~Running~

~Chapter 2 - Remembering You~

I'm so tired of being here
Suppressed by all my childish fears
And if you have to leave
I wish that you would just leave
Cause you're presence still lingers here
And it won't leave me alone

These wounds won't seem to heal
This pain is just too real
There's just too much that time cannot erase

Buffy walked around her room, opening drawers, pulling out select items, and shoving them into her suitcase on the bed behind her.
The room almost exactly resembled the one from her Sunnydale home; only it was a bit larger and shaped different. But she had done her best to make it look as identical as the first one.
She shut the drawer she had been working in, but kept looking down at the floor.
'God, it's been almost two years,' she thought suddenly.
Yet she could still replay the scene in her mind perfectly.
The light shining down through him, the feeling of emptiness she had felt when she realized he was really going to be..gone.
"Hey," her thoughts were interrupted by Dawn's voice.
"Hey," she answered, her voice a little depressed.
Dawn sighed inwardly. You could always tell when Buffy had been thinking about Spike. As much Dawn herself missed him, she wished her sister could let go and move on. It was unhealthy to be like this for so long.
Dawn slowly made her way into the room and sat down on her sister's bed, "Buffy," she said, not sure where to start.
Buffy stood there watching her, waiting for her to go on, "Yes.."
Dawn sighed, "Have you ever thought about, you know, seeing someone?"
Buffy raised an eyebrow.
"A shrink, I mean?" Dawn braced herself for Buffy's reaction.
Buffy pretended to be confused, even though she knew exactly what Dawn was implying, "What do you mean? Why would I need to see a shrink?" she turned around and walked back to her dresser, pulling open another drawer.
Dawn watched Buffy's back sympathetically.
She rose and walked to her, setting a hand on her back, "You really did love him, didn't you?"
Buffy stared down into the drawer. It was taking everything in her not to burst into tears. God, she hated referring t him in the past tense. She nodded, "Yea," she pulled away and walked back to her suitcase.
She bent down to fiddle with a few things inside it. She stood back up and crossed her arms. She contemplated whether she should say anything for a moment, and then remembered that Dawn had always liked Spike. Just like her mother had..
"Do you remember him?" she asked, turning around to Dawn, who was now leaning against her dresser.
Dawn shrugged, "Yea, I guess. I don't know, it's hard to be sure. It's not like I can look at a picture to refresh my memory."
Buffy smiled, "I remember everything," she said quietly, "The way he looked, the way he smelled, the way it felt to be in his arms, the way he kissed, the way he.."
"Buffy! Stop! I know exactly what this is going to lead to, and as much as I liked Spike, I don't want to hear about your sex adventures!" Dawn said, looking disgusted.
Buffy laughed softly, pulling her arms down so she could pick at her finger nails, "sorry," she said, turning back around to her suitcase.
Dawn watched her, tears pricking at the back of her eyes from seeing her sister in so much pain.
"Hey," she said, taking a step forward.
Buffy turned around, wiping a single tear off her cheek.
Dawn swallowed hard, "It'll be okay," she pulled Buffy into a hug, "Sh..it'll be okay," she soothed her sister as she cried into her shoulder.

Dawn rubbed her back slowly as her sister fought to control herself.
After a few moments, she was able to hold her tears back, and she pulled her face off of Dawn's shoulder, wiping away the tears. She forced a smile, and Dawn weakly smiled back.
Just then Xander interrupted them. "Hey, you guys ready?" he asked, poking his head in the room as he struggled with several suitcases. Buffy turned around, "Yea, almost," she said, looking at her still basically empty suitcase. Xander dropped a suitcase and gingerly bent down to pick it back up, "Well, hurry up, our flight leaves in two hours, and you know what the airports are like these days," he said, dropping two more suitcases, one of them landing on his foot. He squealed in pain. Willow came rushing out of her room stopping when she realized it was Xander, "Geeze Xander, can't you do anything without causing yourself bodily injury?" Xander moaned, "Shut up and help me, these are your suitcases!" he said as he finally got a hold of all the bags and made his way towards the stairs. Dawn and Buffy laughed, and then turned back toward each other. "So, I take it you're going to need help?" Dawn asked, looking down at Buffy's suitcase. Buffy cringed, "Yea," she said, rubbing her neck and turning towards her closet. They took off to separate sides of her room and hastily began grabbing random things that Buffy might need. A minute later, Giles appeared in her doorway, "Buffy, have you seen my toothbrush?" he asked, "I can't remember if I packed it." Buffy stuck her head out of her closet, "You packed it this morning, remember?" she said. "Ah..yes," Giles said, suddenly remembering. "Geeze Giles, you're losing your mind," Dawn said as she shoved a ball of tee shirts into Buffy's suitcase. Giles opened his mouth to retort when they all heard a large 'bang' followed by several smaller 'bangs'. "Xander!" they heard Willow yell. All three looked at each other for a moment and then ran down the hall. Willow was staring down the stairs at Xander, who looked paralyzed at the bottom. Buffy gasped, "Xander! Are you okay?" Xander coughed and pushed a small bag off of his face, "Yes, I'm fine. I just fell down a flight of steps and got six 500-pound suitcases thrown on top of me. I'm just dandy!" He pushed the rest of the suitcases off of himself and stood up, brushing his pants off. "I am done carrying these suitcases by the way! It'd be different if you packed maybe a couple bags, but no. You pack ten, and fill them with small elephants!" he said sarcastically as he pushed open the screen door and kicked the suitcases out. "Oh no! Xander don't do that! I've got a lot of important stuff in those," Willow rushed down the stairs and tried to save her suitcases. Xander rose his foot for one last kick to take out the remaining anger. He brought his foot down and as soon as it came in contact with the bag.. "Ahhhh!" he screamed and fell back on the floor, clutching his foot in pain. "Oh no, Xander! That's the suitcase with my books in it! Don't kick that!" Willow glared at him and hoisted the last bag over her shoulder, carrying all six out the door with ease. "Don't worry, I won't!" he called after her, still laying on the floor. The three left at the top of the steps were doing all they could to keep from laughing. Xander picked himself up off the floor and dusted off again, looking up the stairs at them. "Oh shut up," he said, turning and walking into the kitchen to get the cooler. Giles, Buffy, and Dawn all looked at each other and burst into laughter. After a few seconds, Giles straightened himself back up and turned back towards his room to get his bag. "I trust you're both ready?" he said as he turned into his room. The girls nodded. "Good, and I trust you can handle your suitcases?" he asked. "Yea, think so," Dawn said, putting her hands on her hips. "Okay then, I'll see you in the car?" They both nodded and Giles disappeared into his room. Dawn and Buffy smiled at each other and then began to walk back towards their rooms. They got to Buffy's first, and before she walked in, Dawn stopped her, "Hey, I'm serious," she said, "It'll be okay." Buffy nodded. "And who knows," Dawn said, "Maybe you'll find someone in L.A.!" she turned and walked to her room. Buffy watched her as she turned the corner and shook her head. As much as she wanted to believe Dawn, she seriously doubted it.

-*-*-*-*-Author's Notes-*-*-*-*-

This is also terribly short, and kind of sucks. But I didn't really want to write it and only put it here so you'd all have an idea of what Buffy and her little possy were up to. Hm...sorry for the wait too. It's been...hectic. And does anyone know why everything's uploading weird? Half of the chapters wont separate into paragraphs. Yea, I apologize for that. Yea. R&R!

xlonelyxghostx