I woke up the next morning way too early. Getting to bed early the night before helped, but I was still not fully awake when I realized the light was on. I lay still for a minute before cracking my eye open a hair only to find Buffy sitting up and looking down at me with a half smile on her face. She was fresh out of the shower and had changed into some cleaner night clothes, but I hadn't noticed when she had gotten up. I opened both eyes and she blinked and smiled wider. I returned her smile and reached out my hand to her face.

"Good morning, sleepyhead." I glanced significantly at the window and the darkness outside before looking back at her and quirking an eyebrow.

"It's not morning, you're dreaming again." I reached out and pulled her back down against me, both of us lying on our backs looking at the ceiling. "How are you feeling?"

"A little headachy, but fully with the sane. Did you get hurt in the fight?" I shook my head before realizing she couldn't see the motion.

"No, everyone came through it alright. A few bruises and scratches but nothing major." We were quiet for a few minutes enjoying the closeness of each other. I had to break the silence, though, to tell her about my conversation with her friends. She stiffened when I got to the part with Willow helping out around the house she pulled away from me to sit up and turn to look at me.

"You didn't. I can't believe you did that." She wasn't pissed, I don't think. She seemed more shocked that I'd said anything about it.

"Buffy, I had to say what I felt. I know you can't ask for yourself, you're too proud for that; it's one of the things I love about you. I've only been here a few months but some of what I've seen has really upset me. If I hadn't said what I did last night I wouldn't have been doing my duty as a friend; I would have been just as negligent as they've been."

"I just can't believe you would yell at them like that. We've all been through so much together. They've always been there for me when I needed them, like Willow with her antidote and Xander hunting the demon. They're my friends."

"All the more reason they should be looking out for you instead of trying to get you to ignore your problems."

"I don't have any problems." I looked into her eyes and touched her hand with mine.

'It's me, remember? I know you like no-one else does.' She nodded and changed the subject, not wanting to get into that right now.

"What else did you tell them?" I went on about my own death experience trying to play it down to her, how could it compare with both of hers? Then I finished up with my plan to take her and Dawn away starting this weekend and taking as much time off as we needed. Her eyes got wide at the prospect of just going away for a week and she instantly had objections.

"I can't just take a week off work without notice. Plus I need the money for the bills that are coming up and Dawn has school. We can't just drop our lives to run off and have fun."

"It's not about having fun. It's about getting you away from the everyday stress around here. We just need to relax for little while, take a break from the chaos that's been going on lately. And don't worry about work and school stuff, it's taken care of."

"What do you mean it's taken care of? What did you do?" I could tell the prospect of a vacation was starting to appeal to her and her last question sounded more mischievous than annoyed.

"Well, I was talking with your boss the other day when I went to pick you up and you weren't there. She told me that if you needed anything just to let her know. She seems to really like you and she was worried about how you were feeling. I'm sure all I have to do is ask and she'll let you take a week to recuperate. And don't worry about the bills, I have the feeling our friends are about to inundate you with some monetary stability." She rolled her eyes at that but wouldn't let the issue drop.

"What about Dawn's school? Education is important." I nodded at the mom in her voice but was ready for that one too.

"We'll leave on Friday after she gets out of school. I'll have her get some assignments she can work on in the car. Plus Monday is a school holiday so all in all she'll miss maybe two or three days." She seemed to be still on the fence, wanting to get away but not ready to have Dawn be delinquent from school. "Of course, it's entirely your call and you can go ahead and tell her she can't come with us." She seemed to play that scene out in her mind and shuddered at Dawn's response. I smiled gently as she gave in to my plan. She lay back down against me rolling her body against mine and with her head on my chest.

"Okay, I give up; you win. Tell me about our special trip. What kind of stress free activities do you have in mind?"

