"Buffy's back." Xander announced as soon as he saw Willow and Oz. "We kinda got into it. I admit it, I'm pissed she left her mother in the Hell of not knowing where she was for months. She also confessed she waited until morning to go after Angelus because she was hoping you'd try the curse again. I told her about where the soul likely is and confessed that I probably dusted Angelus to save Giles and pointed out how long he would have been tortured for if we'd just left him there like she did. I also told her we'd missed her, but getting our friendship back on track is going to take time. I probably should have waited until we all had a chance to weigh in, but my mouth has a tendency to run ahead of my brain sometimes."
"It's not like you said anything that isn't true." Cordelia pointed out.
"Unfortunately, she's right about that." Willow said. "Giles and I needed a big wake up call ourselves. Which reminds me, we should make sure Giles knows she's back. Gods know, he about killed himself running around the west coast trying to find her."
Giles was happy Buffy was back and eager to see her.
"You might want to wait a little while, Giles." Xander said. "She's thinking some things over. I pointed out the facts about the curse and the soul and kinda read her the riot act about letting us all think she was dead. I also confessed about being the one who probably dusted Angelus. Give her a day or so to let it all sink in. Maybe she'll come see you herself."
"Perhaps you're right, I don't want to crowd her. She knows where to find me if she wants to talk. If she doesn't come by after a day or so, I'll go see her."
"We should probably call it a night." Xander decided. "So much for a little Bronzing time, but we've got school tomorrow. Have a good night everyone. Good job. We got fourteen total tonight, Giles."
"I say, that is a good number. See you all tomorrow."
The school day passed and after classes got out for the day Willow headed over to Buffy's. Like Xander, there were a few things she needed to say to Buffy.
"First off, I want to say welcome back Buffy, because we really did miss you. But I also want to say it was wrong of you not to call us and let us at least know you were alive. There's been a hole in our lives since you left. We needed you here."
"I'm sorry you had to take up the Slaying slack while I was gone, Willow. But I'm back now so you don't have to do it anymore."
"I'm not talking about the Slaying and we're not going to stop doing that anyway. We have a right to defend ourselves and protect our home from invaders. And vampires are invaders. No, what I needed you for is big life stuff. Best friend stuff. I'm dating for the first time in my life and it's serious. I think I'm falling I in love with Oz. And then there's the fact that he's a werewolf and I'm studying Magic and I'm watching the guy I used to think I'd spend my life with fall in love with a girl I spent years hating and now that I've seen how much she's willing to sacrifice for Xander, not to mention, how much she's putting into helping keep Sunnydale safe, is making me seriously reevaluate my opinion of her. And my best friend hasn't been here for me to talk to about any of it. It's not like I can talk to my mother about it. We missed you, Buffy! We need Buffy the friend, not Buffy the Slayer. If you can be Buffy the friend again, then we can get back our friendship. Think about it and let me know."
"You really intend to continue Slaying, not just helping with research or learning Magic? Willow it's really dangerous! Normal people shouldn't be hunting vampires."
"Which is why we hunt smart. And far more normal people hunt vampires then Slayers or Magic users anyway. And aside from Cordelia, none of us are normal."
"Xander's normal. He and Cordelia could have a normal life away from all this."
"Except Xander's not normal either. Which is something else I would have loved to have been able to discuss with my best friend."
"What do you mean? How is Xander not normal?"
"He has a naturally occurring psychic ability and the swim coach's formula had an effect on him. He can hold his breath far longer then a normal person can, he also has really good stamina and he's nearly as strong as Oz is during the full moon cycles. Add to that he heals almost as fast as you do. No, normal is not the word to use to describe Xander."
"Since when has Xander been able to do any of that? I never noticed it before."
"We should have noticed that he just never seem to get injured. At least we should have since the swim team thing anyway. But he was injured during the attack on the library. His arm was broken and he was knocked out. The arm healed in just a couple of weeks. Not quite Slayer healing but definitely faster then normal. He has amnesia from the blow to the head. Giles did some memory retrieval exercises to try to help him remember, but it's like no memories were formed at all. But it seems to be the only issue he has. Everything else has been a good thing."
Before they could continue their discussion something very odd happened. A dead cat ran through the room and jumped up on the table scaring the heck out of both girls who jumped up screaming.