waves, softly framing her face. She had spent a nice few hours just hanging out with Angel before he had gone out to meet a source; now she really needed to call Willow for some girl-talk very soon. But first she had an old buddy to look up.

She turned into the club, her sweet yet sultry smile gaining her entry as much as the fake I.D. she flashed at the bouncer. He wouldn't necessarily be in here tonight but this was sort of where they had met and this was where they had sometimes hung out the summer she had run away, the summer she had lost Kendra, the summer her mom had furiously discovered she was the slayer, last summer in fact, though it felt much longer ago.

Spotting a few familiar faces she edged her way through the crowd, yep he was there all right. With a grin she crept up beside him and positioned herself to yell in his ear.

"Hey there Gunn! I see you haven't become a vampire chew toy yet!"

Her old friend spun round with a big grin plastered onto his usually serious face, "Damn, girl, you're sneakier than ever. How you doing?"

"Good. I'm good. You?"

"Damn good, come meet my new girlfriend Fred."

Buffy tucked an arm comfortably through Gunn's and followed him through the crowd fully expecting to be introduced to the latest gorgeous chick with a bag of attitude Gunn had in tow for that week but was pleasantly surprised to be introduced to a sweet, nervous looking Texan.

"Hey Fred! This here is Anne, the one who saved my ass from my first vampire."

Buffy smiled at Fred who smiled and stuttered out a quiet "Hello."

Buffy smiled, "Good to see Gunn got himself some taste in women at last, nice to meet you Fred."

Gunn gestured at the bar with a mock glare for her crack about his taste, "What can I getcha Annie girl?"

Momentarily debating whether or not to fill him in on her true name or not Buffy eventually requested a small whiskey with coke.

Gunn raised an eyebrow, and carefully took in the short skirt and not very large top before handing her the drink as she settled herself on a barstool, "Cutting loose?" he asked.

"Actually yes, I do things my way now and if people don't like it they have to just lump it. If I wanna wear leather and drink whiskey I will," she leant forward so only he could hear, "I love the leather but the whiskey is pretty awful unless it's drowned in coke. I'm in training to eventually swig it neat from a hip flask and horrify people!"

Gunn chuckled delightedly; he'd missed Anne. She had been the one to put him on the path he followed now, it was a tough path that was for sure but it was worthwhile. He'd made some pretty cool friends, felt like he made a difference in the world and of course he'd met Fred.

He draped an arm round Fred and watched as Anne sipped her hated whiskey and remembered the tiny blonde fireball that had effortlessly beaten a vampire into a pulp behind the club and killed it after it had nearly single-handed killed him and his buddy.

Then he had gotten a look at her and had seen she was very young, very unsure of herself and plainly miserable. On the very real pretext of having her teach him what the hell the thing had been and how to fight like her he had taken her under his wing, with no ulterior motives beyond learning how she did what she did and getting her to smile again.

When he'd learned about her runaway status he hadn't encouraged her to go home but hadn't discouraged her either. One day she had simply decided to go, he had missed her but a postcard had come assuring him that she was fine and that they would probably see each other again someday and he had let it go. Soon after that he had met Angel and Doyle as they did battle with the same vampire gang.

The rest was history.

"So what are you doing back in LA?"

Buffy pulled a face, "Visiting. I feel as if I have the plague at the moment. My mom's on her honeymoon, my dad is abroad with his latest bit of stuff so I needed someplace to stay so they sent me to my brother's but he isn't even around, the cheek of the man!"

Gunn chuckled, the old Anne had been pretty cool but she had never really been one to make fun like this or over-share stuff. He hadn't even known she had a brother.

"Feeling unwanted huh?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Well I hate to make you feel even more unwanted but we were only meeting in here to start a big patrol together. I don't do it so much anymore because I usually work for some guys who actually pay me to kick demon ass so I promised my boys this past week would be like old times. Took the time off work and hung out but I can't miss the big hunt tonight or my boys will still think they've lost me."

"They pay you huh? Gotta get me an introduction."

"I could probably do that some time but right now we gotta run, we're heading out in a minute. I'd invite you to come but."

"One high kick or bit of violent fighting from me would probably result in the whole world going blind; these clothes would probably fall right off!"

Gunn laughed, "Got it in one. Now when we hooking up for some demon butt- kicking like the old days?"

Buffy got up as they all moved towards the entrance, "Dunno, I don't have anything much planned but as I have my eye glued on one of my brother's friends I don't wanna commit myself in case I could get to spend time helping him do his laundry or something!"

Gunn eyed her mischievously, "You got it bad girl."

"Sue me! If you were a girl and saw him you'd understand."

"Uh huh!"

Buffy gently dug him in the ribs, "Look I'll drop in here before I patrol every night I do go out, so we're bound to both be in here at the same time at some point, okay?"

"Sure. See you later."

Buffy turned her smile on Fred. "Nice to meet you Fred, keep him out of trouble won't you?"

Fred grinned back, "Sure will try. It was nice meeting you too."

"Take care guys." She called as they moved in opposite directions outside the club, Gunn saluted as Fred waved and then they were swallowed up into the night.

Buffy headed home, it was a pity Gunn had been busy but at least he knew she was in town now so they could meet up at a later date. Satisfied with the way the evening had gone Buffy picked up her pace, eager to be back at the Hyperion just in case Angel was at home.

Then she heard a faint scrape of a boot on sidewalk and a sharp tingle raced down her spine. She eased Mr Pointy out of hiding and waited.

She didn't have long to wait, three figures drifted out of the few shadowy spots, unlit by streetlamps. Not bothering to wait for them to attack and have the chance to trash her outfit she leapt at them staking two in quick succession before they even realised their prospective dinner was armed and dangerous.

The remaining one managed to defend himself for a while but was soon ricocheting from wall to floor and back again. Tiring of the game she was winning so easily Buffy moved in for the kill and staked the last one with a flourish before she realized she wasn't actually just dealing with the last one, the last one was behind her.

The vampire managed to grasp her across the throat and across the shoulders but immediately tried to bite down instead of subduing her properly.

What an idiot. Buffy ripped free at the cost of her top, spun round and punched and staked in quick succession. The vampire dust hit the floor at the same time as Buffy's top gave way and collapsed around her waist.

She glared at the dust for a moment, "Wardrobe destroyer!" Ah, who was she trying to kid. An outfit that survived a nocturnal outing unscathed was quite rare in her life.

She dragged up what was left of her top and managed to insecurely fix it back up, a deep breath or strong breeze would make it collapse again though. Time to get home to the Hyperion; funny, it seemed like home already.

She tucked the faithful Mr Pointy back into the top of her skirt, Strike five for Kendra's old stake on this trip; she whisked it out again and peered suspiciously at Mr Pointy, maybe the darn thing was bewitched or had some kind of demon magnet thingy.

With a grunt she tucked it away again, at least there were four less vampires in the world just now, she shouldn't be brooding about having to use the familiar to accomplish that just because she had loads of gorgeous new weapons still un-christened.

Carefully holding her top in place she stomped homeward, hoping the divine detective wouldn't be out detecting. She could just use some Angel time right about now.