"Hush"

[Xander]

“Look Buffy I’m all for the greater good and everything, but do you really think it’s a wise thing to go running off to LA every time there’s something there that you think you should stick our nose into?” Xander was in a frantic panic as he watched the blonde slayer pacing back and forth with armloads of clothing. “You know this is just like the time Spike wanted to steal the ring of Amarra from Angel, and thank god you sent Oz instead…” The goofball sidekick was following Buffy as she ignored his peanut gallery comments about why this was a bad idea. But as she stopped to stuff more clothes into the satchel he reached out and grabbed the shirt that was in her hand, now trying to physically halt her flight to Los Angeles. “Buff, I don’t want to see you come back all weepy and-”
“The only reason I sent Oz in the first place was because he was having a gig there. Besides I’m not going because of Angel, because it doesn’t have anything to do with him. I’m going because when Faith decided to go tramping around in my body, ruining my good reputation with friends and family… she started a war.”<br>At this Xander sighed, “But trusting Wesley? It’s his fault she’s as screwed up as she is, and now you’re gonna trust him?”<br>“At least now he’s willing to atone for what he did. It took a lot of guts for him to come to me and ask for help. Now will you let go?!”<br>
Alexander La Velle Harris recognized that look in the Slayer’s eye. It didn’t matter what he said, what the reasons were, she was going; and there wasn’t anything he could do to stop her. He didn’t have super powers, he wasn’t a demon or a vampire… hell he was just Xander; mild-mannered sidekick who was only a part of the Scooby gang because of his devotion to true friendship. Now more than ever he felt that friendship being strained. Things in Sunnydale were heightening to a level of weird that even Xander wasn’t accustomed to and now Buffy decides to run off to LA? Buffy yanked hard on the shirt ripping it free from his hands and angrily stuffing it into the bag.
“Just…” Xander’s head went down as she walked past, “be safe.” He finished after she’d walked out.
#nosmileys

[Buffy]

Buffy sat on the edge of the couch in the darkened living room of the small house in Sunnydale. Her cell phone was in her hand, still open from when she answered Wesley’s call. Faith was back? Getting to her feet, the Slayer paced to the picture window that dominated one wall and stared out at the gathering darkness.

It wasn’t so much that the pain in the ass was still alive; it was that someone had let her loose. Snapping her phone shut, Buffy made up her mind and started for the stairs when Xander came through the front door, a pizza in his hands. She stared at him for a moment before gesturing at him to follow her.

She filled him in as she went into her room and began tearing her closets apart. She was going to Los Angeles and putting an end to Faith once and for all. “I’m not sticking my nose anywhere. A friend has called and asked for help. It’s not like I had a choice in the matter, you know.”<br>
As Xander continued to jabber at her, she shut him out and concentrated on packing. She felt her hackles rise when he called her judgment into question, bringing up the Oz situation. She paused long enough to narrow her eyes at him. “The only reason I sent Oz in the first place was because he was having a gig there. Besides, I’m not going because of Angel because it doesn’t have anything to do with him. I’m going because when Faith decided to go tramping around in my body, ruining my good reputation with friends and family… she started a war.”<br>
Xander blocked her path and she stopped again, her temper rising as she stared at her friend. “But trusting Wesley? It’s his fault she’s as screwed up as she is, and now you’re gonna trust him?”<br>
“Are you damaged all of a sudden? Of course I’m going to trust him. He’s a Watcher! “At least now he’s willing to atone for what he did. It took a lot of guts for him to come to me and ask for help. Now will you let go?!”<br>
Wrenching her shirt away from him, she shoved it into her bag and turned to face him, her cheeks flushed. "Xander, did you have a brain tumor for breakfast? Duh I know you don't wanna go to LA because of Cordelia so don't pretend that you actually want to stay in Hellmouth central!"

[OZ]

Sunnydale-not where he grew up or anything, just... where he liked to be. Somewhere where he was fucked over but loved in which it made it all the better. Somewhere... well where he lived damnit. But there was something much different about this Sunnydale than any other in the world my friend- the Hellmouth is what it was called, and for a long time, he was one of the hellish creatures.

Now though... somehow, he cured himself. A shot of wolfsbane a day keeps the werewolf away, was how he did it now. It was a routine for him to wake up, and shoot up. The eyes of his fellow crew made him weary of doing it in public... so well, he needed a vacation now that they all thought he was an hfeind.

Sunnydale was far from most people's idea of a vacation town... but eh, he could deal, plus he missed his friends... they accepted him when most would outcast him. Damn right, Sunnydale was his vacation town.

As he drove through the town, familiar streets and cars passed him. His van clunked away as he drove, music blasting and well, his eardrums humming.

Then he saw it, a house he had been to a thousand times before. Willow's... but that wasn't where he was headed... he wasn't ever heading there again... he was going to another familiar house, just a few houses down.

Pulling into the driveway the hum of the engine stopped as he turned the egnition of. His body sat there for a moment, ears humming, before he pounded on the stearing wheel of his car and exited the van. Just a few steps and he was at the door, ringing the doorbell to the house that said "Summers".

[Buffy]

Buffy opened the front door, her head turned as she gave Xander last minute instructions on how to care for Fluff, her cat. She turned around and smacked right into Oz. Taking a step back, her body tensed for a fight, her hand already going for the stake in her shoulder bag.

The haze of adrenaline cleared just long enough for her mind and eyes to finally make a connection. “Oz? Is that you?” She gave him a huge smile, genuinely happy to see the red-headed rocker. “Of course it’s you! Like, duh, you’re standing right here and no one else looks quite like you.”<br>
Her eyebrows suddenly came together and Buffy looked at her watch. She threw another look at Xander as she shut the front door. “I’ll be back in a few days. If you have a party, don’t yack on my carpet, okay?”<br>
Shutting the door, she grabbed Oz by the elbow and steered him toward her pink Fiat Spider convertible, which had the top down. Her mind was re-focused on Los Angeles, the re-appearance of an old friend a momentary distraction. “I’m going to L.A., Oz. Mega bitch Faith is back and she’s in L.A., which is totally bad news.”<br>
Buffy paused then, noticing that Oz was staring at her. “What?”<br>