A/N: Wow, lotsa reviews. Thanks guys!

Okay. Originally this story was going to have a different season 5 ending—there were only so many ways to end season 5, so you take a crack at figuring it out—but I had enough people asking about Buffy's reaction after coming back to life that the plot bunnies took off in another direction. ^_^ So…AU after The Gift. And they bring her back in the beginning of August instead of September, for plot purposes. Yay fun.

Tituba: Yup, Dawn's staying. I wouldn't put her in and make her vanish—Dawn's a good character to have around.

Chapter 2

Buffy looked out the window at the full moon. Oz would be wolfing out now—no, he wouldn't. He had learned to control it, she remembered now. There would be other werewolves wolfing out. She found she didn't care. Werewolves, vampires, apocalypses, she didn't really care. She had been back for two weeks now, and she had not told her friends where she had been. She didn't intend to—it would devastate them. She would just continue to—

To what? Suffer in silence? She was the Slayer, not a martyr. Well, maybe now she could be considered a martyr, even though—

She hadn't done it for the world. She hadn't done it for Giles, or Willow, or Xander, or Sunnydale. She had done it for her sister, and maybe she had done it—a little bit—for herself. It had been her time. Time to go, time to rest. Time to stop thinking about duty, or destiny. She was the Slayer. What did that mean anymore? Did it mean anything?

She remembered when she was told she had a destiny that came complete with a shortened lifespan. She had been angry, then accepted it. Then Merrick died and she gave it up, until Giles. More anger, more acceptance. Then she died. Once she had gotten past that though, she had accepted, almost enjoyed her destiny. She had her friends, her family, a semblance of a life, another Slayer who eventually went evil but that wasn't the point. She had gone to college, saved the world, what, eight times? The Harvest, the Master, the Judge, Acathla, the hell beastie senior year, the Mayor, the demons freshman year of college, Adam, Glory…

Okay, nine times. She had done her part, she had gotten to rest. And now she was back, in Sunnydale, with vampires and demons to hunt, a sister to take care of, and a vampire who dogged her every move out of—what? Could vampires feel guilt? She didn't think so, but Spike was an oddity all around.

Buffy looked around her room. She was back. She would deal, just like always. She didn't have to be happy about it, but for better or for worse, she was back. She wouldn't tell them. She would be Happy!Buffy, well sort of. Because she was the Slayer, because it was what she did. She was alive. She was supposed to be happy about that. She would get back into heaven, after this chapter of her life, the encore or whatever. The part that came after it was over. Untili then, happy faces. Don't worry Dawn, or anyone else for that matter. Find a new project, like those papers she had found before—

It was time to follow those, see what that was about. Why she had been adopted. Yes, a new project would help.

She wanted Giles here to help with that. He had gone back to England before—

Headlights in the driveway. Must be Xander and Anya.

She sighed.

A/N: Short, yeah, but it deserved it's own chapter.