Final revision! I hope this chapter is better than the last two revisions... Read on and review. Thank you for making the time to read and review.

All characters belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy.

Buffy slowly opened her house's front door, absorbed in her thoughts. That poor April, she was created to love that Warren. But the uber-geek only used her then threw her away like scraps of metal. Buffy's eyebrows knitted at the absurdity of feeling pity for a robot.

With a sigh, Buffy stepped into the house, glancing around. Her eyes immediately noticed the flowers placed inside the glass vase on the wooden table in front of her. Buffy smiled and walked over to it, spying a white envelope hidden inside the bouquet. She took the envelope out and fingered its edges before opening it. The envelope's content was a small thank-you note from her mother's new boyfriend. Thank you for a lovely evening. See you soon? Brian.

"Still a couple of guys gettin' it right," Buffy approvingly murmured to no one in particular. Buffy placed back the small envelope in its original position. Sweeping back her loose hair from her eyes, Buffy turned away from the table to the stairs. She put down her jacket on the floor as she called out, "Hey. Flower-gettin' lady. Want me to pick Dawn up from school?"

Buffy craned her neck around the stairs to look down the hall leading to the kitchen.

"Mom?" she tried again.

Buffy frowned, her brow furrowing. She turned to the living room and looked inside. Her mother was lying on the couch, motionless. One of her hands hanged limp over the couch's edge. This worried Buffy. "What are you doing?" Buffy walked into the living room, getting more worried by every second.

"Mom?"

Finally, her mother stirred awake. "Buffy?"

Buffy smiled, air escaping from her lungs in a small sigh of relief as she watched her mother move herself to a sitting position.

Joyce closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Oh, I had a headache so I thought I'd lie down and have a nice little nap," she murmured sleepily. She opened her eyes and turned to look at Buffy. She took in Buffy's slightly battered appearance. Buffy had a few minor scratches on her face and the tiny bags under her eyes made her look several years older. Joyce quickly got on her feet and rushed to her daughter. She touched the scratch on Buffy's cheek.

"What happened, honey? Are you okay? Do you need me to clean and bandage your wounds?"

"I'm fine. Don't worry about me," Buffy quickly brushed aside her mother's concerns.

Joyce took a few steps back and chuckled dryly. "Buffy, you're my daughter. Of course, I'm going to worry!"

Buffy half-shrugged. "I'm the Slayer. Slayers heal fast. One of the big pluses of bein' the doom-gal."

Joyce opened and closed her mouth. She decided to drop the matter. "Hard day?" she inquired, changing the subject.

Buffy sighed and looked down. "Yeah," she finally answered.

"Oh, sweetie. Do you want to talk?"

Buffy's heart warmed up at this. Smiling, she walked over to the couch and sat down on the newly-vacated seat. She drew her knees close to her chest, wrapping her arms around them.

Joyce sat down next to Buffy, encircling her shoulders with her arm. Buffy leaned closer to her mother's chest and rest her head on her shoulder.

"Only if afterwards you tell me about the date you had with your new honey today."

Joyce ran her fingers through Buffy's hair, coming to a rest on the top of her daughter's head.

"It's a deal. So, tell me about your day, dear."

"Well, Mom," Buffy began, "A robot girl tossed Spike through a glass window at the Bronze today..."

How am I doing so far? Better, I hope. Reviews, good or bad, are appreciated.