"Uh uh, nothing doing; you don't get to stress until we're on our way. I'll handle the planning, you just get to pack and ride." She smiled at my assertiveness and didn't ask any more questions I finally glanced at the clock to see it was only about two thirty in the morning and concentrated on the light switch as my lips found hers, pulling her on top of me. If I couldn't get back to sleep I knew I could find other ways to occupy my time until morning. We did actually get another few hours of sleep before her alarm went off. She rolled out of bed slapping her clock and was in the shower faster than I could say lickety-split. I was left with a grin on my face as she disappeared with a wink behind the door. I rolled myself out of bed and stretched feeling my shoulders pop before turning to the task of making the bed.

She bounced back into the room, water still dripping from her hair, wearing a towel. She smiled impudently at me as I excused myself with a bow, backing my way out the door. I tapped on Willow's door; already sure she was awake, before slowly pushing my way in only to catch a pillow with my face. I stopped and slowly opened my eyes to find her sitting on the bed and glaring at me. I expected her to still be upset, but she seemed surprisingly calm. I sat down on the edge next to her and set the pillow back on the bed.

"Buffy's doing better."

"Good. I'm glad it worked." I took a breath and sighed it back out.

"Look, I'm sorry for what I said last night; I didn't want you to feel yelled at, but I had to say how I feel. She's been hurting for a long time before this."

"I know she has. I don't know how to help her. I mean, I pulled her out of that place; I should be there for her when she needs me. You were right; it's just kind of hard to admit I haven't been there like I should. Buffy always takes care of me. I couldn't sleep last night, just thinking about what else I could have been doing around here." I reached out and patted her leg.

"I didn't want you to stress over it, but I wouldn't mind the help in backing her up." She nodded and I stood back up after a quick hug and a peck on the cheek. "I've got to go and start planning if we're going to leave tomorrow. You got class today? Good luck and I'll see you later." I smiled at her as I backed out and almost ran into Buffy as she made her way to Dawn's door. We both stopped short, our faces inches apart and I leaned down to plant a quick kiss on her lips before we separated with a smile. I made my way directly downstairs, rubbing sleep out of my eyes and checking my breath, heading for the kitchen. I poured juice and looked into the fridge for supplies. I decided that omelets have been kind of overdone lately and started on some French toast batter. Buffy came in shortly after I started and she grabbed the glass of juice from the counter to come up behind me wrapping her free arm around me.

"Whatcha doing?" I smiled as I flipped the browning pieced in the pan with a

flick of my wrist.

"Making breakfast before I go."

"Go? Where ya' going?"

"Well, I've got to go to my apartment to plan this thing without you gazing over my shoulder the whole time. Besides, I've got to go by your work to get you the week off, Dawn's got school; and if I stay here by myself another day I'll end up cleaning everything again."

"And the downside of that would be?" I gave her a mock glare and pulled up a corner of one of the pieces to check to see if it was brown enough and then turned to find a plate to put them on.

"Very funny, Miss Smarty Pants. I'm also going to see if there's another job I can do in the area to give us some more breathing room." She looked around the house and I could hear the thought behind her gaze wondering what she was going to in her house all day. I waited through another batch without hearing any ideas before looking back at her and feeling myself cave.

"Did you want to come with me? I guess I could let you put your two cents in." Smiles like hers should come with warning labels. I felt my puppy love grin spring to my face as she quickly agreed. I put the plate on the counter and made my way around to her side, taking her in my arms. I'd just planted a solid kiss on her lips when I heard the voice behind me.

"Good morning." We both jumped a little, but she didn't pull away from me at Dawn's greeting. I smiled at the younger Summers and pointed at the pile of French toast before her. She grabbed some juice and sat down to eat while I went back to the pan and started another batch. I wrote out a note to her teachers for extra assignments and had Buffy sign it. None too soon, we heard Xander's horn outside and Dawn ran upstairs for her bag. Xander came into the kitchen, a little nervous, and purposefully kept from looking in my direction as he asked Buffy how she was doing. Dawn came back downstairs as I was offering him some breakfast. He still avoided my eyes as he told me he'd already eaten. He left a minute later after saying goodbye to Buffy and she and I were left looking at each other.

"Well, that was a little awkward."

