This is a continuation from where we left off in Season 7. It will be set two years later though just to kick things off right. I do not own anything, characters and everything else belongs to Joss Whedon. I promise you I'll make this good and I have planned for a Musical Number with my own original songs to be in here. Nothing has changed since the last episode (like nobody has been brought back to life like Anya or Spike.) This story will be done in episodes.

Buffy walks in and out of the tombstones, twirling a stake in her hand waiting for any Vampires to attack. It's a calm night; the sky is clear of clouds and the full moon shines brightly down. Buffy stops and crouches down at a fresh grave, the dirt still fresh from the burial that afternoon.

"I'll wait, it's not like I'm impatient or anything," Silence follows and Buffy purses her lips. "Still waiting,"

A pale white hand emerges from the soil making Buffy back up out of the Vampire's way. A small smile creeps across Buffy's face as the Vampire fully emerges with his face wrinkly and his teeth barred.

"Well hello there," The Vampire says straightening out his suit and extending a hand for Buffy to shake. "I'm Larry, what's your name?"

"Nice to meet you Larry," Buffy turns down his offer on the handshake and lashes out at him with her stake. Larry side steps the stake and manages to duck a punch Buffy throws at him. "I'm Buffy, the Vampire Slayer."

She succeeds in punching him in the face making him tumble backwards onto the ground. Growling, Larry hops back to his feet and takes a swing at Buffy, successfully knocking her down. Buffy gets back up with ease and swings her right foot out as Larry charges towards her, tripping him onto his back yet again. She then, sits on his chest holding him down.

"It really was nice to meet you Larry," Buffy then drives the stake into his heart.

….

The sun shines brightly through Xander's window as he pulls off his covers and stretches. It was a lovely day in HopeVille, but that didn't mean anything to Xander. Moving to the kitchen, he slowly passes by the silent living room and dusty furniture that have been untouched in two years. He makes it to the fridge and opens it to find it stocked with food, as usual. He takes out a carton of eggs and some apple juice and sets it on the counter behind him.

When he closes the fridge door, Anya is standing with a low cut tank top and tight jeans. Xander sees her and sighs.

"What do you want now?"

"Just came to check up on ya,"

Xander smacks an egg on the side of a frying pan and cracks it open into the pan. "You're not real,"

"That's right; I'm only a figment of your imagination. Really, the real me is dead, buried somewhere in amongst the ruins of Sunnydale," Anya shakes her head in disbelief. "It's a shame that had to happen,"

Xander places the frying pan on the stove and sets the element on high. He turns around to Anya, his face full with pain. "Please, get out of my head! I have to get to work and I don't want to show up with my face red again, do you know how embarrassing that is?"

"I'm only here because you can't let me go," Anya says.

"When you died that day, I didn't even go looking for you I just ran out because the building was going to fall."

"There was nothing that you could've done. Besides, I just pictured that the Uber Vamps and the Bringers were bunnies so I could kill them," Anya pauses. "So I guess if I was picturing them as bunnies, I guess as I got killed by bunnies."

Anya stares off into space thinking about her sudden realization. Xander pours his apple juice into a glass then puts the carton back inside the overstocked fridge.

"I'm just trying to move on, it's hard," he stares at Anya but the doorbell that rings makes him jump. "You gotta go." Xander says, walking past Anya and striding to the door.

"Suit yourself." Anya says then fades out to nothing.

Xander opens the door to see Willow holding a square gift wrapped in white wrapping paper.

"Happy Birthday Xandie!" Willow says, stepping into the apartment and handing the gift over to Xander. Xander closes the door behind her and eyes up his present, thoughts of Anya still going through his mind. He holds his present up to his ear and shakes it.

"I wonder what it is?"

"Open it!" Willow chirps, leaning against the back the sofa.

Xander starts to unwrap it, but stops once he has torn a little bit of the paper. "Do you remember that really weird Silly Putty you gave me for my fifth birthday and it got all in my hair and my mom had to cut it out?"

Willow tries to hide her smile. "Yes."

Xander unfolds a little more of the paper, but stops once again. "Oh and remember my tenth birthday how you got me one of those little robotic dogs that opened its mouth and it clamped down on my finger, leaving a huge purple bruise that lasted for days?"

"Yes but…"

"And my twelfth birthday you gave me a goldfish but it died the next day,"

"It's not any of that! Just open it!" Willow says, getting impatient.

Xander smiles at Willow and unwraps his gift. He takes out a small picture frame and tears well up in his eyes. The picture consists of Buffy, Willow, Tara, Anya, and himself, all outside of Buffy's old house in Sunnydale.

