Disclaimer: Same as previous chapters.

Chapter 15

Jonathon was surprisingly agreeable to let Clark come to the institute and Andrew was happy to have his cousin coming every day, Clark loved being able to practice his powers and not hiding it but Pete was the only one who could even hold his own with him, Buffy tried to keep up with him but it wasn't working as he was altogether in another league.

Andrew and Charles would spend every spare moment listening to Buffy pour her heart out as she decided to be honest with them and told them everything.

Charles was also helping Andrew control his powers even more; he was getting more sensitive to other people's emotions and was able to manipulate emotions to a degree.

However one night, Andrew was walking back to the institute with Bobby when he sensed that someone was incredibly sad, he didn't need to know who it was, only Buffy got that sad in the institute thought there were kids who had been rejected by their families.

He walked into her room and saw her looking outside and said, "Buffy, what's wrong?"

She smiled sadly and said, "I have to go back to Sunnydale, I can't hide here much longer."

Andrew walked over and hugged her and said, "Do you want us to go with you? I mean it's been awhile since you left, right?"

"Yes," she sobbed, "I've missed them so much and I do want to clear things up with my mom."

"Alright," Andrew said, "We'll just have to go with you."

"Really?" Buffy said, wiping a tear from her eye, "Do you think Sunnydale's ready to have John come back?"

"Maybe," Andrew joked, "If we can convince him not to burn the school down, right?"

Buffy whispered, "I'm tempted to let him do it, I personally think it would solve some problems."

"I'll go clear it with the Professor," Andrew said, "And besides, John needs another road trip."

Andrew came back and said, "Not only did he agree to the trip he's got Scott to lend us the car again."

John had been told what was going on and he was pissed, he didn't want his brother anywhere near that shithole town as he hated that place with a passion.

Bobby was happy to get some alone time with Andrew again, they liked having some private time together again though he was a bit unsure about Bart coming with them.

Charles sighed, he didn't need to have Andrew's powers to know why the Kent's were calling and why his Uncle sounded angry; Jonathon wasn't happy that his nephews were going back to the town where one of them was put into a coma by his own father.

"Look Mr Xavier, I know you want what's best for my nephews but why are they even going back to that town?" Jonathon said.

"Mr Kent, Andrew is worried about his friend as she didn't leave home under the best circumstances and she needs to confront her feelings, she doesn't want to hide here anymore and Andrew offered to go with her."

"No, Andrew should be kept safe. Who knows what they'd do to him because of his powers," Jonathon said angrily.

Charles smiled softly and said, "A parent can't keep their child safe forever and, before you ask, I see Andrew as my child and I've always believed that they sometimes have to make their own way into the world."

Jonathon sighed and said, "Please, just tell them to call me when they can because Clark and I are going down there too. I want to see if my sister is still there, I'm going to have words with her and my brother in-law."

"I can indeed promise that," Charles said, "But please do be careful as Sunnydale is dangerous, both John and Ms Summers have told me some horrifying stories."

The next day Andrew was packing, Bobby was making sure that Bart had brought enough super energy bars to last the trip and John was making sure Buffy had packed everything that she had picked up while living with them.

Buffy sighed, "I can't believe I'm going home. I just hope my friends are alright as Sunnydale's a dangerous place."

"Tell me about it," John growled, "I lived there, remember?"

"Yeah, I haven't forgotten that," Buffy said, "You're not looking forward to going back there, are you?"

"No," John said, "I've hated the place for so long, I have like seven good memories of the place and all of them are of me watching Tucker hurt himself."

"Oh, that's twisted," Buffy said softly, "Do you really hate your mom, brother and dad that much?"

"More," John said, "Way more than that but its better now, the professor helped me get over my hatred so I'll most likely not kill them when I see them."

Bobby sighed as they got back into the car and thought, 'Another Roadtrip, lovely. At least it gives me an excuse to cuddle with Andrew on the way back to this place but Bart he shouldn't have to come with them but the Professor said that Andrew and John were really the only people he listened too.'

Bart was already in the car sitting next to Andrew when Bobby shook his head and said, "I'm sitting next to him," and he suddenly caused some ice form in a sensitive area on Bart which caused him to yelp in surprise and run out and glare at him, Bobby smirked and said, "At least it wasn't John doing it."

"Oh," Bart muttered, knowing what John would've done and sat in the front seat so he could sit next to John.

John groaned, "Great, lil brother two," and Bart grinned at him.

Andrew sighed, he felt the affection that John had for Bart and what Bart felt about John; they saw each other as a younger and older brother respectively and Andrew knew Bart wanted them as his family.

"Okay," John said, "Out of the seat, that's for Andrew or the girl. You can sit next to Bobby."

Bart made a face and John groaned, "If you want you can cuddle me tonight when we stop," and that made him smile a bit.

Andrew smiled and snuggled next to Bobby, who started to rub his back and said, "This is going to be hell, isn't it?"

"Probably," Andrew mused, "If Bart annoys John a bit too much we might have to make some sort of pact to never reveal what we've seen to anyone."

"Just as long as he doesn't try to make it into a murder/suicide," Bobby murmured as he saw Buffy get in.

"What? Buffy said, "Are we talking about murder already? Jeez and we just started the trip, can someone tell me what the chances are that Bart's going to alive by the end of this trip?"

John looked at Bart, who smiled and waved, and said, "A good twenty percent, ten if he tries to get us to sing infinity bottles of beer on the wall."

