Our Love

After the fall

"So where are we going to fit all these girls? We can't stay in LA forever. Not to mention there's hundreds of slayers out there and even with roommates of three, we aren't going to fit them all in Angel's hotel. In the event that he's ok with having a bunch of young girls here for long amounts of time." Willow says.

"Please. Angel. With a whole bunch of slayers. At his hotel. And can whenever he wants? He'll be in heaven." Xander replies.

"But Willow does have a point. We can't stay here forever." Giles speaks up for the first time in their meeting. "Buffy? Faith? What should we do? Any ideas?"

Buffy looks up, out of her daze. She looks over at Faith, who is also glancing over at her as if mentally deciding what to do. The two of them have gotten closer since Sunnydale turned into a crater. Buffy had been getting a little distant with Xander, Willow, Giles, and even Dawn, ever since they had kicked her out of her house. She's been trying to go along with everything that's been happening, but it's like there's this big hole between Buffy and her friends and sister, and they've all been avoiding talking about it. They've kept their conversations strictly slayer and watcher and work related. Not talking about how Xander is doing after Anya's death or how Willow's relationship with Kennedy is or how Buffy is doing after Spike's death. It's been a month and a half since they left Sunnydale and Buffy wasn't sure how much longer they could keep it up. She had been thinking about leaving and fighting evil elsewhere, in a big city like New York, Philadelphia, Boston, or Chicago. But then she reminds herself of the slayers that need training and the idea goes out the door.

"What about Cleveland? There's a hell mouth there in Ohio, we could pack up and go there?" Giles suggests, seeing that Faith and Buffy were as stumped as the rest of them.

"There's a start. But where are we going to keep the girls?" Buffy asks.

"Why don't we make dorm rooms for the girls. Not like college dorm rooms, but a bit bigger with a bathroom. Two girls per room?" Faith throws out.

"I like that. And the college dorms give me an idea. How about classes, not just training, but classes to learn spells, demon species, ancient languages?" Buffy says. And they say planning and life choices are hard.

"These are all great ideas but where are we going to find some place like that?" Xander asks.

"We can build it. It can be about 10-20 miles outside Cleveland. That way the hell mouth will  be as close as can be." Giles says.

"What? Build it? How are we supposed to afford that?" Faith asks.

"The council didn't leave us with nothing. They actually left us with quite a bit." Giles explains.

"Define 'quite a bit'" Xander says.

"Millions. Possibly billions. Enough to get this plan to work."

"Alright so we got a plan. How soon can we get started?" Buffy asks.

"Xander and I will make some calls. We can discuss details next week. Until then, if any slayers have questions about what's going to happen next, tell them we are making plans to relocate to a more permanent place and that details are being discussed." Giles replies. "Well, that wraps up the meeting. See you all next week."

The five of them get up to walk out the door, Willow and Xander not really making eye contact with Buffy or Faith for that matter. Buffy and Faith were about to head over and talk to Angel about what they were discussing in the meeting.

As Buffy and Faith walked to the car they were renting, they started joking around. Since they had gotten closer since the Sunnydale, Faith actually shared a room with Buffy. They got along better than Buffy had with her first roommate, Kathy, and she didn't take everything in the fridge without asking her or steal her clothes without letting her know. Pretty soon they were on their way to let Angel know that they were planning to leave the Hyperion.