Through The Years

We know the drill; I shouldn't have to tell you.

Buffy woke up when her phone rung, she was that it was already dark. She must have slept the afternoon away. Joyce knocked on the door, and Buffy covered her face with the pillow.

"Buffy, telephone it's Cordelia." Joyce's voice came through the door.

"I'll get it mom." She hollered back, and grabbed the phone on her nightstand.

"Hello?"

"Buffy, it's me. I will be coming to the Bronze with you Xander and Willow tonight." Her voice came across the line.

A sense of panic rose up in Buffy, not because Cordelia is going with them, but because of something else she couldn't put her hand on.

"What about Elizabeth? I thought you were going to spend sometime with her." She replied, no emotion in her voice.

Buffy winced at the sound of her voice; she just hoped that Cordelia wouldn't take it the wrong way. The brunette ignored Buffy's lack of enthusiasm.

"Mom offered to take care of Lisa. She said that I deserve a night out, I've been concentrating so much on Lisa that I completely forgot about myself." She replied.

"Cool, I'm meeting Willow and Xander at around nine. They said the Bronze is more like a young adult club, or whatever." She told her friend.

"I'll meet you guys there." She said cheerily.

"Okay, bye." Buffy rushed out and hung up the phone.

Cordelia looked at the phone before she hung it up. The tone in her friends voice didn't go un-noticed by her, she wanted to know what was bothering her. She made a mental note to ask her about it later. As soon as she hung up the phone, her little girl came teetering into her room.

"Mama." She said, lifting up her chubby little arms.

Cordelia picked her up, "Hey sweetie, mommy is going out. Will you behave for grandma and grandpa?" She asked her daughter.

The little girl nodded her head, "Lisa be good for gwanma and gwampa." She repeated.

Cordelia placed the girl on her bed, and gave her some of her toys to play with. Unfortunately she didn't want to play with the toys, she was watching her mother.

She went to her luggage and tried to figure out what to wear. She was holding up outfits asking her daughter which one looked better. All she got was a little bit of baby babble.

"Okay, Lisa I will go with my black and red Chinese style dress, and my Jimmy Choo's." She told her daughter. "I'm going to go shower." She took her daughter with her, and sat her outside on the rug while she showered. It was better than leaving her unattended; she stepped out the shower and went into her room. The toddler following right behind her.

"Mommy has to get dressed, close your eyes." She told her daughter.

The little girl put her little hands over her eyes. This was a little game that they played, whenever she was in the room. To a two year old, it was a lot of fun. Cordelia gave herself the once over and finally decided to apply make-up.

"Mommy make up?" The little girl asked.

"Yes, mommy puts on make up. I have to look nice right along with your Aunt Buffy." She replied.

The little girl just smiled, she had no idea what her mother was talking about.

Buffy was having a panic attack, she didn't know what to where and she had less than forty-five minutes to meet Xander and Willow. She pulled out all of her clothes and threw them on the bed. She was looking for her black low rise boot cut, denim jeans from Old Navy. After five minutes of looking, she found them on Mrs. Gordo. She looked at the pig and smiled. Mrs. and Mr. Gordo were her confidantes she was able to tell them stuff that no one else knew. When she would get to missing her friend too much, she would take the pig and cuddle up with him at night. After finally getting dressed, she sat at her vanity trying to figure out if she should wear make-up or not. In the end she decided against it, opting for some cherry lip gloss. Giving herself the once over she left her room and went downstairs. Her mom and Giles were on the couch watching and old Shirley Temple movie. She was one of Buffy's favorite actresses growing up.

"Mom, Giles I'm gone." She told them.

"Have a good evening Buffy. You don't have a curfew, but don't come in too late." Giles warned.

She gave him a huge smile, "I won't, and daddy wouldn't even let me stay out til all hours of the night."

"You are going out dressed like that?" Joyce asked her daughter, looking at her clothes.

Buffy looked at herself a little self consciously, "Do I look too slutty? Should I go change?" The panic clearly rising in her voice.

"No, you don't look as you would say, 'slutty', but you look very nice." Her mom replied.

The blonde gave her a smile, and grabbed her keys and purse. "I'll be home at a reasonable time, don't wait up." She closed the door behind her.

