The Road Home
Summary: AU; everyone's human. Buffy Summers dodges family and friends to escape her wedding and make it back home, single. But when she returns to L.A., she finds herself stuck with a grumpy, homeless roommate without who, she soon finds, home wouldn't be home at all.
Disclaimer: 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' and all associated with it belongs to Mutant Enemy, Fox, Joss Whedon etc. I own squat. Also, the chapter title I'd thought of long before a friend informed me it was one of Angel's S5 episodes. I won't change it, but just so you know.

A/N: So, so, so sorry for the late update. A lot of things got in the way. I also have a bit more bad news. I'll be updating only on weekends, now. So, so worry but again, work is getting in the way. One more thing I have to apologize for? Well, this chapter seems meaningless and is very short, but you'll see later why I had to put it up. As always, let me know what you think.

18. In Harm's Way

"So . . . how's Willow doing?"

"Oh, you know—she's coping." Buffy doodled on the paper in front of her thoughtlessly, a wide smile on her face as she balanced the phone between her shoulder and ear.

"Oh." Tara fell silent on the other side of the country. When she spoke again, it was tentatively: "D-Does she miss m-me?"

Buffy smiled fondly at her friend, then realized Tara couldn't see it. Putting her smile into her voice, she said, "Oh, Tara, everyone misses you. Me, Willow, even Will, even if you guys weren't as close!"

Tara laughed. "I was waiting for you to bring up his name," She said knowingly, "You didn't give me any details! Just finally holding hands, clinging to each other and stealing kisses—stuff that should've happened ages ago. But tell me, did anything... else happen?"

Buffy blushed in spite of herself. Covering her eyes with her hand, she rested her head on her desk and said, "Oh, Tara—not on the first date, girl, come on!"

Cackling evilly, Tara said, "Well, better than what I thought you'd say: 'Ew, Tara, how can you think of that!'"

As Buffy laughed, the door to her office slammed open and Harmony ran in. "Oh, Buffy," She said, dumping a load of files in front of her boss, "You know Kate? Your receptionist from earlier? She broke up with her boyfriend! The rascal, he cheated on her! Oh, and the shipment from San Francisco is here," She added offhandedly.

Buffy sighed. "Hold on, Tara." Looking at the files, she frowned at her assistant. "Harmony... what the hell are these?"

Harmony looked up from her inspection of her nails and said, "Oh, that's just my homework for business class."

Buffy frowned. "Well, what's it doing on my table?"

Shrugging, Harmony said, "Well, outside it'll get spoilt by all the coming and going. No proper surface to keep it on. I took off one of your Chinese pots but Joe started yelling at me so..."

Buffy looked at her hard, her jaw set hard. "Harmony... take this off my desk right now, or get out to never come back again."

Harmony's eyes widened. "Oh, but Buff—"

"No! Take it away! This is an office, Harmony, not your private lounge and locker!"

"Buffy, but—"

"Out." She spoke so eerily that immediately, Harmony gathered her files and left.

Buffy gave herself a minute to recover, then picked up her phone. "Hi, Tara."

On the phone, Tara gave a low whistle. "Whoa," She said, "That was hot."

Buffy burst out, "I don't know why I hired that girl, Tara! She's nice but god, she drives me crazy! No professionalism and no sense, she is a living hazard to the mind of anyone who she meets. And Will," She added shrilly, making Tara wince, "He hasn't seen her and whenever I say anything about her he goes, 'Oh, give her a chance, pet, she'll come through.' Come through my ass." Buffy ended with a very un-ladylike snort.

Tara smiled. "Two things. One, he's right. Two, you do a terrible British expression." When Buffy snorted again in response, Tara wheedled, "Okay, baby, we know nothing about Harmony."

"No, you don't." Buffy said rather savagely.

"Exactly. So can we come back to topic? What did you do for your date?"

Immediately, Buffy's bad mood evaporated. "Oh, Tara," She sighed, "It was amazingly romantic." As Buffy began an elaborate version of her date, she didn't notice her door crack slightly and one carefully lined eye peep in.

"When we came back home, he let me go in first and then came in after spending half an hour in his car. I was making coffee, and he just comes up to me all casually and says, 'So, how was the date? Guy any good?'" Buffy laughed, Tara's chuckling egging her on. "Yeah, then he walks upstairs as though nothing had went on between us! I don't know what Will expected, probably thought I'll go running into his arms if he plays hard to get, but when I went up to my room, he practically tackled and pinned me to the door!"

Tara was silent for a while, then said, "Okay, Buff, spare me the rest..."

Buffy laughed. "No, Tara—he tried kissing me but I pushed him off and left him howling." She laughed again, then stopped with a sigh. She was quiet for a second. When she spoke again, it was in a quiet and scared voice. "Tara, I'm scared."

"Of the dark?"

"No!" Buffy chuckled. Then, "Of this thing with Will."

Tara frowned. "Thing with Will?" She echoed.

"Yeah, this entirely new relationship. I mean, with Angel everything was so simple, Tara! I knew everything he would do; he knew everything I would do. We knew where everything was going. But this... I don't know how he expects me to act, how he wants me to talk, what he wants me to do! It's unpredictable. He's unpredictable! And after living with Angel after so long, unpredictability scares me."

Tara bit her lip. "You'll break up with him, too?"

"No, Tara. I won't break up with William. One breakup per month is enough, and that was my engagement—still kinda reeling from it all. But I want to know if this is going anywhere. Because, if a few months from now, he wants to break up with me, I'm not going to be able to let go of this man, Tara. Heck, not few months but even few days. I think... it's probably too soon, but Tara... I think I'm in love with him."

Tara smiled. "Then what're you telling me for?" She asked gently.

"Who else can I tell?" Buffy shrugged, pushing her hair out of her eyes. "Not Will, not so soon. One date, Tara—you don't tell a boy you love him after one measly date! You'll scare him off! But, yeah, I think he's going to be pretty important for me if I feel something so strong for him after such a short period of time. If he breaks up with me, I'm not going to recover soon, Tara. Maybe not at all."

"Oh, Buffy, don't say that. Everything will work out," Tara said comfortingly.

Buffy smiled as the door unnoticeably slid shut again. "Promise?"

Tara laughed. "Promise."