"A little; Willow seemed more open minded about my talk with them last night. I'll work on talking with him when we get back." She was agreeing that that was a good idea as Willow came into the kitchen. I held out a plate to her which she took gravely and with a little bow, as though it were a silver platter, before breaking into a slightly silly grin.

"Well looks like you two are still getting along alright. Any idea why Xander had such a tough time with your little talk last night? You didn't talk about Anya, did you?" I shook my head; even I wouldn't stoop that low.

"I hurt his pride. Sometimes being told you're wrong and realizing it are two very different and very difficult things." Willow nodded and, with her mouth full, told us she'd try to talk to him after we'd left. I started cleaning up the kitchen only to be brushed aside by Buffy and being ordered to eat before my food got cold. I sheepishly sat down and started in, not realizing how hungry I was until the food touched my lips. I thought back to the last meal I'd had, breakfast yesterday, and shook my head. Why did I do that to myself? I finished both slices and the banana Buffy'd thrown at me from the fridge and rose to wash my dishes only to have them taken from me and quickly washed by Willow. I looked quickly around the kitchen to see what else needed cleaning and leaned back slightly, my hands on my hips and a grin on my face, as I realized it was already being done. I shook my head at Slayer healing powers and asked her how long before she'd be ready to head out. She disappeared in the direction of the stairs with a smile on her face and no answer for me. I looked at Willow who shrugged at me and sat down at the counter.

"I'm glad that's over. Crazy Buffy just isn't one of my favorites."

"She's trying to spring back too quickly. Super healing aside, she's doing too much to make sure we think she's okay." I tapped the side of my head significantly. "She can't hide from me." Willow nodded.

"It's good you're getting her away for a while. I just hope Dawn won't be any trouble." She stood and we walked into the living room and I gave her a hug as Buffy came down the stairs with her bag in her hand and I opened the door. Buffy wished Willow a good day and closed the door behind her before making her way to my car. We let the radio do the talking, but held hands on our way to the apartment. My first order of business was a shower, but I pulled a map out of my laptop bag before heading in to get cleaned up. 'Oregon?' I chuckled at her surprised question but kept my silence as I stepped under the warm running water. I took my time, fully enjoying the warmth and the massaging jets of water on my back. Looking at myself in my still broken mirror, making a mental note to replace it, I ran my hand through my short full beard wondering if I should shave it or at least trim it down. 'Leave it, I like the way it tickles.' I was still grinning as I stepped out of the bathroom and into her baleful yet slightly humorous glare.

"And what, pray tell, is in Oregon?" I moved to her side where she'd spread the map out on the coffee table and planted my finger on one of our stops.

"Crater Lake." She read. "And what is Crater Lake?" I silently pointed at the legend at the side of the tourist map that bore the description of each landmark and let her read for herself. I moved over to my laptop bag and pulled out a notebook, turning to a blank page.

"Go ahead and read through the descriptions for the touristy traps and for some of these sights too. See if there's anything else you might want to do while we're there?" I wrote out a few things and names of some towns on the notebook and handed her the torn out sheet of paper. Unhooking the power cord, I carried my laptop to the couch and sat down beside her. I was absorbed in reading through work reports form my server and didn't notice her looking at me.

"What are you reading?" I glanced at her face and back at the screen before grinning and leaning back to tilt the screen so she could read it.

"Work reports; I started kind of a loose company for other people who do what I do. Jobs are posted on a secure server or in secure mailboxes broken up by part of the country. A Hunter just calls into the mailbox from say New York and he'll get all the jobs lined up for New York, New Jersey, all the way up to New England. He takes the job he wants, call in to confirm he's on it and who he's dealing with, and then again after he completes it. Everyone carries a camera like this that can be hooked up to a normal phone line to upload the pictures for verification. They can even use our server to clear credit cards and dump their fee into their own accounts. The company gets fifteen percent off the top to keep the server running, tech support, and a dispatch fee for my information center."

"Information center?"

"Yeah, these five guys who take shifts running checks through 'secure' government servers for information on the run. I call a number and they get me anything from date of birth to their last tax return and whether they take sugar in their coffee or not."

