Buffy picked up a baby pink sweater that had a big heart on the front. "This looks like something Willow would wear," she mused. "Definitely sends too much of a message anyway. Like 'I think about you all the time. So much that I'm wearing this big lovey-dovey heart right in front of you and I don't even care what you think of me.'"

Buffy and her mother were at the mall shopping in one of her favorite stores, searching for something for her to wear on her date with Riley that evening. Unfortunately, their shopping excursion was turning out to be quite frustrating as she just couldn't find something that she liked enough to buy. They had spent a long time shopping and Buffy had shot down all of her mother's suggestions thus far.

She and Riley were planning on going to an ice cream parlor together and Buffy was excited to do something so normal with a guy for a change. But she also wanted to look cute while doing it. Sometimes it seemed like vampires and demons were the ones she dressed up for the most often, albeit unintentionally.

"And what's wrong with any of that?" her mother asked.

"Everything," Buffy said dryly.

Her mother chuckled as she took a look at the sweater. She smiled wistfully as she raised it and placed it over Buffy's chest, studied how it looked on her. "You'd have loved this when you were a little girl, though. It was 'pink everything' back then." She tilted her head, thinking. "You know, maybe it'll send a different message to Riley. Like that you're sensitive and girly. Doesn't have to say anything about your relationship."

"You think I'm sensitive and girly?" Buffy asked as she took the sweater out of her mother's hands and placed it on top of the pile she'd gotten it from.

"Well, aren't you? You have a very caring heart."

Slightly embarrassed, Buffy tried to look distracted as she examined herself in a mirror on the wall. She sensed her mother was holding something up for her and she turned to look at it. A shapeless maroon dress with lace around the collar. Buffy wrinkled her nose. She wouldn't wear something like that if she had any say in the matter. At least not for the next twenty years or so. "Ew. I'm not you mom."

Her mother looked a bit defensive as she glanced back at the dress. "What's so bad about it?"

"The lace. The color. The glaring mom-ishness."

She watched as her mother rolled her eyes before placing the dress back on the rack. She searched for a bit as Buffy stood idly watching her. Plucking something off of the rack, her mother grinned. It was a knee-length black velvet spaghetti strap dress with a few roses on the front.

Buffy sighed, about to critique her mother's taste in fashion again. Before she could, however, she did a double take. The roses on the dress stood out in stark contrast against the black, catching her eye. The fabric was also soft and she liked the feel of it as she took it in her hands. It was slightly vampy, but maybe that wasn't a bad thing; vampy was kind of sexy and the dress would definitely leave an impression on Riley. Honestly, she was surprised that her mother had picked out something so nice. Perhaps she was rubbing off on her mother in some way. She'd been far too picky, perhaps, but now it had all been worth it.

Buffy imagined greeting Riley in the dress and seeing his eyes light up. She knew he'd definitely compliment it and her. She felt just a little more like an adult just looking at the dress. It did look kind of mature. But in a good way.

Buffy smiled at her mom and said, "We've got a winner."