I do not own Buffy or the Sons of Anarchy, or any other character that I might use. But will be mainly Sons of the Anarchy. I am also going to play it loose with times lines and stuff.

Chapter 5

Two hours, two more hours, then I will be at my new home for the next year. Smiling to myself, I drove down the high way between California and Charming. I probably will sleep on the floor tonight, but its only one night. The movers are coming tomorrow, and I will have all the furniture and other essentials. But tonight, I can just familiarize myself with my new place.

I still can't believe Giles bought me a house. Yes, it's all mine, even though it was paid by the council, but my name is on the deed. Thinking back it had been one interesting month.

.~.

A month ago, around a week after Giles gave Buffy his conditions for going off on her own

.~.

Bang! I strode into Giles's office; oops I think I gave him a fright. It was actually a funny site, as some papers are still making its way down from mid-air and the rest scattered around his desk.
I saw Giles shake his head; sigh to himself before concentrating on me. Giving me a glare, he then proceeded to attempt to make some order to the mess.

"So, I thought you said that you going back to get things sorted and to pack?" he asked without looking up as he put some papers away.

"Ya well, I slipped in, slipped out, took the things important to me and left. If I packed anything more, they would have gotten curious, and I would rather you tell them I'm off than having to explain myself. They might get nosy, and start to dig, plus less luggage means a major shopping spree!" I started to get excited the more I explained, oh shopping, I haven't had a state side shopping spree in ages, and the malls sigh, the fun I'm going to have! My thoughts were cut short as I heard Giles cough ever to lightly, so I looked up. He looked amused and annoyed at the same time.

"I see. When were you going to inform me that apart from placating Dawn, I also need to explain to the rest of the council that you are off somewhere, which I approved, but no one else is to know where it is?" Okay he said that with a bit more sarcasm, and maybe I did deserve it, but I think Giles is over thinking it.

"Giles, you are thinking too hard on this. If you can somehow convince Dawn not to throw a fit, then there is nothing to worry about. It's not as if any of the others care where I am. And when they do contact me it will be through email, which I will still use. As you said yourself, it is only for six months or so, and it will be through apocalyptic season." I stated without care.

"Yes hence we might need you." Giles tried to justify himself, but I cut him off "Oh please, the last time they asked me to take care of a demon, it turned out to be some fledgling who actually had the brains to control some muscle with no brains, but was pathetically easy to kill. I complained all the time as I was dealing with it, and some more afterwards. Now the minis would rather go to the other seniors then me." Okay for all fairness, they told me to come at a really bad time; I was actually on a DATE! Do you know how rare and hard that is to come by these days? So you can understand my annoyance when it turned out to be nothing but a fledgling. But I am so not going to let Giles know this, he does not need to know my dating life.

"Be that as it may, the others will not be that easy to distract, plus you are at fault when you for all intents and purposes ignores the minis." Giles is talking about the senior members, and I don't care about the minis, so I decided to just stop Giles. "Really, we already had this conversation. As you said yourself, Xander and Willow are out of reach; Faith is busy in Cleveland, plus we have an understanding, she will get it. I don't care about what the minis say, and I know what they think of me behind my back. So that leaves Dawn…" At this I looked Giles straight in the eye and switched on my little girl routine. "… Giiiiiilllllleeeessss… you haven't told ANYONE my plans right?"I asked with a suspicious look on my face. He gave me an exasperated look, before answering. "No Buffy, I did not tell anyone. All the information on Charming was gathered by my contacts back in the states. I also asked him for a thorough investigation of a list of other cities and towns. I have a better foresight then you would think." At this he gave me a pointed look. I felt a bit sheepish at that moment so I decided to go back on the dreaded topic of Dawn. "So what are you planning to tell Dawn?"

Giles sighed again before answering "I was going to wait till you are gone to let Dawn know that I have let you go travel, with all the conditions mentioned. Plus you will be contacting her as soon as you reach your first destination, and will keep in regular contact with her, by whatever means you can, which I will insist to her that she understand that it will be at least once a week. It will not be a lie, you are going on a travelling trip, but it is up to you if you decide to settle somewhere." At this he gave me a smirk; ah the mischievous Ripper is somewhere in there. "I will ask her to give you time, but as I said, it would be better if you set it with her then me." At this he gave me another pointed look, almost warning me that I will not get out of that. Oh well, I have to talk to her eventually might as well get it over and done in the beginning, no point in stalling. What Giles said sounds reasonable, none of us likes to lie to Dawn, but sometimes she just refuses to take no for an answer. I was pulled out of my thoughts as Giles started to talk.

"Buffy, since that you are here; I want you to have a look at these." Pointing to a bunch of print outs. Taking one to read, I realized that it is for a house. Looking confused I looked to Giles for an explanation. "These are available houses in Charming, I thought it might be better to arrive there having a place to stay, than hunting for one when you are already working." He explained.

"Hmm, that might not be a bad idea. There any you like?" I asked as the thought of owning a place started to excite me, and I started to look at the details of the one I had.

"Yes, it does not matter where you stayed in that town; there is no traffic for you to fuss over. But the one area does look better than others, so I would suggest the three in that area." As Giles stated his preferences, I looked through another two printouts before going for the ones Giles mentioned.

"They look nice, but do I really need four rooms?" Looking at the one I had on hand, the pool would be a nice bonus, and there is a basement which I can set up a training room, but four rooms? I am the only person going to be living there. As I looked up, Giles started to clean his glasses. Raising an eye I waited for an answer.

