The What If Factor.
Chapter 2: Stranded and Frustrated.
Rating: PG-13
Feed back: Give it to me, but be gentle.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of this stuff except for their daughters. Now, there is some name similarities between this story and my other story, A Day Of Grief, but it's a completely different story.
Author's note: I've decided to make a lot of this first person. There will still be a lot of third person, though. And, most of the POV will be Paige's, their oldest daughter.
-PAIGE'S POV-
The week after daddy's funeral, mom moved us to New York, to live with our Aunt Dawn. We lived on the outskirts, though. Mom didn't want us too close to the city. Aunt Dawn had finished college almost two years prior to that, so she had a job. Mom had left the school for slayers behind. She was letting Uncle Xander and Aunt Willow. Faith had been helping a lot, too.
We lived in New York for almost three years. We only went back to Los Angeles three times a year. The first time was to visit, check up on the school. The second time was always Christmas. And the third, was always on the Anniversary of Daddy's death. We would go to the cemetery and leave flowers. But, the first year, mom left something more than flowers there.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-3rd Person POV-
Buffy rolled around in her bed. It was summer, and extremely hot in the three bed room house that she had bought with her sister, Dawn. They were on the outskirts of the city, just beyond it, near Buffalo. It was July, and the temperatures had risen. That was one of the things she hated about the west coast. On the east coast, the temperature was usually constant, the highs and lows not far apart. But, in New York, there were seasons. She wasn't used to the winter. And she didn't like it very much.
Her hair was long now, more then half way down her back. Angel had loved her long hair, so she almost never cut it. When she did, she never got more than and inch or two taken off. But, that night, she was regretting the length she had allowed it to get two. When she lay on her back, it stuck to the back of her neck and was itchy. When she laid on her stomach or on her side, it wouldn't stay away from her face. Getting extremely frustrated with the heat, being tangled up in her sheets, and now the added annoyance that was her hair, she furiously brought her hand up to brush it away, and scratched her cheek with her wedding ring.
Buffy threw the sheet aside and climbed out of bed. She flicked the light switch, but regretted doing so as the brightness stung her eyes. She tied her hair up in a high pony tail and went back to bed.
The next morning, she had taken a shower. While trying to brush her matted hair, the many tangles kept pulling on her scalp. "Oh, that's it!" She said. She threw on a pair of cut offs and a tank top and, with her scalp still stinging, she drove to the local hair dresser. When she walked into Sally's, there was no one there.
"Oh, hey Buffy." Sally said, confused. "What can I do for you? No one usually comes in this early."
"Chop it off." Buffy said, completely serious.
"Huh?" Now sally was really confused.
"I'm tired of it. Just cut it off. Chop. It. Off."
Buffy walked out of Sally's with her blonde hair just brushing her shoulders. A few days latter, when they went back to L.A. on the anniversary of Angel's death, the girls left their flowers, and as they walked back to the car, Buffy knelt down, her knees sinking into the ground. She laid a lock of blonde hair on the grass just in front of the grave. "Sorry, Baby." Then, she got up and walked back to the car.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-Paige's POV-
And then there was Christmas. That was always hard for mom. She loved Christmas. But, she missed Daddy more than anything. She put on a happy face, and acted all cheery and Christmasy. Ava and Kat bought it, but I was old enough to know that it was just a mask. Mom was hurting, and me and Aunt Dawn did our best to make her feel better. On Christmas day, she seemed to have forgotten all the pain, which was nice. Until it came time for the dinner.
Mom was surprised when Aunt Dawn said the prayer and made the toast. That had always been Daddy's job. And then she was depressed all over again.
It got better. Day by dad, she seemed to hurt less, little by little. But, there was nothing she knew in New York, she didn't know anybody but Aunt Dawn and us. We all knew that she felt stranded in New York.
We knew because we felt stranded, too.
Finally, after three years, Mom decided that it was time to move back to L.A. Our house was still there; still ours. Willow's friend Oz, who apparently had come back into the picture before I was even born, was staying there, saving it for us.
It was nice to be home. But, what happened next was just confusing.