A part of her was having second thoughts about going. Cordelia was going to be there, and she really didn't want to be around her right now. The emotions were too conflicting even for her. She decided to find a guy and flirt with him, there might be some college guys there for her to flirt with.

"Guys are of the good." She repeated to herself as she pulled out of the driveway.

Buffy made it to the club only five minutes late. She got out of the car and went to pay her cover charge. The bouncer at the door tried to flirt with her, but she politely turned them down. She walked into the club and spotted her friends and some blonde girl she didn't know, she was surprised when she saw Cordelia with them. A logical part of her wanted to run into the night screaming, but her rational side won out. It was a time for being with friends, and she wasn't going to ruin their night.

"Hey guys! How goes it?" She yelled over the music.

"Wow Buff, you look amazing. Los Angeles has been very good to you." Xander replied.

"Xander, you're only supposed to look at me." Anya stated.

Buffy raised an eyebrow at the girl; she was a little blunt for her taste. She bet she would give Cordelia a run for her money.

"Ahn, I told you Buffy is an old friend of ours. She moved away before we started second grade." He explained to her.

"I'm Anya, and you can't have my Xander." She told Buffy.

"I don't want Xander, he's my best friend. My boyfriend material I think not." She told the girl politely.

Willow decided that she had enough of Anya, and decided to save her friend.

"Hey Buff, you look hot. Do you plan on snatching up all the guys?" She asked her friend.

Buffy smiled a little and then looked at Cordelia who didn't look to happy. She brushed it off.

"Thank you, and so do you. I leave and you just blossom and grow. Who took you shopping?" She asked her friend.

"Oh, Faith did. She has been like my friend since you left, if you saw her you wouldn't recognize her. She looks that different, dish about LA, did you have a boyfriend?" The red head asked.

Before Buffy could answer Cordelia interrupted them. She was kind of pissed that Buffy had completely ignored her. Usually her friend would always gravitate towards her, but this time was different. Something was definitely off with her friend, and she didn't like it one bit.

"Buffy, you look nice tonight. You are going to have to knock them of with a broom." The taste was bitter.

"You look good also; you'll be breaking hearts left and right." She told her friend. She wasn't lying when she said she was hot.

"Nothing else was said between the two, the tension was rising and if something wasn't done it was going to strangle them alive.

"I'm going to get something to drink. You guys want?" Buffy asked.

"Everyone called out for Cokes." They weren't even old enough to drink yet.

Buffy left the table and made her way towards the bar. The bartender approached her and took her orders. He was trying to flirt with her, but she wasn't having that. The Dingoes Ate My Baby was playing. Buffy thought that they were pretty good. She knows the guitarist. They go back all the way to LA; she wondered what they were doing playing here. The guy brought her the drinks and she returned to the table, but noticed that Cordelia was missing.

"Where's Cordelia?" She asked.

Xander pointed towards the dance floor. The girl in question was dancing pretty seductively with a tall blonde guy. She didn't know whether to be happy, upset, or jealous. She decided to be happy, she dated Angel for crying out loud. The band stopped playing their set and the DJ took over. Oz walked over towards the table, he saw Buffy sitting there.

"Hey Buffy, I didn't expect to see you." He told her. Willow looked on in amazement, she was totally crushing on him, and Buffy knew who he was.

"I told you I was coming here for the summer. So how long ya here for?" She asked her friend.

"Just for a few gigs, then it's back to LA, I'm thinking about attending school here." He told her.

Buffy heard a throat clear, and she saw that her friends were there. She looked a little sheepish.

"Sorry, Oz these are my Sunnydale friends, Willow, Xander, and his girlfriend Anya." She pointed to everyone at the table. "Where's Gunn he usually accompanies to you to all your gigs?" She asked her friend.

Oz had stopped looking at Willow and answered his friend, "Yeah, but some hottie caught his attention. I told him I saw you, so I know he'll be over here momentarily. How's your dad? Did Angelina have the baby yet?" He asked.

Willow looked a little saddened; he knew more about Buffy's life than she did. She was supposed to be her best friend. Xander was too busy paying attention to Anya, to say anything. Before she could answer Cordelia came back to the table and took a sip of her drink.