"Well, as I stated the last time. When you do let people know where you are, they will want to visit… and well… what I am trying to say is that…" As Giles started to stumble on his words, I started to figure out what he was implying. So smiling to myself I decided to put Giles out of his misery "Giles, it's fine. You are welcome to stay and visit." At this he gave me a grateful smile. "And I know you deserve a vacation, more than anyone else." He seemed to relax visibly before replying "Thank you, Buffy. Yes, apart from me, I am sure others will want to visit. Dawn will stake a claim on one of the rooms, and I also think that Faith will make trips to visit, as a way to have a break."

Chuckling to himself softly, he carried on "You know this all started from your home at Sunnydale. Especially the last couple of year, we may go away, but essentially your house has become a home to us all." By then he had a sad smile on, and I can't help but mirror his sentiment. Ya, the old house in Sunnydale, was like a home to us all. Xander and Willow never felt comfortable at their own homes, Faith never had a stable place to be and eventually Giles also saw the house as a place to come home to. After the final battle, we had some time to rest in England, then it was the rebuilding of the council, and slowly but surely, everyone was spread out throughout the world, well in Willows case another plan.

The new place can be where everyone will be comfortable to come home to. Somewhere with no worries of the supernatural, where we can rest, and be a family. The thought brought a smile to my face. "Ya, the new place may become a new home for us. And I think the three houses you choose are the best ones, any chance at getting a better look?" I said as my thoughts came back to the present.

"I will contact them, to ask that they take videos of the places, and then we can decide on the best one. You are going to be around here for a few days I take it? Giles replied as he looked at me when the last question was asked, looking a bit hopeful.

My smile got bigger as I replied "Yep! Will be here till we figure out the major plans, but I start work in around a month's time, so at most I'll only have three weeks here. I will do some shopping like I usually do, visit Dawn, so no one will get suspicious, will do the bumming off the Council routine, but don't worry, I will do the patrols, I just refuse to let any minis trail me. Shish, I have no need for winey little tweeny tots." I was developing quite a rant.

"Buffy! Really, they are not bad, if you had just explained your part when the rumors started, it would have been cleared a long time ago." Giles cut in, but I did not want to think about that "No. I had no intention of explaining myself, if they choose to believe in Kennedy, then it's their problem." There was an incident during the first year of the rebuilding, but it's not something to dwell on. "Giles it's okay, I haven't been in major fights for nearly a year, and since the kidnapping incident, I know my reputation has gotten worse. As long as you guys know the truth, then that's all it matters." I gave him a reassuring smile, before standing to leave.

"Buffy, you really should you know. Vi, Rona and Chao-Ahn, was furious with the minis. They really wanted to clear your name, but were barred by you." I cut him then. "It's okay, really, Kennedy can have her fun. She will eventually fall; I am just grateful that this brought an end to her and Willow's 'relationship'. I heard she visited Oz some months back, how is that going?" I decided that diverting the issue would be better, plus I am truly curious about them.

"Well… uhmmm… you see, I am not…" Giles looks flabbergasted, so I started to laugh and walked out the office while shouting back "Let me know when you get the videos, I will be in later. Bye Giles."

.~.

Back to present time, highway to Charming

.~.

Giles got the videos a few days later and we decided on the house with the pool and basement. Got the paper work done within the week, and he managed to get the house paid in full, so the only thing I need to worry about are the water, electricity, and levies. Okay, I will be needing a garden/pool boy - unless I want the garden to die - and someone to clean. I will probably end up breaking the furniture. Okay I will make a list once I get there. But now, let's see… yes the sign says thirty miles.

I got into the US a week ago, Giles managed to get me to New York, I then got myself a car and drove from the East to the West. It was a very, very long drive, but it was worth it. Got to California three days ago and started on my shopping spree. It was fun, and the fact that I didn't need to worry about paying for it made it all the better.

Oh shoot, that was my turn off! Okay next one is in five miles; I should be able to get back. Maybe I should have gotten that GPS. Oh well too late now.

I drove around for another thirty minutes, by then I was convinced that one, I am in Charming, the stores said so. Two, I am completely lost.

Maybe I should ask someone, hmm there! Someone stopped by the red light, and it's my right of way. So I pulled next to the car, and quickly asked "Hi! Sorry, I know it's late, but I'm new in town and am really lost. Can you help me?" I put on the most lost and innocent face I can master. The woman blinked, then suddenly realized that I was talking to her "Oh sure, do you have an address or something?" She asked back. "Ya sure, hold on…" as I fumbled with my paper "… Its number seven Hembry street…" before I can finish she exclaimed in surprise "Oh! I'm going back that way, but I just need to go to the shops quickly. I can take you afterwards if you want to just follow me?"

"That would be great; I need to get something to eat anyway. Thanks! By the way I'm Buffy." I was really thankful; don't think I could have stood driving any further. This way I can get some food for tonight and tomorrow. I smiled as I introduced myself, she smiled back and said "I'm Donna; I just need to get some dishwasher powder, than we can go back."

Yes, I decided to keep Donna alive. Actually, I saw her as my bridging point, when I started to write chap 4, I'm not sure if I will kill her off.

If anyone is confused, this is near the end of season 1, eps 12 "The sleep of babies", I thought this was a good place to bring in Buffy.

Thanks to La, my wonderful beta.

And I hope you guys like it.

Reviews, thoughts anyone?