Authors Note; Now that uni is over for the year, here's chapter 2 – shorter than chapter 1 but will hopefully be joined by chapter 3 before the end of the day. Thanks very much to evilbuffyfan4eva, I really appreciate the review and hope that you enjoy this one :]

Rosie

The initial buzz had worn off by the time Buffy entered the Magic Box, greeted by the sound of the security bell. It always seemed so cheery, despite which baddie was flinging open the door or how grave the situation was. It was almost inappropriate, saved by the black humour. She suspected that even when the shop was finally destroyed, (face it, with the amount of near apocalypses around this place it was going to happen sometime) the bell would still ring away happily, welcoming its own demise.

"Good afternoon Buffy."

Anya strode past her, arms full of... what the hell?

"Hi Anya... what... are those?"

"These? They're Churago Demon Eggs – the latest craze, I can't restock them fast enough! Isn't that great?!"

Anya was grinning wildly, she was so suited to the retail world that Buffy could hardly believe that she'd ever been a man murdering vengeance demon. Well... maybe it's not so different...

Buffy aimed her best "I'm concerned and slightly confused" face at Anya.

"Are they going to hatch and leave us with an infestation? 'Cos I'm not really down for that."

"Oh no, don't worry, they're as harmless as hens eggs – they're never going to hatch, just good for spells, or cooking. They make pretty good souvenirs as well – until they start smelling anyway."

Cooking. Really? Whatever.

"That's great Anya, where is everyone? I was expecting them to be here."

Buffy cast her eye around the empty shop, at the very least she had thought that Giles or Willow might be there... but of course Giles wasn't even in America was he. She missed him, his accent, and general stuffiness most of the time but damn it sucked when his absence was made all the more obvious. Not to mention that thinking about Giles always got her thinking about Joyce... Now was so not the time for that.

"I don't know about the others but Xander is at work getting hot and sweaty..."

She trailed off and Buffy felt a little ill, this was mild for Anya but Xander had been her friend since high school and it was just wrong to think of him as a guy, let alone a guy with an active love life and nympho fiancé. Ick.

"Ok, that's great. We'll just leave that one there shall we? If anyone shows up and needs me to save the world or anything, I'll be out the back training."

No one showed up over the following hours and Buffy eventually left at 3, meaning to catch up with Dawn on her way home from school. Sisterly bonding, there wasn't often time for it and she was concerned that Dawns kleptomania stemmed from her not having a family as such. Sure, she had the Scooby gang, but a bunch of people in their early 20's (with some notable exceptions) who were sometimes around when their own lives allowed them, are a lot different to having a Mum who worries about you and makes you dinner every night. No matter how much they all tried, they could never match the presence that Joyce was meant to have had in Dawns life. They just couldn't, and it really upset her.

Joyce was also meant to have had a longer part in her own life, damnit.

Up until Joyce's diagnosis and even after, Buffy had always been concerned about how her Mom would cope when she died. Slayers weren't meant to outlive their mothers, they weren't really meant to outlive anything except a few baddies. Yet here she was. Living the dream.

She eventually caught up with Dawn on the final leg of the journey, as they rounded the last corner before home. Her little sister was chipper, the thievery ignored and almost forgotten, and the animated banter was totally genuine.

"...and so Jake totally asked her out, in front of the whole maths class! He got in so much trouble for it and the worst part is that she doesn't even like him! Can you believe that? I would just want to die..."

Dawn carried on while Buffy stared into nothingness and threw in the odd "mm" or "oh!"

When they got to the letterbox the bright young girl turned to the older one.

"Buffy, are you actually ok? You seem really... I dunno, like... on edge? Or sad? Honestly, please tell me. I know that I'm just a little kid but I'm actually not anymore. You really can talk to me, I want you to talk to me."

"Thanks Dawnie, I'm really fine though. Anyway, don't you have some homework to do?"

Dawn stared at her strangely.

"Fine, but if you won't talk to me then you need to talk to someone else. My guidance counsellor said that she could recommend a good shrink for you."

"Dawn! Don't you dare talk about me at school – do you know what will happen if she tells the social services woman? Seriously, don't you ever think?! ... Look, I'm fine. Can you please just go and do your homework?"

"I'm sorry... I do worry about you though..."

With that, Dawn quickly crossed the threshold of the house and ascended the stairs while Buffy remained standing on the veranda for a moment.

Later that night the Slayer set out on patrol. Her high heels, cute top, leather jacket and tight jeans wouldn't have looked out of place at the Bronze but that's how she liked it. It wasn't like she had to worry about getting jumped by a horny drunk, she was able to look after herself a lot better than most. Physically anyway.