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thanks again to all my wonderful reviewers. they rock
‘Now this is the hard bit.’ Willow started. ‘This has been going on for over a year. Every time we go to sleep the spell resets. Anything we have learnt during the day, that would actually help us, vanishes with sleep. When we wake up it’s like our memories are wiped. I didn’t remember Angel asking for help with Fred, I didn’t remember Dana, the mad slayer from LA, telling us Spike was alive. Andrew even denied it at the time. I don’t remember Buffy even going to Rome and talking with The Immortal, but it seems she lived there for a while.

‘We need to sit down for the day and see what else was hidden from us, then maybe we can work out what’s going on.’ Willow said. It was a long speech for her.

‘We need somewhere safe,’ Kennedy reminded them.

‘I already suggested the Hyperion in LA,’ Dawn pointed out.

‘Hyperion?’ Asked Viv.

‘Yes. It belonged to Angel before the fall of LA, it was the hotel we used when we first left Sunnydale.’ Explained Buffy. ‘And it looks like we’ll be going, but we need an excuse.’

‘How about shopping?’ Asked Kennedy. ‘Dad said he’d treat us all to a vacation and Rodeo Drive is lovely,’ she added with a smile.

‘Good idea Kennedy, you and Willow organise the cover story, I’ll see what I can find out from Giles, quietly… Rona, you and Viv ask around, see if anyone remembers anything. And Dawn?’ Buffy asked.

‘Yep…’ Dawn replied.

‘You’re on research, you speak more languages than anyone except Willow, so she’ll come and help as soon as the trip is arranged.’

‘Yes general!’ Dawn saluted her sister before getting another drink.

‘Now: who else do we involve?’ Buffy mused.

‘Xander,’ Willow said. ‘He really needs to know that Anya was killed as a sacrifice.’

‘What??’ screamed the other girls. The stunned looks told Willow that it was news to all.

Willow looked at them. ‘Seems that’s a memory I have and you lot don’t yet. Andrew killed Anya as an initiation sacrifice to Egyhon; seems his hero worship of Giles goes a little deeper than we thought. He has been Giles’ apprentice for some time.’

‘Hence the loosing of the geekiness,’ Dawn said.

‘Yep, seems like the coolness that is Andrew is a direct result of him joining up with Giles.’

Buffy snorted a laugh back. Willow looked at her. ‘What was the laugh for?’

‘The thought that knowing Giles can lead to coolness.’

Giggles spread around the group, it was good to have a laugh. And they needed it.

Rona quietened first. ‘How do we know the spell is broken?’
Willow looked upset but Rona continued, ‘Viv and I have been up all night playing vid games, good job too or we’d all be back in denial land again,’ she smiled.

‘So?’

‘So I suggest Viv and I go to bed, and sleep.’

Willow smiled. ‘Separately,’ Rona added with a grin, ‘then when we wake up you ask us questions and we see if the whammy is gone. If it is we can carry on with the plans and if not we take it in turns to sleep and Willow whammys us on waking.’

‘Good plan,’ Kennedy nodded.

Buffy seemed out of it again. ‘Buffy?’ Dawn said gently, ‘Buffy?’ She seemed as though she couldn’t hear anything.

‘Dawn, do you realise he was alive for a year after Sunnydale? He was so close we could have been together, and he’s gone…’

Dawn wrapped her arms around her big sister and rocked her. All that could be heard was Buffy whispering he was alive.

When Rona and Viv got up they headed straight to Willow with the message that they remembered everything from the day before. The Scoobies were set.


Dawn started researching, clipping in and out of the library when no one else was around. She had her cover story ready: she was learning Etruscan, as well as researching the feeding habits of Faryls. Dawn had deliberately chosen Faryls because whenever he was reminded that he had been a demon, Giles would leave the room immediately.

Willow and Kennedy were planning the ‘escape’. They called Mr. Richards, Kennedy’s father, and chatted to him for about fifteen minutes, then Kennedy asked how her Aunty Jackie was. It was a code from a book that her mother had loved. Jacqueline… trouble and I can’t talk.
Mr Richards had picked up on it straight away and asked the girls when they were going to visit. He started offering inducements, including a shopping trip. That was when Willow ‘remembered’ they hadn’t had a break in years and thought it was a brilliant idea to go visiting, but ‘really didn’t want to leave Buffy alone for long.’

‘Bring her with you, in fact why don’t I send a plane and you can invite a few of your friends to come with you KK?’

Kennedy smiled at Willow, her dad was one in a million, and he hadn’t let them down.

‘See you as soon as the plane gets here then Dad,’ Kennedy finished the call.

