Chapter Nine: A New Start
Buffy had awoken from that odd dream and realized that it had been awhile since she had seen Angel. The last time she had seen him, he had literally walked into the middle of her last battle with the First Evil's priest guy. He had offered to help, but it was one of those things that someone really had to finish once they had started it. It was like when one was a small child and made a complete wreck in the room. The only thing that was left un-messed with was the books neatly structured on top of the shelf. Those books had to be taken out of those shelves. Buffy smiled at the memory of her being a little girl. It was nice, being able to remember. Buffy had closed her eyes and gasped. She felt as though she were in a memory. She was waiting at home for her parents to return.
Buffy was wearing pig tails and a summer dress with white sneakers. She had been sitting at a little play-table that was in the living room, playing with play dough. Then the front door had opened and Buffy grew excited. She jumped out of her seat and ran to the front door.
"Mommy, daddy, you're home!" Buffy had said with eagerness. She ran to the front door and hugged her parents. Behind them was a tiny brunette, about Buffy's size and age. It was her sister Faith, returning from the doctor.
"Hello Buffy," Joyce had said with a chuckle. "Where's the babysitter?"
A teenage girl with dirty blond hair came running into the room. "I'm here," she said. "I was just making us a snack. I'm sorry, I didn't expect you back until a little bit later." Buffy had turned around and recognized the girl immediately. Her tiny eyes widened. It was Tara! Buffy had never been so surprised in her entire life. Apparently, she had seen Tara before.
Joyce picked up her head and smiled. "Oh it is okay Tara, how much do we owe you?" To Buffy's right side of her, her father was fumbling through his wallet.
"Oh are you sure-sure you want to do that?" Tara had asked her.
Hank looked up and smiled. "Tara, you're like a part of the family." He told her. "Of course we do, now how much do we owe you?"
Tara smiled. "Just forty dollars sir." she said.
Hank smiled and handed her small green papers. Tara smiled. "Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Summers." She said.
Joyce smiled too. "Tara, you're so great with children, I mean, our little Buffy and little Faith love you. Perhaps you should become a teacher when you grow up."
Tara smiled back at her. "Thanks Mrs. Summers," She said and put the money in her back pocket. "Buffy was a good girl, she is never any trouble." She said and turned to Buffy and ruffled her hair. "We had fun playing monopoly."
Buffy looked at Joyce. "It was a hard game, I got stuck in jail." Faith laughed and Buffy glared at her.
"Not funny, you'll be the one in jail!" Buffy yelled and smiled.
She ran and hugged Faith. Faith smiled and hugged her tightly. Buffy could tell that Faith had generally missed her while the two of them were apart. Buffy hugged her sister tightly and that world had quickly faded away. Buffy had opened her eyes and yawned. That was tiring and she wasn't able to remember what she had been doing before she had the memory. Then she had quickly remembered that she had she just woken up and that she had seen Angel in her dream. Now she had a memory of her sister…? What the hell was going on? Buffy's mind was fuzzy. She had just opened up two more steps and that was getting her life back together. It was also saying good bye to the old life that she had had.
There was a single, tiny part of Buffy that had accepted Faith into her heart. This had made her smile. Perhaps she wasn't going to hate Faith for the rest of her life. Perhaps she was going to learn to love her again. Buffy had figured she must have loved her at one point, given what the memory had presented to her. Buffy briefly realized that Faith was talking about jail in her memory and wondered what that had meant. She wondered if Faith had ever been to jail and why she was at the hospital so much to visit her. Had she truly missed her sister or was it because she was there as well? This had left Buffy with many thoughts and she began to ponder them.
Buffy had wanted to give Faith a chance. Perhaps she really was different in this reality and the thought of Tara not being too much older than her, gave Buffy the yearning to get in touch with her old babysitter. In her dreams, Tara had helped her through a really rough time. Of course, it was real and rough in her mind. Nonetheless, Buffy had wanted to find her and Tara wasn't the only one that Buffy had wanted to look up. She had wanted to look up the Harris' as well. Buffy was overjoyed.