"Wow. And you like own the company?"

"Yeah, but I don't get paid very much unless I do my own jobs. I just don't have to pay the commission fees. On any given day I've got maybe fifty employees, with about twenty regulars who only go hunting. My best guys get the hardest jobs from the richest employers; which means they get the biggest commissions. I also get them to write out the more unusual parts of their jobs and post them. The information guys go through them for patterns and clues to other cases."

"Sounds like a pretty organized gig."

"Practically runs itself."

"So any jobs going on around here."

"Unfortunately for my bank account, you do a good job of keeping the demon cases to a minimum. There are a few here that could probably be taken care of pretty quickly today and tomorrow. Feel like getting paid for your calling?" She nodded and smiled.

"Yes please. If I'd have known about this, I wouldn't have had a problem getting a loan for my re-pipe." I showed her the website and the three jobs called in for the area. One was only a block or so away for a man named Vargas. He had a nest in one of his properties, unknown number of vampires, but he's offering five thousand. Buffy wanted to leave immediately.

"Wait, there's more to do here." I pulled up a schematic of the building in question and showed her the entrances and exits, the blind corners, and the possible hiding places.

"I'll let you do the negotiating, but the best way is to have the client there when we go in and you charge him per kill. The more kills increases the risk to us, raising the price."

"Us? I thought I'd go do this while you finished reading your stuff and planning our trip. I'll be back before lunch." I readjusted myself, pulling my right leg onto the couch so I could look at her face to face and pulled her hands into mine.

"If you think I'm letting you go into a nest alone the day after you were crazy then you're... crazy. I don't want you to push yourself too hard yet if you don't have to. We don't know if your reflexes are a touch off or how many you'll be facing in there."

"All the more reason to help out this Vargas guy as soon as possible. Plus, jumping right back on the horse; best way to get back in the game." She groans and pulls her hands away from me to do a single flounce standing up and turning back to me. "I have to do this; it's my job even if I wasn't going to get paid for it. I am getting paid for it, right?" I nodded and couldn't help the grin on my face.

"Which is why I'm not stopping you, I'm only saying 'let me tag along'. Just in case." We went over a few more details and I called Vargas on my cell to tell him we'd meet him at his office. As promised, I let Buffy handle all of the details and name her own price. I wasn't surprised when he agreed quickly to her offer of five hundred a vamp. She even listened to my advice for setting a nominal fee for fewer than six kills. Shortly he was telling his boss he was taking a few hours off and following us to the building. Shortly after we got there he was standing around nervously while I stood by my open trunk reloading my magazines with the General's special rounds. Buffy was standing by shaking her head and making sure she had a few stakes tucked into her clothing and then reached past me to pull out a sword, giving it a quick spin.

"Didn't I tell you those things are never useful?" I grinned at the memory but pulled out my second pistol, a duplicate of the other, and loaded them both. I moved to the side of the door, telling the client to stand behind Buffy and to follow me in, staying behind me. He nodded nervously, sunlight gleaming off his balding head, and did as I said. After my nod Buffy stepped forward and kicked the door stepping through it. I followed a pace behind and did a quick survey of the room, my pistol indexing itself on my first target. I fired, watching as my round found its heart and counted out loud "One." As it dissolved the surprised expression was the last thing to go. Buffy quickly yelled out "Two" as her stake found her target and it too exploded into dust. I fired twice more at another target and shouted "Three" as I stopped its jump midair. Back and forth we counted up to seven in the first room and I checked to make sure Vargas was alright. He was standing clutching the doorway with white knuckled hands and an eager, bloodthirsty look plastered on his face. Buffy was moving toward the doorway to the next room and I grabbed his lapel to drag him in after us as I followed her in. She was already on "Nine" by the time I got there but I found Ten, Eleven, and Twelve as she started her way up the stairs.

