Nothing's Ever Easy
NOTE: Angel and Buffy are Whedon's property, but this story is mine.
A/N: This story takes place after New Way of Life. If you haven't read that story then it would be best if you find it otherwise this story will most likely confuse you. Here's hoping you enjoy this.
CHAPTER 2
Buffy entered the kitchen the following morning, getting welcomed by the delicious smell of several breakfast items. Willow, standing at the stove, looked up as Buffy walked in.
"Morning," the witch greeted her friend.
"Hey," Buffy said, going to stand next to her. She saw that Willow had prepared pancakes, toast, and was working on scrambled eggs. "What's all this?"
"Just felt kind of breakfast-y this morning," Willow replied. "I mean it's a bright, sunny day and you can just smell the newness that is today."
"I thought that smell was chocolate chip pancakes," Xander said with a huge grin as he walked into the kitchen, followed by Gunn and Angel.
"Whoa," Gunn nearly exclaimed. "Smells like mini Ihop in here."
"The one thing that can attract men without fail," Buffy said as Angel went over and kissed her cheek. "Free food."
"Yeah," Willow agreed. "Why couldn't I get them to come to me when I was non-lesbian?"
Angel slipped away from the brewing negative talk about men and noticed Dawn, who sat alone at the table, perfectly quiet. "Dawn?" Angel addressed, taking a seat across from her. "What is it?"
"Nothing," the brown haired teenager replied. "Just the definite panic about today and the possibility of my head imploding from said panicking."
"You're just freaked," Buffy said, approaching Dawn and rubbing her shoulder comfortingly. "You'll be fine. I promise."
"Then there's the zero hellmouth this time around," Xander brought up. "Can't forget that."
"Always a plus," Willow said as she placed a couple of pancakes on a plate she'd sat down in front of Dawn. "Chocolate chip goodness will make all things better." She had to choke back a memory of Tara saying something similar to that several times.
"Thanks, guys," Dawn attempted a smile then started to dig into her breakfast.
The wall phone suddenly rang and Gunn snatched it up before the second ring could sounds. "Hello?" he greeted. "Oh, hey. Hang on." He handed the phone to Willow and said, "Kennedy."
Willow smiled at the mention of her girlfriend. "Hey," she said into the phone, heading into the other room. "Miss me? So, how's your mom?"
Buffy went to embrace Angel around the shoulders as she watched Willow leave. Kennedy had gone to visit her family in their summer home in Spain and Willow's longing for her only increased as the days continued. The look Willow got in her eyes when Kennedy gave her a ring was enough to make Buffy want to cuddle with Angel every time.
"Ready, Dawnie?" Xander asked as he bit into his pancake sandwich, which was just half a pancake between two pieces of toast. He dangled the keys of his new used car in his free hand.
"Yeah," Dawn replied with a sigh, pushing her plate away. "If I keep forcing this down I'll just barf later, anyway."
"Good luck," Buffy said, giving Dawn a little hug as her sister stood from the table. "You'll do fine."
"Thanks," Dawn attempted a smile, picking up her new book bag and slipping it on her back.
Angel took Dawn's hand before she could go up to Xander. "No boys," the former vampire said, giving her a stern look.
"Total celibacy," Dawn promised. She took another breath and followed Xander out of the kitchen.
"Gunn, we better get going soon," said Angel. "We have to get some things sorted out at the office."
"Or you could stay here," Buffy said immediately, putting her arms around Angel again. "And we can do… other stuff."
"Are you trying to distract me from going to Wolfram and Hart?" Angel asked.
"Do you care?"
"Honestly, no."
Gunn cleared his throat audibly, getting attention from the two of them. "Hate to interrupt this episode of "the blonde and the restless" but Angel you on your own today."
"What?" Angel stared at the other man as if he were insane. "Gunn, I kind of need you today."
"You can deal," Gunn said with assurance. "Besides I was never looking forward to the whole Wolfram and Hart thing. I'll probably swing by later, though."
Buffy turned to Angel once Gunn had gone. "Abandonment issues, anyone?"
"It's OK," Angel said, standing and turning towards her. "What're you doing today?"
"Longing for you sounds nice." The Slayer gave him a coy smile. "But I think I'll go shopping."
Angel took her by the hands and pulled her in towards him, giving her a light kiss on the lips. "Buy me something?"
