Buffy sat on her overstuffed and extremely comfy couch listening to the hold music. She was trying to get a hold of Xander, but she got put on hold at every place they sent her. In the couple of hours since she had called Willow, Buffy had discovered that she was friends with Nicole Kidman, Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Michael Douglas, Heath Ledger, Bam Margera and his band of crazies from Viva La Bam and Jackass, everyone that mattered to Orlando from Lord of the Rings, Ewan McGregor, Johnny Depp, Kirsten Dunst, Ryan Phillipe, Reese Witherspoon, Cameron Diaz, Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson, Carmen Electra, Dave Nevaro, and a slew of other famous people. She had dated the lead singer of HIM, Villa Vallo, but that had never panned out. They were apparently still good friends. She had dated Bam, but he was more like a brother to her. (Thank God for journals!)
She also found that her mother was alive and well living in New York in a penthouse that Brad Pitt had bought Buffy for her sixteenth birthday. After talking to her mother and spending thirty minutes crying afterwards, Buffy had decided she needed to try and find Xander. Connor obviously didn't exist and Dawn had never been born. Buffy's father was still an asshole and her mother had divorced him when she was two. Her mother had since met another man and Buffy had a step-father that was apparently someone she truly considered her father. Hugh Jackman was her god-father. Her mother had met him when she went to Australia in college for a study abroad course. They had become the best of friends and he, mom, and Lynn (Justin's mom) had been thick as thieves back in the day.
"Miss? Are you still there?" A voice said.
"Yes! I'm still here." Buffy said quickly.
"I'm going to buzz you back to him. He just got in."
"Thanks."
There was a long pause then two rings and then, "Alexander Harris speaking."
"Xander! Oh my God! Are you ok?"
"Who is this?"
"Xander, don't play! It's me, Buffy!"
"Buffy who?"
"Buffy Summers! You don't remember me?"
"Buffy Summers? Is this a crank call? I don't have time for this."
"Xander, what is the matter with you? Don't you recognize me?"
"You're telling me you expect me to believe that this is the international superstar Buffy Summers calling and that I'm supposed to remember you because I know you?"
"Yes!" Buffy sighed. "Listen, Willow did that thing where she accidentally does a spell, only this time she sent us to a world where we're all normal. No demons, or vampires, or Slayers!"
"Willow who?"
"Rosenburg!"
"That professor in San Francisco?"
"Yes! You know her!"
"I read about her. Listen, I really don't have time for this you crazy goon." The line went dead.
"Damn it!" Buffy tossed the phone onto the couch next to her. She looked at the clock. Ten after twelve. Willow should be calling soon. The doorbell rang. Buffy ran to the door and opened it. Justin Timberlake stood there. She almost screamed, but quickly remembered that she and he were best friends and she was supposed to act natural.
"Hey B, what's going on?" He walked in past her. "So, did he ask you yet?"
"Who ask me what?" Buffy shut the door and followed Justin into the living room.
"Orlando. Did he ask you?"
Buffy looked at the engagement ring. "Oh! Yeah. See." She showed him the ring.
"I don't need to see it, kid. I helped him pick it out."
"Yeah….. Willow told….. I mean, he told me. You and Bam helped."
"So, how did he ask you? He said he was going to catch you completely off guard."
"You know, he did, I just don't remember it all. It was kind of a blur."
Justin laughed and sat down. He took her hand and pulled her down next to him. Still holding her hand, he said, "I can't believe it's not you and me. You remember how set our moms were on us getting married?"
"Yeah. Well, you know those two."
"I do. So, Christmas is coming up soon and it's your year."
"My year?"
"Don't pull that! You know it's your turn to come out to Memphis this year."
"I know, but I think Orlando and I were, uh, going to see his mom in England."
"I thought she was coming out here."
"Uh, yeah. But we're going to have a little Christmas out there. Just us."
"What about Samantha?"
"Samantha?" Buffy did a quick inventory on everything she knew about Orlando from the articles she'd read. "His sister! Yeah. She'll be there too."
"You ok?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"You seem….. Jittery. You're not usually jittery."
"Well, it's all the excitement. You know, getting engaged and all." The phone rang. "Excuse me." She grabbed the phone off the couch and walked into the hallway. "Hello?"
"Buffy, I'm taxiing into LAX now. I'll meet you at baggage claim." Willow said.
"You brought luggage?"
"Yeah. You know, just in case."
"In case what?"
"In case I need to stay for a while."
"Oh, right. Ok. I'll be there as soon as I can."
"Bye."
Buffy hung up and walked back into the living room. "Who was that?" Justin asked.
"What? Oh, a friend. Cordelia. I need to go pick her up."
"She has a car."
"I know, but we were going shopping and I told her that I would drive."
"Oh. Ok. When's Orlando coming home?"
"Um, before supper."
"Are you guys going out?"
"Don't know. I guess I'll find out tonight."
