~* Buffy Goes to Stars Hollow *~

~*Captain Frueeios or Cheer Loop Crunch?*~


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“Wow, how much did you pack?” Xander groaned under the weight of the huge box he was carrying. He set it down on the end of the pine sleigh bed. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a box float by. Startled he lost his grip on the box, spilling half the contents onto the mattress.

“Way to go Xand,” Buffy said from the doorway.

Xander gave her a look, “Well tell Will to stop floating boxes…it’s just plain disturbing.”

Willow laughed as she crossed her bedroom. With a flick of her wrist the spilled contents lifted up and returned back to the box.

“Why am I lifting boxes as big as my head when you’re just doing the magic whammy with them?” Xander asked.

Willow tucked a red strand of hair behind her ear. “I was kinda wondering the same thing myself,” she said with a smile.

“ I thought you weren’t using magic here Will. It’s a small town, the kind where everyone knows your name, business and your favorite color. I am guessing the floating boxes is a show up at your door with pitch forks kind of idea.”

“ We’re inside,” Willow insisted, pointing towards the window, “as well as on the second floor!”

Xander looked at Buffy with a look that said, “Help me.”

Buffy lifted her coffee mug to her lips and gently blew the steam away before taking a tentative sip. “ You did say you’d be subtle with the whole magic thing Will. We can’t have anyone noticing us too much.”

Willow sighed. “ I miss Rome,” she muttered into the pillow that she hugged to her chest.

“Is Rome spelt K-E-N-N-E-D-Y?” Buffy asked softly.

Willow looked up at her from beneath her red bangs. “ Maybe.”

Xander dug his hands into his pockets as he stared at the ground awkwardly. Willow and Kennedy had broken up just before leaving Rome. Kennedy hadn’t been thrilled with Willow spending a lot of her energy with the scoobies and then with the idea of Willow returning back to the states on another mission Kennedy had, had enough. They hadn’t been getting along for a while, and Xander hadn’t been surprised when it had ended. He didn’t really like Kennedy that much anyway, she seemed bossy to him and he just never understood the chemistry between the two of them.

But this was his Willow and he cared more about her then he did most people, if she was hurting then he was hurting too.

Buffy crossed the room to sit next to her best friend. Xander muttered something about getting the rest of the boxes and disappeared. Buffy set her coffee on the bedside table before sitting next to Willow on the bed. Buffy pulled Willow into her arms and stroked her hair.

“ I don’t know why I’m surprised,” Willow, said softly, “what Kennedy and I had was nothing compared to what Tara and I had.”

“Nothing will be like what you and Tara had,” Buffy said, knowing that the truth behind the statement was something she could identify with herself, “ she was your soul mate.”

Willow nodded, “Yeah but it wasn’t even close. And I knew it wouldn’t be like Tara, but I think I used that as an excuse for long.”

“Oh honey at least you know now. You can move on. Find someone who’ll love you as much as you deserve.”

Willow smiled. They sat silent for a moment before willow spoke. “I’ll miss the sex though.”

Buffy laughed. “ I know what you mean.”

“It’s been awhile,” Willow admitted sheepishly.

“ I know what you mean,” Buffy repeated.

“ We’ll find someone right?” Willow asked.

“Of course,” Buffy answered immediately.

Both girls sat in contemplative silence.


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Lorelai looked at her reflection in her vanity as she swept her make up brush over her eyelid. She worked without thinking as she had done for two weeks after sleepless nights.

The same nightmare haunted her thoughts night after night. The same black void that chased her through the night. All she had felt was hopelessness and that was the most terrifying thing she could imagine.

Every morning she switched over to autopilot and tried to get through the day. Something was happening she had no idea what, but something was going to happen. Something in her gut was trying to warn her about something, but for the life of her she couldn’t guess what.

She finished applying the smoky purple eye shadow and drew a smoky purple line around her eyes with pencil that applied her mascara. Lorelai stood back to view the result. It made her eyes look even lighter; she had to admit she actually looked human, probably because she’d used half a bottle of concealer on the bags under her eyes. She dabbed some coral lip-gloss on her lips before tossing it into her black purse.

After dressing in a gray pantsuit, she grabbed her blazer and headed down to breakfast.

Rory was already there surrounded by three cereal boxes.

“Hey kid trying a different combo today?” Lorelai asked as she poured herself a much-needed cup of coffee.

Rory nodded. “Today it’s Captain Crunch, Cheerios and Fruit Loops. I call it Captain Frueerios.”

Lorelai smiled. “Or possible Cheer Loop crunch?”

