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.

A/N: You guys are really getting impatient, eh? Don't worry, it's all good: we're here, your lovely finding out. Before you read, though, here's a thing: I want to finish writing this fic by August 12th. I've written till chapter 26, but unless you guys review, I'll stick to updating just weekly. As always, let me know what you think.

23. Find Outing

"What!"

The shout echoed though the snack bar, earning Xander yet another set of disapproving looks from the British. Wincing, he covered the mouthpiece of his cell phone with one hand and said to them, "Sorry, sorry... just found out I had triplets rather than a single child..."

Sympathetically nodding, people turned away and Xander, rolling his eyes at his own stupidity, slipped out of the snack bar of the theatre and into the lobby. "What? What was it that you said?"

"She's in Los Angeles." Angel sounded sullen, flat. "I tried calling the landline but Willow picked up and told me a blatant lie: she hadn't been in the city for over a month."

Xander chuckled. "Yeah, Wills always backs her up. But really, Angel," He turned serious, now, "Are you sure she's there? We are, after all, going by Harmony's word..."

"Xander, even if she was making it up, where would she get my cousin's name from? And it fits. Will isn't in New York or London, and when I called Giles today, he was muttering about Will being stupid in love again. You tell me: is all this proof really going to waste?"

Xander sighed, rubbing his temples. He wished Buffy had contacted him so that he could back her up on whatever she wanted, too. But instead, he had to help Angel, because there was no reason for him to say 'no'. "Yeah, sure, why not?" He acceded, sighing inwardly again as he did. "Go on; try Los Angeles. Lord knows you have enough money to spare..."

Angel, again, was silent for a moment. Then he said, softly, "It isn't about money, Xander. It's all about setting things straight."

After he hung up, Xander looked at his phone for a long time. Then, remembering his duty towards the woman sitting inside, he pocketed it and went back in, mumbling under his breath, "Boy, these three kids are going to be so much trouble..."

"Hey, Buff!" Willow chirpily greeted Buffy as the blonde dragged in after a particularly rough shopping spree. "Found anything useful?"

"Ugh," Buffy moaned, letting go of the heavy shopping bags; they landed on the floor with a thud as she, too, dropped into one of the seats around the kitchen table. "He's so picky! We just got the kitchen done today... Tomorrow, in the morning, we tackle the bathrooms. Then we do the sitting and dining rooms and the weekend is reserved for the," Buffy blushed, "bedrooms."

Willow grinned, pouring a cup of coffee for Buffy. "Oooh," She teased, thoughtlessly scratching her calf when Pontiac had given her a good reminder of not giving him food. "The bedrooms... wonder what you're going to—

"Shut up, Will," Buffy was pink, now, and she threw a pear at Willow who caught it effortlessly. Changing the subject, Buffy asked, "Any messages?"

The change in the atmosphere was noticeable. Willow bit her lower lip nervously and said, "Well, actually, Buffy, you had a call from—

"'Lizabeth! Red! Where are you birds?"

"—Dawn," Willow said hurriedly as Will sauntered into the room. "You had a call from Dawn, yeah. Dawn called for you. She wanted to speak to you but you weren't home so I asked her to call later, because you couldn't talk to her, so she said—

"Willow?"

"Yeah?"

"Rambling."

Willow gave her a silly smile. "Yeah, I tend to do that."

Buffy smiled. "So... Dawn called?" She said carefully.

Will, snagging a carton of milk from the fridge, asked, "Your sister?"

Buffy nodded. "Yeah, I think I told you about her. She calls an awful lot whenever she fights with Connor. Her boyfriend," She added upon seeing his raised brow.

"Ah," He said, looking into the near empty carton and draining it with a shrug. When he was finished, Will said, "Well, I'll be off, ladies, so if you'll allow me," He threw the empty carton behind his back and scored a direct hit in the waste basket, "I'll be resting in bed." Deeply bowing, Will picked Pontiac up from the floor and walked away, talking all the while to the hissing cat.

They waited for the heavy footfalls of his boots to fade before Willow started saying, "Buffy, it wasn't—

"Shh," Buffy said softly, looking upwards.

As if on cue, The Ramones began to dole out their music and Willow looked at Buffy with admiration and shock.

"So," Buffy said, quite pleased with herself, "Where's Tara?"

"She's meeting with the dean about the project they want her working on. But, anyhow, Buffy, Angel called."

Buffy, who had a glass of water halfway to her lips, froze. Looking stunned, she set it down and stared at Willow, speechless.

Willow, looking sympathetic, said, "Yeah, he was asking if you were home or had been. I told him no, that you weren't and no, you hadn't. But he sounded kinda upset or determined, I'm not quite sure. Did I do the right thing?" She asked this last bit nervously because, albeit things between Buffy and Will were going excellently, Buffy could be mercurial.

However, this once, Buffy shook her head and Willow couldn't help but notice how her hair bounced on her shoulders as she did. "You did the right thing, Wills, no worries. I'm just wondering why he called here, after so long..."