"Yeah. Listen, if you do, come to Chi. I'll have something special for you guys."
"Chi. Right. Ok." She went to the hallway closet and grabbed a leather coat.
"It's not cold outside."
"I know. Habit."
"Since when?"
"Right." Buffy put the coat back and grabbed the little Vera Wang purse sitting on the table by the door. She grabbed a random set of keys and walked out with Justin.
He walked to his Escalade and stopped. "B, I'm really happy for you. Orlando's a great guy. You two work."
"Thanks. That's really sweet of you."
"See ya later."
She waited till he had pulled out of the driveway and then walked over to the garage. There were a couple of high priced cars parked outside of it. She pushed the unlock button on the keys and a brand new 2005, silver, Shelby GT Mustang beeped back. "Nice!" Hopping in, she put the top down and pulled out. Now all she had to do was figure out how to get to LAX from where she was at. Thank God she had a GPS system in her car.
"This being famous stuff is cool." Buffy said.
"Tell me about it." Willow said as they drove back to Buffy's house. "I have a Victorian Mansion in San Francisco and a Corvette parked outside of it. Nice neighborhood." Willow looked around the swank Beverly Hills and sighed. "So, you said Xander doesn't remember us?"
"No. How come you and I remember, but he doesn't?"
"I don't know. Have you tried Faith?"
"I can't find her on the computer."
"She must be an average Jane. Where'd she grow up at?"
"Boston. She grew up in Boston." Buffy glanced at Willow. "What about Giles? Have you looked him up?"
"Yeah, but I haven't called."
"What's he doing?"
"He's the museum curator at the British Museum."
"Really. I bet he likes it."
"Well, he's pretty darn good at what he does."
"Does Dawn….."
"No. Not here. And, obviously, Connor doesn't exist."
"What about the Hyperion?"
"What about it?"
"What's up with it?"
"Oh! It's one of the priciest hotels in LA. Very trendy. Has been for a while." Buffy turned into her driveway and stopped the car. "Here we are."
"Oh my God! This place is huge."
"Not as big as most in Beverly Hills. I read that Orlando and I are a low key couple." Buffy noticed a new car parked behind her Escalade. "I wonder who that could be." They walked up to the front door and found Brad Pitt standing there.
"Holy crap!" Willow said.
"Buffy, I was worried. Are you ok?" Brad asked, hugging her tightly.
"I'm ok. I just wasn't myself earlier. Sorry I canceled lunch."
"It's ok. As long as you feel better. Who's this?"
"This is my friend Willow Rosenburg from San Francisco."
"The computer scientist?"
"Yeah. I met her a while back when I was in San Francisco and we hit it off. She flew up to see me."
"Well, it's nice to meet you." Brad held out his hand, but Willow just stared at him.
"She's shy." Buffy nudged Willow and the red-head took Brad's hand.
"N-nice to meet you too." She spit out.
"Where's Orlando?" Brad asked.
"Sword training."
"Oh."
"He proposed to her last night." Willow blurted.
"He did what!?"
"Willow!" Buffy said.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"It was such a surprise….. It's been kind of a whirlwind since he, you know." She held up her left hand. "See."
"Wow. Congratulations! I'm really happy for you. Orlando's a great guy."
"Thanks. Well, listen, Willow and I have some catching up to do, so….."
"Oh, yeah. Yeah. Of course. I'll see you later then."
"Yeah."
"You and Orlando and Jen and I will have to go out and celebrate some time."
"Sure."
"It was nice meeting you, Willow."
"You too." Willow waved.
Brad kissed Buffy's cheek. "Bye."
"Bye." Buffy opened the door and let Willow in. She waved as Brad pulled out and honked, then shut the door. "This keeps happening! Famous people either call or they just pop by!" She turned, but Willow wasn't there. "Will?"
"Back here." She found her in the poster room. She was holding up the Oscar. "Wow! This is incredible."
"Will, we need to figure out how to get back."
"Why? This place is so much cooler."
"Because Angel's not in it. Xander doesn't know who we are. We don't even know about Giles and Faith! We don't belong here and I can't act."
"You could learn."
"What?"
"And you might have to."
"Why?"
"Because there's no magic in this world. I don't know how to get back without magick."
"You're joking."
"This is the world that I imagined. No demons. No vampires. No evil. Just the human evils. And that also means no magick."
"How did this happen?"
"Well, you remember when I accidentally cast that spell so we couldn't see each other?" Buffy nodded. "Well, I think that's what happened here. I was just wondering what it would be like and as I dozed off, I kept thinking about it. Then I wake up in San Francisco a famous professor."
"This is awful!"
"Not completely. I mean, look! You're engaged to your favorite actor and….."
"I don't love Orlando. I love Angel."
"I know, but….. I don't know what to do without magick. There's absolutely no way we could make a machine to dimension travel in. It's not possible." Willow looked at Buffy. "We're stuck."