Rory looked at her mother as if she was crazy. “ I think the word Captain gives it a sophisticated sound.”

“Sure cause a guy with eyebrows on his hat screams sophistication,” Lorelai said, as she unwrapped a cold pop tart from the box.

“Well when your hat is so big where else would you put them?” Rory asked as she shoved another spoonful of cereal into her mouth.

“Are you coming home night after school today or seeing Dean?” Lorelai asked already knowing the answer to this question.

“I have a project due on Friday,” Rory said, “I have to work on the outline.”

Just as Lorelai suspected. “Oh dear daughter of mine, “ Lorelai sighed, “have a little fun. Honor the time old tradition of blowing it off until the last minute.”

“Honor?” Rory asked a skeptical look on her face.

“Time old,” Lorelai finished. “ It doesn’t say time old for nothing you know.”

“Right. Well, I’m all for fun but fun doesn’t give you credit for Harvard.”

“When is it time new tradition?” Lorelai wondered out loud

“There isn’t.” Rory answered poking at her cereal.

“Well not if someone doesn’t start it,” Lorelai stated. “It’ll be like a time new tradition.”

“My mother the revolutionary,” Rory muttered. “When the morning ramble begins it’s time to go.”

Lorelai smiled, popping a piece of pop tart into her mouth. “ Have a good day. Don’t waste time with all that fun ya there?’ Lorelai said in a horrible southern accent.

“I won’t,” Rory grinned. “It’ll be part of my time new tradition.”

“That’s my girl!”

Rory bent to kiss her mother’s cheek. “ Bye.”

“Bye Hun.”

After Rory left Lorelai’s smile faded instantly. It was getting harder and harder to keep this up. Even the morning routine was lacking. She dumped the dishes in the sink. Somehow she would find something to get her out of this funk.

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The light streamed in through the tiny crack in the white lace curtain. It fell perfectly across her closed eyes making her groan in response.

The morning had come way too quickly yet again. Kate snuggled deeper under her comforter trying desperately to find sleep again. She weighed the ups and downs of whether she should close the curtains or not before the fog of sleep had a chance to lift completely.

Rolling onto her side she looked around her two-room loft over top of Doosey’s Ice Cream Shoppe. It was a cute little loft and even though it was basically bare it was all hers and she loved that.

The furniture she’d brought with her consisted of a small table which she used as a kitchen table and a black wrought iron bed, bedside table and a couple of pictures. It was small but had huge windows with always made it seem light and cheery. And her bed fit perfectly into the small alcove in the far corner of the loft.

Kate had lived here for only two weeks in this small picture perfect town and everyone was so nice. For the first week everyone treated her like she was this hot commodity. As if they’d never had new people come to their town, they hurried to have her figured out.

Now, four new people had bought a house on Peach Street in the beautiful old Victorian house that she walked by every day. The town’s attention shifted towards them and that was ok by her; she wasn’t much for attention anyway.

Two weeks ago she had shown up, broke, homeless and hopeless at Luke’s Diner and he’d offered her a free cup of coffee, a job as a waitress and rented her the loft over the ice cream Shoppe. He was a lifesaver. He’d even brought her over a bookshelf, couch, coffee table, chairs, an armchair and a desk in the couple of weeks that she’d been there.

Not only was he already protective of her but also he was also incredibly sexy in that scruffy way.

With a sigh of frustration, Kate threw aside the covers and shuffled to the bathroom. Today Luke would be delivering her shobi screen that he insisted he could make for her, when she told him she’d like to save up for one to create a separation between her bedroom area and the rest of the loft.

Even though life was pretty great right now, she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was up. She felt like she was constantly forgetting something she was supposed to do. Usually this feeling took awhile to hit her and then she’d pack up and move on again, never really belonging anywhere. There was a new feeling though, which was new…that somehow the answers she had been searching for might be found here.


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Buffy brushed her hair for the millionth time before twisting it into a French twist and securing it with pins. Taking a deep breath she let it out slowly, willing herself to relax. She’d battle the worst kind of evil imaginable and she was getting the wiggins because of a job interview!

Everyone was pulling his or her weight to pay rent now it was her turn. Unfortunately killing beasties didn’t pay well. In Rome she had worked at Dawn’s school having enjoyed the brief stint at Sunnydale High.

Giles said that Stars Hollow might be a potential Hell mouth. After the defeat of the First, Giles said that evil had got desperate and wouldn’t attempt a re appearance at an existing hell mouth and would attempt a surprise attack. So here she was again.