"Awww," Bart said as he pulled out one of his bars and began to gnaw on it, "That song was alright, Andrew liked it."

Andrew remembered the song and said, "Not this time, if you try to make us sing it I'm going to smother you in your sleep."

"Alright," John said, "Let's get on this Roadtrip to hell then."

"I hope that isn't prophetic," Buffy groaned, "Because you might change your mind once you get there."

"Nope," John said, "I kinda want to see how Sunnydale turned out and I'm still considering my arson idea if the place pisses me off."

Buffy giggled and said, "I so want to see you try that."

"Anything for you," John said, "We'll start at the old Wells home, hopefully mom and dad moved back and maybe Tucker's there."

They drove off and Scott muttered, "My car, why does it have to be my car?" and sighed as Jean led him back in to the mansion.

The trip was surprisingly fast, a little too quick for Buffy's taste as she liked being on the road with her new friends, she loved this sense of freedom and belonging. She decided to talk about her friends in Sunnydale just so they'd know what to expect.

As they stopped for the night, about a day's trip to Sunnydale, Bart tried to get some pictures of her friends so he could do some recon to make sure they were alright but Buffy told him no as she would rather not have him in Sunnydale by himself because, first of all, she didn't want him to get into trouble.

"But Buffy," Bart said, "No one can catch me. I'll be gone like a flash, you'll see, honest."

"Yes," Buffy said, "But if you got hurt, or worse, it'd be my fault and you're so young."

"Hey!" Bart said, "I'm as old as Andrew, so not so young."

"Really?" Buffy said, "I thought you were like ten or something?" And giggled as Bart gave her a look and said, "Don't worry; I looked at your files."

"Yeah," Bart said, "I'm old enough."

"Then," John said, "Stop acting like a punk and maybe we'll treat you like a man."

Bart muttered, "Look who's calling who a punk."

Bobby sighed and said, "Andrew, let's go for a snack food run and let them kill each other."

"I'm going to come with you guys," Buffy said, "No way am I playing referee to this squabble," and ran out to follow them.

As they walked to the convenience store Andrew felt Buffy's nervousness and said, "It's going to be alright Buffy, your friends are going to be happy to see you, I am sure of it."

"Thanks but I'm not so sure," Buffy said, "I mean I just ran away."

Andrew smiled and said, "You had to kill your first love and you were the suspect in a murder investigation, who could blame you? And your mother told you not to come back, right?"

Buffy nodded and said, "I hope things go alright, I mean I love it at the institute as you guys treated me so kindly, I mean you and the Professor stayed with me, you guys listened to me bitch about everything under the sun and you didn't care, you didn't even judge me."

"Yep," Andrew said as they got to the store.

They looked around for food that they would all like, Buffy sighed; she loved her new friends and she prayed that her old friends would treat them well.

Andrew smiled and said, "Buffy, we're going to stay with you in Sunnydale, probably to the end of the school year as the Professor wanted more information on these demons. He said it was our choice but both John and I need to confront old pains in Sunnydale."

"Good," Buffy said, "I don't think I could've faced this on my own."

"You could've," Andrew said, "You just feel better with us with you, right?"

"Always," Buffy said as they paid for the food and suddenly froze, "Where are you guys going to stay?"

"Oh," Andrew said, "We're staying at a home the Professor bought; he said it was pretty cheap too."

"Yeah, prices have been slashed repeatedly," Buffy said, "I mean the house we got in Sunnydale would've cost maybe a couple of million dollars but it was like a quarter of that."

"Yeah, I guess living on some sort of, what did you call it? Hellmouth?" Andrew asked, at Buffy's nod, "I mean that's gotta be hell on the real estate, right?"

Buffy sighed, this last night of freedom was going to be fun but soon she'd have to patrol and fight again but it would be easier with the fighting lessons she received from the institute's trainers and she loved that furry guy who came by as he reminded her of Giles.

The next morning John said, "We'll be in Sunnydale around six. Buffy, do you want to look for your friends then or do you want to wait for the morning?"

"No, tonight," Buffy said, "I can't hold it off anymore."

It was far too quick, for Buffy's taste, as the final leg of the trip ended far too soon as she that damned cheerful sign and John whispered, "You want me to melt it down?"

"Maybe later," Buffy said, "First I think we should find my friends before it gets dark out."

Bart smiled, "Is it safe for me to go looking for them? I mean I'll be able to check everything in a flash."

Buffy nodded and said, "But be careful, alright? And check the school first."

"Yeah," Bart said as they stopped at the house the Professor was letting them move into.

Bart grinned and suddenly, with a boom, ran out laughing because he could run again. He suddenly appeared at the school and he looked around curiously, it seemed nice, except for the overwhelming sensation of evil but it could just be that way because it was a high school."

He wandered through the halls until he saw the library, he looked in and wondered if those people in the library were Buffy's friends and he snuck up and listened quietly as she told him enough about her friends that he knew their names.

They were talking about vampires and Bart shuddered; he'd been on the streets often enough that he had an idea that vampires were real as he had heard the other street kids talk about them.

Bart tried to get closer until he bumped into something and caused a ruckus, he froze as they were looking out and he saw a dark haired man look at him. He smiled sheepishly, waved and suddenly burst away at super speed.

"Xander, who was it?" Giles asked.

"Umm, it was a… I have no idea what it was Giles," Xander said, "Unless there are creatures that can move faster than light?"

TBC

Poll question: Tomorrow is the big meet, how will Joyce and the Scooby gang react to Buffy's new friends?

Please rate and review.