The house was slowly cleared one room at a time and with every kill Vargas got slightly more animated. Buffy's stake found the last unwelcome guest and she sounded out "Sixteen" with a very big grin on her face. We took the plywood down from the inside of the windows and let the sunlight stream into every room of the house before walking an ecstatic Vargas out the front door to the waiting cars. He happily wrote out a check for the appropriate amount and promised he'd tell his friends about our service. We let him pull away and I opened my trunk again to hand Buffy a towel and to wipe down my pistol before reloading it and tucking it back into my pants. She handed it back to me and went back to admiring the check as I wiped the sweat from my brow and the back of my neck.

"Easiest eight grand I've ever made." I nodded at her comment as she tucked the check into her back pocket. I drove us back to my apartment and after quickly checking my own account balance handed her the laptop to read through the other jobs available in the area. I turned to the map with my notebook and checked out the few places she thought we should check out. My stomach's growling interrupted my itinerary and I looked up at Buffy's chuckle.

"Let me take you out to lunch." She stood and went to the door, tossing me my jacket and waiting for me to follow her. We drove first to her bank to deposit the check before finding a little outdoor café for a very nice meal. She picked up the check and we sat enjoying the rest of our celebratory margaritas as she slipped me an envelope across the table. I picked it up but did not open it.

"What's this?"

"Ten percent; I figure I get a discount for sleeping with the boss." Don't ever spray margarita out your nose. The other patrons looked at us in shock as I tried to clean up the mess on the table; luckily I'd missed hitting anybody else. We quickly made our escape to the glares of the assembled party and had made it into the car before I looked again at the envelope.

"I don't think I can accept this, I don't really need it." I tried to hand it back to her, but she held up a hand forestalling my action.

"Keep it. If I'm going to work for you I'm going to do it right and proper, with a few exceptions." I shrugged and dropped the envelope in my lap to take her hand in mine while I drove us back to the apartment. I figured I'd just look at it as her contribution to our vacation. Back at my place she went back online, asking only occasionally for help, as I hit the map again. I had started calling around to make reservations and checking items off my 'to do' list when she called my attention back to the screen.

"What the heck is that?"

"I'm not sure how you say it, but this guy says he's got one. I'm going to go handle it, unless of course you want to baby sit me again?" My grin answered her invitation and I stood to stretch my arms out.

"How do you kill it again?"

"The usual. Already called the client." I nodded and pulled on my jacket holding open the door and bowing to let her precede me. She hurried out and led the way to the car with me following her quickly. We were in the car and on our way with me following her directions to, of all places, the police station. I stood at the door of the detective's office looking out as he laid the deal on the line and listened through Buffy's negotiations. I let her play the entire deal herself again and then we rode out leaving him there. Basically, the department didn't want to acknowledge the existence of such creatures, but the one in question had been spotted repeatedly on surveillance video's robbing stores downtown. He'd pay us to take care of this problem and we'd both part ways silently. Buffy waited till we got to the car to ask if I'd ever done any jobs for the cops before.

"It's rare, but it does happen. They want to take care of the problem but they don't want to come out and say demons are real; it's a thing. My guys know to watch out for themselves when dealing with the law and the government, but we haven't had any problems before." We made our way to the last known location and hunting around for the demon filled the next few hours. I finally tucked the sword I'd been carrying into my jacket and we made our way to the bar, the closest place for some water and a bathroom. There sitting on a stool in the back was our guy. Buffy sighed and reached into my jacket, pulling out my sword and cutting off it's head before handing it back to me and heading into the bathroom. I wiped the still dripping blade on a napkin and tossed a hundred dollar bill onto the table asking for a glass of water from the bartender. He didn't even look at me askance as he put some ice in a glass and filled it, set it on the counter and tucked the bill away in a single motion. He waved at a guy in the back and two guys came to drag the body into the street after I took a picture.

"Where did it go?" I turned and handed her the glass as I took a shot of whiskey myself before answering her.

"It's gone and I paid off the bartender. Want a drink?" She did look at me askance and seemed reluctant. "C'mon, in celebration. My treat." She finally nodded and I tapped the bar ordering two more shots. We took them together and she made a weird 'Gahh' sound as she grimaced. I chuckled and she slapped my arm as she put the glass back on the bar. I dropped a ten on the bar to see it disappear similarly and led the way out to the car. I glanced at her on our way back to the apartment as she opened her mouth wide in a massive yawn.