"Oz, this is one of my nearest and dearest friends, Cordelia. She was the first one who befriended me in kindergarten." She told her friend.

Introductions were made and Buffy went ahead and answered his question, "Dad is doing well, he misses me. Angelina had the baby it's a girl and she named her Dawn. I'm going up there this week-end to see her." Buffy replied with a huge smile on her face.

Cordelia finally figured out what was wrong with Buffy, or at least she thought she did. Buffy missed her friends back in LA and she was saddened that she missed the birth of her baby sister.

"So you have a little sister? When was she born?" Willow asked, by this time Xander and Anya were out on the dance floor.

"Anya has him by the penis. Sometimes I wonder about their relationship, it's built on nothing, but sex." The red head smiled.

"It's not a problem; I knew Xander was going to find a girl interested in nothing but sex. Yeah, I have a little sister, and she was born today. Mom told me, she seemed pretty enthusiastic about it, but I know other wise." Buffy told her.

They continued to make small chit chat, and they were finally joined by Gunn. Everyone noticed a change in Buffy's demeanor, she seemed much more happier and carefree. They heard stories about Buffy's misadventures in elementary school, and high school. How she had all the boys lusting after her, but only had eyes for Spike. Oz disappeared, then came back when a familiar song came over the loud speaker. 'What Dreams Are Made Of' by Hilary Duff.(Let's just pretend that she's been out for a lot longer than she has been.) Buffy began to laugh and turn red.

"What's so funny?" Cordelia asked.

"Oz and I performed this song for our middle school talent show. He was Pablo and I was Isabella, we did the slow part first and then we went into the dancing, he totally left me alone when the solo came up." She told everyone.

"It wasn't bad, we came in second place." He told everyone.

"You guys have to show us that one day." Xander chimed in.

"No one is ever seeing that ever. I told daddy to burn all the copies, but I think he sent one to mom though." She told everyone.

They continued to talk and dance the night away. For the first time that night, Buffy didn't feel on edge. Cordelia was dancing the night away also, so it was all good, but there was a longing in Buffy's heart. She couldn't put her finger on it, but she hoped to figure it out soon.

Cordelia was having similar thoughts as Buffy, except she was raging with jealousy. She wanted to talk to Buffy and find out what was going on. She wanted to gouge the eyes out of every guy looking at the blonde. Buffy did look rather hot, if she could say so herself. Hopefully tomorrow they will be able to talk after dinner. The night wound down and everyone went their separate ways. Cordelia walked beside Buffy and took her hand.

"I wanted to talk to you all night long. Is there something wrong?" She asked her friend.

"No, nothing is wrong. I was just a little homesick for LA, and then I saw Oz and Gunn there. LA is a familiar to me; Sunnydale is like a twilight zone for me you know. It's kind of hard to reconnect with what we used to have. Everyone has changed especially you; you have a baby and all. Not that it's a bad thing or anything, but it's just a little weird."

They had walked to Cordelia's car and leaned against it.

"So you're just saying you feel uncomfortable here. Then why did you come back? From what I heard you could have attended any school in the country." She told her friend.

Buffy sighed, "Yeah, I know, but I wanted to be closer to mom. She missed out on a lot of things when I was growing up. Sure she was there for a few things, but not really, I want her to be apart of my life again. I caught a portion of your conversation with mom today." She confessed.

"You heard everything?" She asked in surprise.

"I didn't hear everything, but I heard the part where you are in love with someone, but you didn't know how she felt about you." She responded.

"That's a conversation for another date. Still friends?" Cordelia asked.

Buffy gave her a smile, "Still friends." She turned and walked to her car.

A/N: This is going to be the second to the last chapter I am going to be posting before I go on vacation. I have one more to post and then I am on hiatus. I would like to wish every one a Happy Thanksgiving to whoever celebrates it. Try not to eat too much.

General Mac- Such a glowing praise thanks. I'm not that good of a writer I just write like I am feeling at the moment. If I feel angst-y, I throw in a little angst, if I'm happy... well you get the picture.

Ghost Writer- I'm glad that you did enjoy the story. I'm sorry if it goes against your beliefs. I respect that very much, and thanks for all of the great reviews.