She and Willow then turned to the computers. They had left emails everywhere they could think of for Xander, but none had been replied to. Willow was getting cross. How dare her bestest, oldest friend in the whole wide world, not be contactable?

Willow knew that the depth of the pain he felt had nearly crippled Xander. Anya’s death had hit him very hard, and the fact that she needn’t have died was hanging on Willow’s heart like a dark shadow.

They simply had to get hold of him. Willow looked around the room she shared with Kennedy. She really needed a little help to think through what was needed. Her eyes were drawn to the pile of yellow crayons in the corner on the table by her favourite crystals. Yellow crayons that Xander had given her. Willow picked up a crayon and started to write on a spare bit of paper.

ET PHONE HOME

11 letters in yellow crayon. She concentrated on the paper, willing it to Xander, begging the powers to help. A wind seemed to catch the edge and the paper fluttered in the palm of her hand, then it vanished. No spell, just a heartfelt plea. And it had vanished.


Xander was sitting in a small café in Morocco. He had been wandering around North Africa for nearly a year. He reached in for his wallet to pay the bill. Xander looked at the dark, tooled leather. It was worn from use. He opened it and his heart gave a little jump. It always did. Inside there was a picture of Anya. Willow had got it off the internet. It was from the Magic Box website. She’d been so happy at the thought of more customers. Xander had grown up a lot in the last year. He just wished he could tell Anya how much he truly loved her, and if she wanted to be a vengeance demon, that was fine by him.

Xander gave himself a little talking to… telling himself not to keep obsessing about Anya, she was dead and gone, and he had to carry on with life.

Xander put the wallet back into his bag and slung it over his shoulder; as he did so his wallet fell out onto the ground. Xander picked it back up and, opening his bag fully, pushed his wallet with its precious photo deep into the brightly coloured bag. He felt something brush against his hands: a piece of paper. Xander pulled it out, wondering where he’d got it. In bright yellow crayon was the message to phone home.

This was serious. Willow would never use magic to trace him unless it was really important. The thoughtless little witch from Sunnydale had long since gone, to leave in her place, a powerful wiccan who used her power only when absolutely necessary.

Xander looked at the paper again. Home: no-where was really home any more. His parents were in some third class house in a fifth class city getting drunk, and the Scoobies didn’t really need him, or so he thought. But now he was needed and Xander was headed back to England.

He found a small internet café and picked up his mail. Over fifty emails from Willow. All saying the same thing. Contact us and get home.

Xander emailed Willow immediately to say he was on his way, only to receive yet another dump of mail. Willow asking him to fly to New York and meet her there. He was to go to any British Airways desk and ask for a first class ticket to New York. The money would be there, courtesy of Kennedy’s dad. A credit card number was attached. Willow had thought of everything.


The plane took off early. Mr Richards rarely heard from his daughter, especially after she’d been called to be a slayer. Before that she’d been a troubled teen, after that she’d been a troubled teen with super powers. But he loved her. He loved her dearly and when she asked a favour he came through. This time it was in the shape of a private jet and a credit card for shopping, officially in New York and then on to LA.


The girls had told everyone they were taking a week or maybe two off. After all there were a lot of slayers around, it was coming up to September and they had been busy all summer. Giles had bought the story. In fact he seemed really glad they were going away.

Andrew didn’t even seem interested in coming with them, and that was unusual. Andrew always wanted to go shopping.

Rona had caught him coming out of Giles’ bedroom very early one morning, but it was one of those things that, when mentioned to another slayer, was forgotten in the morning after a good night’s sleep.

The plane was well stocked with food and drink. The captain had been respectful, but quiet. The cabin staff went quietly about their business. It was an eight hour flight and Mr. Richards had insisted that the passengers got the best of everything.

Luggage had been loaded efficiently, hand luggage stowed and the passengers curled up in their seats and slept for the majority of the flight.

Xander was waiting when they arrived. He took one look at Dawn and Buffy: they looked haggard and drawn. Willow looked worse. Kennedy, Rona and Viv looked dangerous. It was the only word for it. You would think they were professional killers from the way they moved. Xander laughed to himself at that stupid thought. They were professional killers, some of the most professional in the world.

Willow looked up to see the tall, bronzed and fit man waiting for them. She rushed into his arms and held on tight. Kennedy walked up slowly: she was beaten to the hug by both Buffy and Dawn. You couldn’t actually see Xander for the women holding him.

‘If this is the result of me getting a tan, I think I’ll buy a sun-bed!’ joked Xander. ‘Feeling the love here,’ he added as he grinned at the slayers.

The Scoobies were together again and nothing and nobody would stand in their way.





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