Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy, big surprise there.

Ch. 2: Finding Answers

Buffy:

What a beautiful day it is! The sun is shining, birds are chirping, and I'm free at last. Free at last, free at last, thank God I'm free at last! Martin Luther King is so right. Giles and Dawn came to get me at the hospital in the morning and not a moment too soon. I was able to put one of the nurses in a straggle hold if she didn't let me use the bathroom alone. I was this close to kicking her ass when they came in and stopped me, I swear she is evil.

Anyways, they loaded me up in a black van I assumed they borrowed from Angel and hauled me to the Hyperion. We got there around noon and the rest of the scoobies, including Faith and Andrew, were in the lobby waiting.

"Buffster, good to see you. Your just in time for the mandatory post-apocalypse meeting." Xander greeted me as I took a seat next to him in the semicircle that had formed.

"Great, seems there's no rest for the weary." Is it so bad to want a free day?

"Sorry Buffy, but apparently not." Giles added while folding his arms and leaning against a table. "There is still many details we need to sort out before we take a break."

"Like what details?" Dawn asks innocently.

"For starters, what to do about the disbanded Council's bank accounts, the training of the new slayers, or our living arrangements."

"Wait G, when you say 'bank accounts' do you mean money?" Faith wondered out loud.

"Yes Faith, I have access to their finances from all over the world. Tokyo, Bangkok, Sydney, Mexico City, New York..."

"I say we spend it!" Everyone turned their heads to Faith like she was a tap dancing bear. "What? I meant like use it for stuff we need, clothes for example. When Sunnydale turned into a crater I lost some shit and I know everyone else did too."

"That's actually a very good idea Faith."

"That's an awesome idea!" Dawn interrupted. "We should have a day totally devoted to shopping!"

Though I loath to admit it, I need some stuff too. Like a toothbrush and more than two set of clothes.

"Then I guess that's settled. Tomorrow I shall provide everyone with a manageable amount of funds and we shall gather needed supplies." A lot of lips turned up into smiles at that sentence, especially mine. Shopping, its been way too long.

The rest of the meeting proceeded and there was talk of starting a new council, of course, and of starting training for the new slayers. There wasn't much that could really be decided, only ideas really, but I was distracted so I didn't hear much.

This was the first time that I wondered what to do with my life. My sole responsibility as the slayer had been lifted from my shoulders and I had no idea what to do now. I never really thought about any future careers, I never thought I'd get to be old enough, so now I had no plans at all. Well not totally, the slayers still needed training and I'd be their trainer. Also we needed to get out there and look for other slayers. So I wasn't totally lost, I'd use that time to figure out where to go from here. Yep, that's my plan.

That's when I started wondering about other people's plans. Everyone seemed like they knew what they were going to do except fo Faith. Yeah, me and Faith were going to be teaching the SIT's but after that what would she do? I couldn't exactly picture her holding down a steady job, that would be like trying to tame a wild animal.

I am looking across the room at her now thinking about what she could do. She has this concentrated face on with her eyebrows slightly knotted and eyes focused, kind of funny cuz I've never really seen her look like this before. Hell, I'm surprised that she isn't bored by all the talk flying around. Her time in prison must of taught her patience, finally. You know, Faith can act the badass, tough girl real well but she is much deeper than that.

Her apology the other night proved it. She was real sincere and nice, especially when she told me she would spend the rest of her life trying to redeem herself. I believe her. Sometimes I don't know what to expect from her. One minute we could be about to argue and the next were laughing like old friends. Guess that's what's so great about her. I'm starting to really admire the person she'd becoming.

She suddenly looks at me and I almost freeze but am able to turn my head away from her. Does she know I was looking at her? I peek back up at her and she staring directly at me with this I-caught-you-red-handed smirk. I quickly turn my head away again as I feel my checks start to redden. What? Why am I blushing? God! I just want to wipe that silly smirk off her face! You can forget all the nice things I said about her earlier.

All around me people start to get up off their seats and head in different directions. Guess that concludes the meeting. Dawn calls me to follow her upstairs to our room that I haven't seen yet and I follow, while discreetly avoiding a certain leather clad person.

I looked around the room me and Dawn were sharing. When you walk in, on your left is a small kitchen with all the necessary appliances in mini-mode and straight ahead is the living room with small couch and TV. A door on the right led to the bedroom, which held a queen size bed, and the bathroom. Overall it wasn't too bad, I heard there were smaller rooms so I wasn't complaining.

"Hey Dawn, which is Will's room?" I asked my sister who was pigging out on Doritos in front of the TV, lazy bum.

"First door to the left." She answered now batting an eye. Good Lord, I just get back from the hospital and the first thing she does is watch TV! And of all things to watch she's watching Passions!

I leave in a huff and head for Willow's door. I knock a few times but there's no answer. I knock once more before I think better of it. She's either not in there or is busy. I don't really want to think what she could be doing, especially if Kennedy's in there, so I decide to take a look around the place. One of the doors down the hall flies open and Rona is chasing a laughing Vi around. Vi somehow makes it back into their room and locks Rona out as Rona pounds on the door while screaming. I think its best I go downstairs for a while.

So I'm down here now and looking for something to do when I bump into Willow coming out of a door in the back.

"Hey Buffy, there you are. I was just about to come up and check on you. How do you feel?"

"I feel fine, Will. Where've you been?" I ask curiously.

"With Giles in the back room. Angel has some very interesting and ancient texts that we were just looking through, you want to see?" She asks in her bookish excitement.

"Sure, there's nothing else to do."

As we were about to go into the room, Giles opened the door, narrowly missing breaking someone's nose.

"Oh sorry, girls. I um, have errands to run." He left out the main entrance leaving me and Will to shrug off his abrupt leave.

We made it inside the mini-library, what's up with hotels and minis, without any accidents. Willow started going on about this ancient era and that as I looked around. Some of these books really did look old, almost crumbling. She was showing me a collection of Aristotle's' hidden prophecies when I remembered a question that I had been meaning to ask her.

"Hey Will, do you know anything about dreams?"

She looked at me weird, "Dreams? What kind of dreams? Is it like prophetic, slayer dreams where some strange entity warns you about the end of the world, again? Because I'll have you know that I am getting quite fed up with apocalypses happening..."

I put my hands up to stop her babbling tirade. "No Will, nothing that major. Just regular, everyday dreams. Well not everyday cuz I don't have it everyday. And its not regular in the sense that I have these kinds of dreams often but..." She was honestly trying to follow me but I knew I lost her somewhere. "Just dreams in general." I concluded lamely.

"Oh well, dreams are just your unconscious trying to tell you something. There are a lot of hidden meanings involved really, weren't you paying any attention in our Psychology class at all?"

"Sorry, I think I was busy with other problems at the time." I say while thinking about what she said. But that couldn't be right, if my unconscious was sending me messages, why would it send me that kind of message? I know for a fact that I don't 'want' Faith. Hello! I'm straight. I'm not attracted to the same sex in any way. Plus, Faith? Of all people, Faith. Now that is simply ridiculous! She has more relationship issues than even me!

"BUFFY!"

"Huh? What?"

"You went space cadet on me there, you back on earth yet?" Willow asked putting some books away.

"Oh yeah, did you ask me something?"

"Yeah, I asked what kind of dream you had."

I waved my hand in the air, "Oh its nothing really, just curious."

She looked at me doubtfully for a while, "If you say Buff."