Oz stood at arrivals in the Sunnydale Airport, waiting. Over the past few months he had been in contact with Buffy. Actually she had contacted him after her funeral the beginning of March. Normally things don't surprise Oz, but this took the cake. It took some convincing, but finally Oz believed his friend.
They took to talking weekly on the phone and through emails. Which turned out to be pretty hard. Oz didn't like to keep secrets from Willow, but Buffy had made him promise not to tell her. He had only agreed after she had promised she would eventually come home.
After that Buffy had told Oz everything, spy, Angel, everything. He took it pretty well, as did Buffy when he told her about the happenings in Sunnydale.
Finally Oz had worn her down and Buffy submitted to his gift of a ticket home. They planned carefully about how they would break the news to the others, living arrangements, and everything else. The two had become very close friends over the past few months.
Now Oz stood waiting, watching for the friend, who he wasn't sure he'd be able to recognize. Buffy had told him she had changed, in both appearance and personality. Oz was really worried he wouldn't recognize her at first. He was wrong.
Oz grinned as Buffy came through the doors. She was right she had changed. Buffy's once golden locks were now a rich shade of reddish brown. Her eyes were no longer green but a scary silver. She was still short and slim, but her muscles were defiantly more developed.
Buffy grinned as she saw her loyal friend. She dropped her bags and ran over to Oz. They embraced and smiled at each other.
"OZ! Omigod, it's been way to long without a face to face."
"No kidding. It's good to see you Buffy." Oz smiled and picked up her bags. The two headed out to his van.
"I see the old girl is still in business." Buffy grinned as she jumped in the passenger seat.
"Couldn't give her up." They pulled out of the parking lot and headed towards the Magic Box.
"It feels really good to be home." Buffy smiled at Oz. "Thank you."
"For what?"
"For being my friend, sticking with me, convincing me to come home."
"Hey if it weren't for you, I'd probably be a pelt up on Cain's wall a couple times over by now." Oz glanced over at Buffy. "You ready for this?"
"Yeah, I've been ready ever since I left."
"Good, cause we're here." Oz pulled up in front of the Magic Box and turned off the van. He sat back in his seat.
"Now? Wow, that was fast." Buffy breathed deep and smoothed her hair. "Ok, lets go." She and Oz jumped out of the van and stopped in front of the door. Buffy turned to Oz and hugged him.
"Thanks again."
"Anytime."
"So, I look okay?" Buffy glanced once more at Oz. She smoothed her black dress with large Hawaiian flowers.
"Like someone those people in there should meet." Oz smiled and pushed open the door. Buffy took a deep breath and walked in.
*****
The scoobies looked up from their research of the latest big bad to find Oz standing beside a small red head.
"Hey Oz, Willow's over here." Xander grinned, the others stayed silent.
"Hey guys, I'd like to re-introduce you to someone." Oz took a deep breath, and smiled. "Guys, you remember Buffy Summers."
The group sat in silence, staring at Oz and Buffy, and then Xander laughed. But it wasn't his regular full laugh it was shaky and unsure.
"Funny Oz man, but really not. Buffy was killed during the summer. We all know that. We went to her funeral."
"Oz. I must say, for you this is really a low thing to do." Giles took off his glasses and started to clean them.
"Yes Oz, this hurts us all. We all loved her." Anya smiled a little. "Even though she abandoned us to look for Spike, we still love her very much."
Buffy was silent throughout this all, and smiled a little as tears ran down her face. This brought Xander and Willow's attention. Both of them got up and walked carefully towards her. Once they were in front of her, they started to examine her.
"Her eyes, they're silver." Stated Willow. Knowing she couldn't quite bring herself to speak, Oz spoke for Buffy.
"It's from a special vitamin Buffy took for the past 9 months."
"Her hair is red."
"It's been other colours."
"It's impossible, we saw her body." Xander shivered a little at the memory of his friend's second service. It was at this time Buffy chose to speak.
Her eyes softened, and her tears flowed a little easier. As she spoke, her voice was soft, but it was still her voice. "It was a set up, it all was. In my line of business, everything is. Sometimes it's hard to even remember who you really are."
The scoobies all fell silent at her words. There was no way this could be a fake. When she spoke, it ignited something in them all, something they had forgotten, someone named Buffy. The real Buffy.
Giles uttered the one word that said it all. "Buffy."