"Well, if you'd stay in today I probably would have." Buffy smirked at him somewhat haughtily before walking out of the room.
Angel watched her go, getting a good view of her backside as she went.
Dawn leaned her head against the glass of Xander's passenger seat's window, staring blankly at the sights they passed. When she tired of the window she played with her thumbs; anything to sooth her nerves. Xander finally pulled up in front of a nice sized high school, which had a swarm of students flying in and out of it. Dawn practically broke the glass as she stared out at the teenagers, who all seemed to know where they were going except for her.
"Oh, boy," Dawn said to herself.
"You ready, Dawnster?" Xander asked, managing to get her attention back.
"Huh?" Dawn turned to him and just nodded. "Uh, yeah, sure."
Xander could feel the girl's uneasiness radiating off in waves. "You know I can go in with you."
"No," Dawn said immediately then caught herself. "Xander, it's really OK. I'll be fine."
He gave the girl a smile then a thumbs up before Dawn climbed of the car, book bag on shoulder.
Dawn walked into the school among the large crowd, heading straight for the main office which was equally jam-packed. It took close to twenty minutes, but Dawn finally obtained her class schedule, her school agenda, the code and conduct manual, and her picture ID, which she'd posed for days before. She hadn't made it out of the office for two seconds before someone rushed into her, causing Dawn to drop everything.
She started to say sarcastically, "Gee, thank- Kit?"
"Dawn?" the other brunette girl smiled.
"Oh, my God." Dawn and her old friend immediately embraced tightly. "I can't believe you're here."
"This is amazing," Kit agreed with a beam.
"Wait a minute," Dawn said, losing some of her excitement. "What are you doing here?"
"This is where my parents split to when all that whacked out stuff started happening in Sunnydale. We're staying with my uncle," Kit told her. "It was all over the news. Sunnydale, the whole town, totally blew up."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Don't tell me you didn't hear about it."
"Well, my sister, our friends, and I kind of made the big bang," Dawn admitted.
"You're kidding me," Kit said with interest. "What happened?"
"I'll tell you later," Dawn said as she and Kit knelt down to pick up her stuff. "It's a long story."
"Well, summer has been beyond dull," said Kit. "I'm totally up for long stories."
Gunn felt the sun's radiance shine down on him as he entered a less shaded area of the street. After selling the truck he'd had in LA, Gunn had managed to put down a payment on a new one, but didn't feel like driving it. The fresh Rome air made a walk far more enjoyable than any drive.
Rome and LA were just so different for him; besides the fact that LA was overcome with vampires, demons, and any other dangerous creature one could name. In Rome it was hard to spot a vampire on certain nights. The low amount of bad guys usually left a strange feeling in Gunn he had rarely felt before; extreme boredom. It wasn't exactly a bad feeling, though, just a different one.
"Charles?" a familiar voice almost exclaimed.
Gunn turned around to see Fred climb out of taxi. "Fred?" he recognized in disbelief.
"Hey," the thin framed woman smiled.
"Girl, what are you doing here?" Gunn asked joyfully, wrapping his arms around her in a hug.
"Visiting Angel," she replied, hugging him back.
"Don't I feel special?"
"And you, too, of course."
Gunn pulled back and looked her over for a moment. "You know how good it is to see you right now?"
"Well, why don't we take my bags back to your place and we can go grab some lunch?" Fred suggested.
"Cool," Gunn concurred, climbing into the back of Fred's cab with her.
"So what's everybody been up to?" Fred asked, resting against Gunn in the backseat. "How are Buffy and Angel and everybody?"
"Angel and Buffy can't keep their damn hands off each other; Buffy's sister started the new high school today, Xander's… I don't really care, and Willow's been missing her girlfriend," Gunn summarized. "
"Guess you guys have been busy."
"They have, anyway. Fred, I'm telling you Rome is dead. And not in the good living dead kind of way."
She chuckled softly. "Don't worry." Fred hugged his arm. "I've come to rescue you."
Gunn smiled down at her and said, "Thanks, Lady Lancelot."
The two continued to rest as the cab pulled in closer to the house.
A/N: Some of you are going to complain about how I don't skip lines and things in between scene changes. Fact is I do. With the way this site is set up it just doesn't look I do, even if I use stars and things. So try to bear with it. I sure do. Please review!