Again, Buffy looked upwards at the ceiling, but this time her gaze was apprehensive and uncertain. Leaning forwards, Willow laid a hand on Buffy's hand and gently told her, "You have to tell him, you know."

She bit her lip, eyes still upwards. Then she sighed and laid her head onto their joint hands. "I know, Willow, but I don't want him to judge me... I've enough of that with Tara and with you."

"Buffy, I—

"I know, Wills, I know: you didn't judge me. But still, you can't say that some part of you hasn't lost respect for me, however tiny it is."

Willow was silent to that.

Buffy gave her friend a faint smile. "See? I can't risk that with Will. Not when the entire relationship is so new... not now, Willow."

Willow sighed. "Then when, Buff?"

Buffy closed her eyes, face pressing into their hands and the counter. "I don't know, Wills... I really don't know..."

Up in the room, oblivious to the emotions running through Buffy's pretty little head, Will was lighting scented candles that he had procured from a bag that had been incredibly hard to smuggle in. Singing under his breath, Will busily moved about the room, lighting one candle after another, filling the room with mixed perfumes of French vanilla, strawberry, and lemon. When he was certain that even without the bulbs, there would be enough light in the room, he moved to his other task.

From the same bag, he pulled out roses: white, yellow, pink, blue, and, above all, red. Humming softly, he swiftly plucked out the petals and threw them in no particular order onto the silk sheets of the bed. Constantly, he threw glances at the door to make sure she wasn't coming. When all the roses had lost their petals, he smiled self- appraisingly, and pulled out one last bloom from the bag.

This, too, was a red rose, its petals starting as a deep crimson at the bottom and gradually lightening a shade to red at the edges. Will fingered each petal, careful not to damage them.

"She's going to love it," he muttered to himself, moving backwards to sit on a chair.

Unfortunately, that chair was the one he had kept the thorny stems of the roses. And as said thorns sunk through his cotton trousers and into his backside, Will jumped up with a yelp, glad that the music disguised it. In the process, his Zippo slipped out of his hand and skidded to rest underneath the bed.

Moaning, Will got down to his knees and crawled to the bed, and then under it. Looking around for his silver lighter, he found it when a twinkle of light caught his eye. Lying flat, now, his chest pressed against the cold floor, Will pulled himself along the floor with his elbows and reached out for it behind a couple of boxes. He let out a triumphant noise when his hand closed around the cold metal.

Pulling himself out, now, Will just had his head in under the bed when he noticed a slip on the otherwise brown wrapping of the boxes. Curiosity got the better of him and he reached out for it, pulling the heavy box closer to him. Thanking god mentally for his 20/20 vision, Will read the slip.

And promptly dropped his lighter.

There, on a scrap of white paper stuck to the box, was an address of an area in Washington D.C. However, he hadn't read that. All he could see was: To Liam Spencer.

Liam Spencer.

Will had no time to react; suddenly, heavy footfalls right outside the door caught his ear and he pushed the box away and pulled himself out from under the bed just as the door clicked open.

A loud, wonder filled gasp.

"Will!" Buffy cried out, leaning against the door for support, "Lord... it's beautiful!" Then she noticed he was lying on the floor. "What happened?" She quickly rushed to his side, bending beside him, her amazement forgotten.

"Nothing," Will muttered, wondering what to do now. Should he ask her or... He smiled, reaching up a hand and stroking her cheek. "You like it, kitten?"

She smiled wide, her eyes sparkling as she half sighed, "Nobody has done this for me before, Will. Thank you." And she threw herself on him, hugging him with rib-breaking intensity as he breathed in the vanilla perfume of her soft hair.

He stroked the back of her head as she held onto him, murmuring softly in her ear, hoping to shoo away the name that he had just seen. Gently, he pushed her hair away from one side of her neck and peppered light kisses all along her bare shoulder and neck. Buffy, who till now had been content by just holding him, started kissing the his lower neck where his topmost button was undone. When he gave a low moan, she looked up, her eyes impish, and leaned up to kiss him.

Will fisted his hands in her hair, his confusion transforming into passion as he traced her lips roughly with his tongue. Buffy gasped and he took the opportunity to slip his tongue into her mouth. Her hands, between their bodies and against his chest, tightened around the fabric of his shirt as she pulled him towards her. Will found the hem of her blouse and sneaked in a hand, caressing her stomach as she broke away from the kiss, breathing hard.

Will wrapped his arms around her and made a move to stand. When she looked at him questioningly, he said in a soft voice, "I didn't go through all this trouble to make love to you on the floor."

Buffy chuckling standing up, too. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she rose up on her toes to meet his mouth, trying to communicate with her body what she couldn't find words for.

Together, they fell into bed, arms and legs entangled, and Will, in his desperation to forget what he had seen underneath her bed, worshipped her till dawn.