"Maybe the alcohol wasn't such a good idea. Are you getting sleepy?" She caught herself mid-yawn and glanced at me as she put her hand over her mouth.

"I'm okay, just a little tired I guess."

"Sure you didn't push yourself too far today? It's your first day back in the game, why don't we leave the rest till tomorrow?"

"Okay, I can do that." She stifled another yawn and shortly we were there. She made it up the stairs into the apartment and directly to my couch where she lay down and closed out what she'd left running on the laptop. I chuckled as I picked up her feet and sat down beneath them as I reached for my 'to do' list and made sure there wasn't anything I could do tonight.

"So diving, skydiving, or skiing?" I looked over to see her slumbering peacefully against my couch pillow. I toyed with the idea of putting her back in the car and taking her back to the house but decided it was just too much work. I did pull out my cell phone and called the house to let Dawn know that we were safe and at my place. I let her get to sleep herself after I made sure she was okay and that Willow was there with her. I sent a silent thread of a thought out to find Willow doing some kind of schoolwork. I let her know where we were and sent her the mental picture of Buffy's sleeping form and felt her grin of a response. I gently took her shoes and socks off and then carefully picked her up and laid her down on my bed. I tucked her in gently before taking a quick shower and finding some clean shorts to lie down next to her.

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She woke me up again that morning. She did it quietly and it brought me awake in an instant as her lips touched my skin. I jerked upward, my hand going for my pillow and the pistol beneath it but she stopped my motion with a strong hand pushing me right back down against said pillow. She moved from my chest up to my face and her lips found mine gently at first and then more forcefully. I gave way to her ideas of morning exercise and it wasn't until ten o'clock that we said a word to each other. We were curled up together under the sheets and sunlight streamed through the window. I stroked her hair back from her face and kissed her forehead.

"Good morning, beautiful."

"This isn't my room." I chuckled as I answered.

"No. No, it's not. Is that a problem?"

"I don't think so. Did you call Dawn?"

"Called Dawn and Willow, they were both fine and knew where you were."

"I could get used to this."

"I hope so." I kissed her again and we lay there for a few more minutes, the juice in the kitchen pouring itself into two glasses. Slowly and painfully they made their way across the living room, into the bedroom, to find my waiting hands.

"I could definitely get used to this." I smiled as I sipped from my glass and then put it on the bedside table as I rolled my feet off the bed and sat up to stretch. She lay there looking at me as I found my shorts and put them on and made my way to the bathroom. I came back to find her pulling her jeans on and then standing up from the bed to find her shirt.

"Did you want to do another job today or should I just take you back to your house so you can pack?" She seemed to think for a few seconds with her finger touching her face next to her lips.

"I do need to pack, and I suppose I can do more when we get back. I should definitely try and see Dawn off to school." I pointed at the clock next to the bed and she looked sheepish as she continued. "Or maybe not. Yes I need to pack and I definitely need a shower."

"You don't smell bad to me. In fact, you smell a lot like... me." We kissed again and I found my pants from yesterday pulling them on. I grabbed a clean shirt from a drawer, pulling it on as I made my way to the kitchen to start breakfast. We ate in silent companionability and it wasn't until the dishes were washed that I asked her if she thought skiing would be a good idea for our trip.

"Skiing? Like me on skis? I don't know about that, but we could try it I guess." I guess she'd never been, so that meant Dawn probably hadn't done it before either. I looked down at the pad and made sure the whole day would be set aside for that. It wasn't long for her to be ready to go and I led the way down to the car. I kissed her at her door and told her I'd be back to pick them up around four. I quickly made my way back to the apartment and jumped on the phone. With all of our activities generally planned out and reserved I glanced at the clock and practically ran into the bedroom. I stood in the center frantically looking around from the closet to the dresser, the list of things to pack no where to be found. I sighed and started from scratch, folding shirts and tucking them into place in the sports bag I'd bought for the trip. I had time to go over the new list one last time before I had to leave and pick up the girls. I even swung by the police station with the camera and the pictures from last night to pick up the bounty. The detective shook my hand with a wide smile on his face as he walked me to my car and I resisted the urge to peel out of the lot. I parked and walked through the front door to stop in surprise. Looking around at the pile of bags in the otherwise empty living room I asked a rhetorical question to no-one in particular.

