Chapter 10: Welcome Home

Buffy was once again standing in front of a car, waiting to move for
the second time in just over three months. And it's back to where she
moved from in the first place. The people there to say goodbye are
different this time. This time she has Angel and Faith. She walks up
to Angel, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Some birthday this has been" she remarked

She had turned seventeen the day before, that had been what she was
celebrating with Angel the night her mother found the pills in her
bag and announced the were going back to Sunnydale. The day of her
birthday had been tense, her mom was angry with her, but try to put
on a happy front for the sake of Dawn. Buffy wasn't happy. She was
just starting to get used to life in LA again, and she was being
uprooted. She still had the last month of school to finish in
Sunnydale too. She reverted her attention back to her boyfriend.

"I'll come visit you," he promised "as soon as possible."

She gave a small smile.

"Ok, you better."

"I hate that you have to leave already." he sighed.

"I know, I don't like the idea of leaving you either, but I can't do
anything about it." she reminded him.

"I know, but I don't have to like it," he grumbled "Love you."
Buffy froze, what was she meant to say? She cared about him, and she didn't like the idea of leaving him, but she didn't love him. Part of
her always had Spike in her mind, and what happened in the club the
other night had just made the feeling stronger. But what could she
say to Angel? Nothing, so she leaned up and kissed him softly.

"Goodbye." she said softly.

She turned to face Faith, Faith as always, showed no emotion.

"Se ya later, B." she gave her a quick hug and then stood beside
Angel. He was wearing a hurt expression and Faith was perfectly aware that it was because Buffy hadn't said she loved him too. They watched as the car drove off, Faith didn't give him a chance to brood though, he was her ride so she jumped in the car and beeped the horn, waiting for him to drive her home.

The drive that Sunday afternoon was mad in eerie silence. Buffy
couldn't help her mother's cold attitude towards her. Joyce didn't
mean to be, but she had a funny feeling that Buffy's attitude would
change again once they were back n Sunnydale and she was back with
her real friends. She also hoped that when she was, she would see
sense and finish with Angel, or that he would at least lose his
influence over her. She hadn't forbid him from visiting in the hope
that the relationship would fizzle out when he got tired of having to
go back and forth, and also because she knew there was no point.
Buffy would only get worse if she tried it. In the meantime she would
have to wait and see, but she was still angry too.

Buffy grew a tad excited when they passed the 'Welcome to Sunnydale' sign, it was easy to think of it as going home. Sure she was still annoyed at being moved around again, but she couldn't deny that she missed the place, and the people in it. A few in particular. None of who had any idea she was coming back. Well, some would find out at school the next day. Twenty minutes later the pulled into Rovello Drive, the same street they lived in before. Not the same house, instead of 1620, they pulled up a few doors down at 1630. Buffy soon learned though that the houses were exactly the same. As she lifted her case and walked through the door she couldn't help the tiny smile and the thought in her head 'welcome home' she took her case upstairs and found the same room that had been hers in the previous house. She unpacked her clothes and hung them in the closet. After a quick break for dinner, she put everything the way she wanted it and decided on an early night. School tomorrow.

Buffy was woken early by an excited Dawn bouncing up and down on her bed.

"Buff, get up." she squealed.

"Why?" she groaned.

"Because, Buffy, we get to go back to our own schools. Our real
friends, come on Buff, you should be happy." the young girl said.

Buffy sat up in bed and took in her sister's excited face.

"I am," she told her "it's just, well things are different now. I'm
different now."

"No Buffy," Dawn disagreed "you don't have to be, you don't have to
be the person you turned into in LA, you can be the Buffy that was
happy here." she didn't wait for a response, she just ran back out of
the room. Buffy looked at the clock and got out of bed, contemplating
her sister's words. Deciding that she didn't have time to think about
it she picked her clothes out of her closet and went for a shower.

She walked down the halls of Sunnydale High again, looking around for people she knew. Many of the boys were looking her up and down, not surprising considering her ensemble. A pair of low- riding, very
tight jeans, a blood red backless halter top, a belly chain, and high
heeled boots. Her hair was flowing around her shoulders. As she
approached her locker, she was tapped on the shoulder, she was met by Cordelia Chase upon turning around.

"Oh goody," she muttered under her breath, pasting a fake smile on
her face "Hi Cordy."

"Well well." the popular girl said looking Buffy up and down "If it
isn't Buffy Summers. Didn't know you were coming back."

"Well I am." she said as if stating the obvious .

"I can see that." she said coolly "So how was LA?"

Buffy almost fainted in shock, Cordelia Chase, being nice to her.
That never happened.

"It was LA." she replied, unsure if the other girl was up to
something or not.

From a few feet away Willow and Xander looked at the side of Buffy,
unsure if it was actually her.

"Wills, do you really think?"

"I don't know, she would have told us if she was coming back, right?" she asked, she wanted to believe that her friend would have let them know. But they hadn't really spoken in the time she had been gone.

"I guess there's only one way to find out." he said.

"Yeah." Willow agreed, leading the way towards the person they
thought was Buffy. Neither of the two girls saw them approach as they ere caught up in conversation. Willow tentatively tapped her on the houlder and waited for her to turn round.

Buffy was cut off mid sentence when someone tapped her shoulder. She
had no idea who it could be, she slowly turned round to be greeted by
two very familiar faces.

"Buffy!?" Willow exclaimed, both in shock and excitement.

"Hey Willow." she returned almost shyly, partly afraid of their
reaction.

"Hey Buff." came Xander's voice.

"Hey Xan."

"How you been?" he asked.

"It's a long story." she admitted, not sure how much she wanted to
tell them

"Well, how about we make time to listen. Tonight at the Bronze." he
suggested. Buffy, as worried as she was couldn't help the happiness
she felt. So she readily agreed.

"Sure. Sounds great."

"Great," Willow said "well, better get to class, see you at lunch?"

Buffy nodded a yes and said her goodbyes, going in the direction of
the office to do what had to be done.

That night after her homework was done under her mother's watchful
eye, she hated that her mom was watching her every move, but she had
to put up with it. After it was done, she got ready for the Bronze.
She felt anxious as she walked through the door to another place she
hadn't been to in so long. But after spotting Willow and Xander, and
sitting down with them things started to seem more familiar.

"So, Buff, what happened in LA?" Xander asked her.

"Not much, I met a few people, started dating a guy. Did basically
the same things I did here, including failing school. Dawn wasn't
happy there and after a bit of thinking mom decided to come back."
se gave the sketchy details of events, leaving out the more
colourful events.

"New boyfriend." Willow repeated, she had already decided not to
mention Spike was seeing some one and she still wasn't going to.

"Yeah," Buffy nodded "his name's Angel. He's coming down to visit
soon."

"Cool." Xander said standing up and excusing himself

"So, what's been new here?" Buffy questioned, praying she would
mention Spike.

"Well Xander and I broke up." she said, with the sadness creeping
into her voice.

"Oh, I'm sorry Wills." she sympathised.

"It's ok, things just didn't work out." she shut up quickly when she
saw Xander coming back. He had three drinks, he sat back down, giving
Buffy and Willow a drink each.

He held his up and said

"Just one thing left to say" he looked at Willow and then they looked
at Buffy, both raising their glasses the said .

"Welcome home Buffy."

"Yeah Buff, welcome home."

A smile spread on her face, her mind floated back to Dawn's words
that moment, and decided that maybe she was right.