Smiling at Rory who had stolen her mother's coffee cup, Buffy took a swig from her own mug.

Grinning, her cousin stared at the slayer, "So you're going to stay? Did I know Aunt Joyce was sending you?"

Lorelei sat back in her chair and inhaled, "Yeah, Kid, I don't remember Joyce saying she was sending you to me."

"Well, I thought I might hang around here for a week before I head out," Buffy tried to avoid the inevitable.

Her aunt stared her down, "What's really up."

"She kicked me out back in May. I'm headed to New York, then maybe England, China, Africa. Who the hell knows," in all truth she planned on contacting the one person who knew she had no intentions of going back to her old life, Spike. He had given her an address in New York that he checked regularly, it seemed the slayer of slayers was getting a bit tired of playing second fiddle in Dru's books.

Shaking herself from her reverie, Buffy ignored the two pairs of eyes burning holes in her flesh, "What were you thinking, you trekked all the way across the country and your mother doesn't know where you are. Luke! Let me use the phone!"

A rather irritated voice sounded from the backroom, "No! You have a phone at home!"

Aunt Lorelei looked pissed off. Her face tight, Rory was just sitting there trying to take up as little space as possible. Luke walked towards the table, jaw set, "Would you keep it down, or I'll cut off the coffee."

Lorelei ignored him, "You're 17 for Christ's sake! You can't just go wandering around the country."

The plaid shirted man looked between them, "What the hell is going on here?"

Lorelei turned her glare on him, "Not now! Buffy, give me one good reason I shouldn't drag you home and call you're mother?"

The blonde girl looked down at her cup before setting it on the table and grabbing the handle of her bag, "Because I'm never going back, there's nothing you can do about it. You call Joyce-I'll be on another continent before she can do anything."

Biting her tongue, the older woman pushed her hands into her thighs, "Okay, let's take a step back. You have two choices her. One I call Joyce, or two you stay here-with a condition that you tell me why Joyce kicked you out."

Releasing the bag Buffy settled back into her chair, blocking out the man who stood a foot to her left, "One of my friends was killed, the principal told the cops I had done it. He hates me, I don't know why. I knew who killed her, and I god I should have been there to stop it but I wasn't-a woman on PCP. We had a lot that in Sunnydale. They go crazy and kill people. We stuck together, never going alone. I had to go see someone-an ex. She said she would be okay for an hour or two. Oh god."

Luke had gone slack, Rory's eyes were wide, and Lorelei just wanted to hold the girl that had grown up without her looking, "It'll be okay sweetie, what happened next."

Swallowing and wiping at still dry eyes she continued, "I went home, Joyce flipped saying that she should have kept me in the institution, that I was having a relapse. I only went home for supplies. I had to go be with my other friends she told me if I left, that I wasn't welcome to come back. What was I supposed to do, let more of my friends die? I was cleared of the charges, but I won't go back."

Leaning over, Lorelei wrapped her arms around the girl she thought of as a cross between sister and daughter, "Come on, let's get home. You look like you could use some sleep."

Luke couldn't help but sigh, "I'll get you three some doughnuts for the way home. And there will be Wong's for dinner."

Rory and Lorelei both looked at him, "We love you, Luke," they said in unison.

"Buffy choked on her laughter, "Huh, apparently they've gotten worse over the years."

Luke chuckled softly at the blonde, for all that seemed to have happened to her she seemed like a good kid, "I know what you mean. Luke Danes, I've been supplying those two with enough coffee to placate every Brazilian three times over."

That said he walked off, leaving Rory and Lorelei looking slightly incensed.

Rory half gasped and turned on Buffy, "Oh, I just realized that since I'm going to Chilton this year we won't get to go to school together!"

The three rose as Luke handed Lorelei a rather stuffed bag, presumably holding ample supplies of sugared snacks, "Oh, I nearly forgot about that. We'll need your transcripts. I guess I will have to call Joyce."

Buffy froze, "Uh. No, I've been thinking about just taking a GED test. No transcripts required."

"That'll take a lot of studying, and you have to be a dropout for at least a year," Lorelei told Buffy as they walked towards the house.

"So I'll spend this year studying and then come May I'll take the test and we'll go from there," Buffy was confident, she might not even stay that long anyway-anything to keep Joyce, Giles, everyone off her tail.

Yay. New Chapter. And yes, Spike will be in this Fic, it is Buffy Jess, mostly, but there will be little bits of Spuffy. Wes may show up as well. What do you think?