"I did say ONE week, didn't I?" I asked the question of no-one but the sound of my voice inspired a flurry of motion as Buffy made her way down the stairs to the last few and jumped into my arms. She kissed me before I let her down and she turned to look back up the stairs for Dawn. The latter came down wearing her backpack and carrying books.

"I can't believe you made me bring schoolwork on vacation." I smiled at her gloomy tone, her excitement from the other night forgotten at the prospect of imminent boredom.

"Look at it this way, what else are you going to do on the long and otherwise boring car ride?" She didn't look any happier, but just put her bag and books down to survey the already heaping pile. Buffy joined her and then turned to her sister to ask if there was anything they thought they'd forgotten. I gestured meekly at the pile of baggage to my left with a clearly questioning look on my face. Buffy pretended to not understand what I was talking about and Dawn turned to her sister to say that she thought they'd gotten everything.

"Everyone ready to go? Let's get started." Buffy and Dawn each grabbed a few bags, and made their way out the door I'd opened before stepping up to the pile grabbing a heavy bag in my left, tucking a smaller bag under my left arm and picking up another heavy bag in my right... only to find it not heavy. Like the empty kind of not heavy. I looked up sharply at Buffy's and Dawn's peals of laughter.

"Sorry, those were just there to freak you out. I think we did a pretty good job." Buffy turned to Dawn and they both nodded in satisfaction before throwing their small bags back in next to the stairs and grabbing the appropriate bags, setting a few aside for me. With a bemused expression I picked up the three bags in front of me and made my way out, closing the door with my knee. I opened the trunk and started fitting the bags in carefully as Buffy ran back up to lock the front door and Dawn settled herself in the back seat. Buffy came back to help me with the last few bags and gave me another quick kiss before heading to the passenger seat and I closed the trunk.

"Shouldn't we say goodbye to Willow?"

"She's at class, I think. I left a note to remind her where we were and put your phone number with it so she can reach you." I nodded and started the car to back us out and get us on our way to the interstate. We drove for quite a few hours and well into the darkness before stopping at the first motel for the night. I went in to check us in, leaving the car in the drop off lane. I came out to find Dawn wrapping up some math homework and Buffy trying to read my coded notes.

"Those won't help, babe. If you can break that code I can definitely find you a better job than working for me. I've got good news and bad news. The good news is they booked my reservation and there's a heated pool. The bad news is that instead of two rooms with one bed, I got one room with two beds."

"That's not a problem, we'll make it work."

"Dawn, do you mind sharing a bed with your sister?" I braced myself for the answer, knowing I might wind up on the floor.

"You guys do know I know you're together, right. You can totally share a bed in front of me. As long as there are no weird sounds coming from that side of the room, we'll be alright." I couldn't help the grin that came to my face at her comment, but left the decision up to Buffy as I remained silent and pulled the car around closer to our room. I handed the keys to Buffy and made my way to open the trunk. Buffy in turn handed the keys to Dawn and told her to head up with her backpack before making her way back to help me out. Super strength comes in handy, I can vouch for that. I was left carrying just two bags including my own and managed to close the trunk and make sure the car was locked before following the two girls up the stairs.

The two beds were nice sized and the room was cozy if not spacious. The girl's bags were in a row at the foot of one bed so I threw my bag beside the other before adding Buffy's bag to the others. I looked around for Dawn but figured she was already in the bathroom. I pulled out a pair of shorts and my personal hygiene kit from my bag and sat down on the bed closest to the door finding it rather comfortable. Buffy found the remote and clicked on the TV to some kind of sitcom before rummaging through her bag for similar items.