"Thanks Will, it's better than a goldfish." Xander leans in and hugs his best friend. As he hugs Willow, Anya appears in front of him. She turns her head to check out the picture in his hand.

"Ugh, you should have asked for the Silly Putty, I look awful in that picture."

…

Buffy sways her hips to the beat of the salsa music as she scrubs a plate with soap. Suddenly, a hand appears on her shoulder making her drop the plate and prepare to beat the person behind her. She relaxes once she sees it's just Dawn.

"Jeez Buffy, relax." Dawn says.

"Sorry you scared me." Buffy picks up her cloth and starts to scrub the plate again. Dawn sits up on top of the counter beside the sink, moving the pile of dirty dishes towards the window. She grabs the local newspaper from beside her as well, and looks at the front page.

"Wow, there's been another body found, do you think it's a Vampire?"

"I don't know Dawn," Buffy seems to be annoyed with her sister's preppy attitude towards Vampires.

"Well it might be, it said the body was found with multiple teeth wounds, that sounds like creepy night crawler to me!"

"It could be,"

"I know!" Dawn says, hopping down from the counter. "Let's have a sister bonding night tonight and break into the morgue and slay the thing!"

Buffy sighs and places the plate in the drying rack. She turns around to face her excited sister. "Calm down Dawn. I'm not the only Slayer anymore. Faith is in town, and some of the Potentials are in town. We could have as much of a break as we want to."

Dawn's shoulders slump forward and she sets the newspaper back down on the counter, and moves the dirty dishes back to the place they were in. "Yeah I guess you're right. I don't know, it just feels weird not being the only hero in town. I mean this isn't Sunnydale anymore, but I guess it's the next best thing!"

Buffy laughs. "Do you really think HopeVille is the next best thing?"

"With a name like that, I hope it is!" the front door knocks and Buffy walks over to answer it. "You get it, HopeVille?" Dawn calls to her. Buffy rolls her eyes and swings open the door.

"I need to talk to you," Faith says, walking into the house and stands in the middle of the kitchen. "I'm screwed."

"With what?" Dawn asks.

Buffy folds her arms and looks Faith up and down looking at her dirt stained jeans and her black jacket is lopsided with one end off of her shoulder. Why was she wearing a jacket anyways in the middle of a hot summer?

"Have you been running from something?" Buffy asks.

Faith gulps. "Yeah,"

"What from? Oh my god is there a new demon in town? I mean, I'm probably jumping the gun but wouldn't that be cool! We could get our weapons and…"

"Dawn!" Faith and Buffy say in unison.

"Sorry, I'll just be in my room then, trying to figure out which college I should go to." Dawn exits the room and runs up the stairs behind them. Once they can hear the door slam, Faith continues to explain everything.

"I did something that I really wish I hadn't when I was sixteen,"

"And now you're in trouble? Gee Faith; karma tends to bite you in the ass, doesn't it?"

"Buffy this is different, I've always turned my back on this issue before, I've never fully dealt with it, until I got a phone call this morning,"

"It can't be that bad," Buffy says.

"My mom died,"

Buffy bites her lip. "I'm sorry,"

"Don't be, I never really knew her," Faith walks over to the bar stool and sits on it. Buffy stands on the opposite side of the counter, putting away the clean plates. "She was a drunk and didn't make the wisest decisions in life. I guess I'm kind of like her that way. When I was sixteen I slept with a guy named Sam, he was a nice guy, you know, captain of the basketball team. Well, two months later, I was knocked up,"

Buffy drops the plate onto the floor breaking it. "How come you didn't tell me this before?"

"The right time was never there. Anyways I told him that I was pregnant but he kicked me out of his house, said he never wanted to see me again," Faith takes a deep breath. Buffy goes to say something more but she is interrupted by another knock at the door. "Crap, that's probably Robin, he's been looking everywhere for me."

Faith walks out of the kitchen, looking for a place to hide. Robin opens the door and walks into the kitchen. He comes across Buffy picking up the pieces of glass. He bends down to help her.

"What happened here?"

"Nothing just dropped a plate that's all."

"Have you seen Faith? She got a phone call this morning and ran out of the house. I was wondering if she was here."

Buffy stands up and dispenses the bits of glass into the garbage can, Robin does the same. "No I haven't seen her, maybe try Xander's house, bye!" Buffy pushes him out the back door and shuts him out. She then leans against the door and sighs.

That was episode one part one! Episode one part 2 coming soon!