Willow had got a job at Stars Hollow high school as a computer teacher, Xander was working –surprise-construction, Dawn was enrolled at Stars Hollow High and Buffy was going for a job interview at the Independence Inn.

Buffy dressed in black dress pants and a shear champagne camisole type shirt under a black blazer. She’d chopped her hair while in Rome so it didn’t take a lot of time to pin it up in a loose bun. She was a mixture of sophisticate and casual. Buffy took a second deep breath, finished applying her make up before grabbing her purse and keys and headed out.

Boxes still lined the hallways, which still annoyed her. The boxes didn’t make her feel settled and after a hectic year she wanted to feel settled again.

Buffy stepped out onto the sun filled streets and headed towards the Inn.

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Lorelai set down the file folders on the reception’s area and glanced Michel’s.

She sighed. “What now Michel?”

“Peter and Shelly were snickering at me,” he said in his thick French accent.

“Well if you would stop doing butt clenches behind your desk it would make it much easier on all of us to pretend we don’t notice,” Lorelai said.

Michel sniffed as if he had smelt something funny, “If no body cares about personal fitness is not my fault.”

“Oh we care Michel,” Lorelai said as she shifted through her daily planner, “ but seeing is different.”

“Fine,” he said, “I will do my exercises somewhere else. It wouldn’t hurt Peter to try and exercise.”

“Michel…” Lorelai sighed.

“ ‘E’s got the beer belly you Americans wear as if it were an accessory,” he muttered bitterly.


“Well with fanny packs out of fashion we had to find something to pouch out our stomachs.” Lorelai looked up as if she’d just remembered something she’d forgotten, “ Remember Jelly Bracelets?”

“Jelly Bracelets?” he said with disgust.

“Yeah in all the colors. I used to wear them all up my arms…”

“ “Ow fascinating,” Michel said rolling his eyes

“Now a days,” Lorelai said with a wave of her head and roll of her eyes,” kids wear them to symbolize their sexual partners.”

“But not you…” Michel added clearly bored now that the conversation had shifted.

“No, of course not,” Lorelai said. “Though getting knocked up would have probably earned me the glittery kind.”

“Possibly,” Michel said no so subtly covering a yawn.

“Sorta wishing you hadn’t started this?” Lorelai asked a knowing smile on her face.

“Very much,” Michel said as he returned to his computer.

“What’s on the agenda?” Lorelai asked.

“Your interview for your assistant,” he said bitterly.

“Now Michel you know you’re my favorite but having an assistant will help both of us with the workload.”

“I suppose,” Michel said, starting to come around to the idea.

“I just hate the interview process. It’s a parade of fakeness. Everyone is so fake and overly chipper.”

“Why don’t you drink some more coffee and you can catch up.” Michel added.

“I know you’re joking but that sounds like a great idea,” Lorelai said. “Hey maybe I can make my assistant get me coffee.”

“Yes, because that helps both of us,” Michel said sarcastically.

“A manager with a sugar high is a happy manager,” Lorelai said cheerfully.

“You are crazy on a sugar high,” Michel added, starting to warm up to the idea.

“So who is first on the list of potentials?”

Michel looked at his computer. “ ‘Er name is Buffy Summers”

Lorelai stared. “Buffy? As in the dog faced girl?” she added with a laugh.

Michel, usually one to enjoy a sharp jab at someone’s expense didn’t laugh; instead he stared just over Lorelai’s shoulder. Lorelai squeezed her eyes shut in horror. “She’s standing right behind me isn’t she?”

“Yes,” Michel said, a smile finally breaking through, “Oh this is going to be a very good day.”

Lorelai turned towards the blonde haired girl that stood in the doorway a bemused expression on her pretty face. The first response should have been horror at what she must have overheard and yet there was another feeling. Did she know this girl?

“I am so sorry. Haven’t had my medication today,” Lorelai joked. She held out her hand. “Lorelai Gilmore.”

“Buffy Summers. No canine aspects at all,” she added with a smile as she shook her hand.

“Oh good,” Lorelai said with a shaky laugh, “Cause the whole marking your territory thing could be awkward.”

“ I’m house trained.”

“How long ago did this get old?” Lorelai asked.

“Pretty much from the get go,” Buffy laughed.

Lorelai smiled. “It’s nice to meet you. I think this will work out great. Would you like a cup of coffee?"

“I’d love a cup of coffee!” Buffy said relieved after missing her morning coffee.

“Big coffee drinker?” Lorelai asked as she led her towards the kitchens.

“If it were a drug I’d snort it,” Buffy said.

Lorelai laughed as she fell in step beside Buffy. “I hear ya. You know Buffy, I think this is going to be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”


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