"So what do you want to do tonight?" She quirked an eyebrow and I quickly amended my question. "With the beds. Where do you want to sleep? Or do I get the floor?" She spoke and there was humor in her voice at the mental image.

"We could both get the floor. I don't know if I'm ready to decide yet. I think I'm going to wait until after Tai chi." I nodded at her course of action and the conversation was forestalled by Dawn coming out of the bathroom in a sweat suit and Buffy taking her turn to change.

"You know you don't have to come along for this. Don't get me wrong, I think you'll get something out of it and it'll probably be a good lead in for your anti-demon training down the road." She perked up at the last part and I got the impression it hadn't started it yet but was eager too.

"I'm up for it. Totally ready to get started." Buffy came out quickly in her own workout pants and zip up sweater top. I was in and out myself, just trading the pants for my pair of shorts and reapplying some deodorant. We each brought hand towels with us as we left the room. I made sure I had my key before we left and checked the handle to make sure the door was locked.

Tai chi stretching exercises took place by the pool to the amusement of a few scattered on lookers. Most of their amusement was the leader, me, wearing just a pair of shorts while I led the exercises. There were a few ignored comments from the well heated pool to the effect of me being a crazy man. Tai chi shortly turned into yoga which is more about mind control over your body. We were at it for a good forty five minutes before I told Dawn to start stretching and shortly any amusement the other guests derived from our little show melted away as Buffy and I moved into more advanced exercises.

Putting my other hand to the ground and switching my weight to it while keeping my feet in the air is not easy, hearing other people remark in awe about it is. Ten minutes of that and another difficult exercise later and we started cool down stretches. One of the guests actually climbed out of the pool to ask me if he could find classes in the area. I smiled as I shook his appreciative hand and told him what to look for in a yoga or tai chi class before finding my shirt and leading the way back to the hotel room, toweling off as I walked.

Mind control or not, it was nice to get back into the warm hotel room. Northern California is not the most comfortable place to wear shorts in late January. We followed the same marching order for the shower as we had to change. It seemed like a very long time for Dawn to make her way out of the shower and into the inner bed where she reached for the remote and changed whatever dribble was on to some random cartoons.

"Have you started any kind of training yet?" She shook her head, her attention still on the rabbit hitting the duck with a hammer.

"Nope; Buffy thinks I'm still too young and that I need to be protected from that kind of stuff. I'm as old as she was when she started fighting vampires."

"Yeah, but you're also not big with the super strength. Which is not to say your training shouldn't happen, but it should be moved into carefully so we don't hurt you during training. If you're going to be hurt it should be on the street where violence belongs." She glanced at me with a smile at my mocking serious tone. Buffy came out with a wash of steam and the scent of vanilla which I breathed in to sigh back out.

"I won't be long." I made my way in to take care of business and to clean myself up. I stood for a minute under the nice warm water, finally scaring the chill from my bones. That is until the deliciously warm water became freezing cold in an instant and I forced myself to complete the cleansing process. I stood beneath the near frozen torrent with my head against my hands resting on the tile in front of me forcing my body to relax for a long moment. I shut the water off and climbed out to towel myself dry and grabbed a clean pair of shorts taking my dirty clothes with me as I stepped out. I found Buffy sitting on the edge of my bed talking with Dawn about something and I crossed to my bag to stow my hygiene kit and looked again at Buffy before pulling back the covers and crawling beneath the cool sheets. I realized that both Dawn and I were looking at Buffy expectantly and I shook my head and looked at the light switch to force it downward leaving the room lit with the TV screen. I heard and felt my covers move before Buffy leaned over to give Dawn a goodnight kiss and then pulled herself beneath the covers next to me, planting her cold feet against my leg making me jump. As Buffy settled herself I told Dawn goodnight and to turn off the TV when she was ready, reminding her what time we had to get up the next day. Pulling Buffy against me I kissed her neck and whispered a goodnight into her ear before closing my eyes, immersing myself in the sweet vanilla smell of her hair.