FicWad

AN Sorry for the lack of updates. Hope you enjoy. Especially the woman that I love more then life itself. You know who you are, my sweet.

High school had been quite the experience for our favorite characters. There were tragedies, trials, betrayals, intrigue, murder, and all sorts of interesting turns of events. After the trial, things seemed to settle down a bit, if that's ever possible in life. Things seemed to fall into a routine and life went on.
The biggest news was what had happened to both Gunn and Ethan. The police had found evidence in Jenny's murder. Couple that wit the testimony that Gunn provided and Ethan was sentenced to a nice long stay in the Sunnydale Correctional Facility. Gunn on the other hand was sentence only to ten years, with parole after five for good behavior.
Another one of the events that happened was the fact that Buffy's father went on trial. The police had been after him for a very long time. His list of crimes were endless. He was quite the drug lord in LA. Thanks to his exwife's testimony and his daughter's, Hank Summers was sentenced to thirty years in jail. Unfortunately, he was up for parole with good behavior in ten.
Giles and Joyce dated for awhile. But Buffy could never seem to accept it. It was the hardest thing for Joyce to do, but she chose her daughter of true happiness. It drove a bit of a wedge between mother and daughter. It had made Buffy's decision to live on campus that much easier. That's right, instead of being a freshman in high school, Buffy was a college freshman.
Xander and Anya seemed to have this on again off again type of relationship. Everyone knew that they were perfect for one another, but there were a few minor differences. One of the biggest was how capitalist that Anya was. Xander never really was into material things. It was perhaps because his parents could never afford much.
There was also the fact that Xander had decided against going to college. He felt like an outsider to the rest of the gang. He went from one job to the next. He could never really seem to find where he belonged. His parents forcing him to pay rent was the reason that he went from job to job. He just wished that he could find one that he really like.
Anya herself had decided to go into business. She had inherited a little bit of money once her father's death had been ruled a murder not by her. Most of it she invested but the other part she put into her education. She planned to learn all that she could at college so that when she opened her own place she would know what she was doing. It left little time to spend with Xander. It was forcing them to drift apart.
Buffy had opted for the college thing and in a big way. She was so ready to get out of the house and be on her own. She wanted to prove to others that she was nothing like her father. It seemed that she had his reputation following her. There were rumors that her education was being funded by his drug money. It had lead to a few fights.
Spike had stood by her the whole time. He himself was not one for college. He had taken up a permanent job at The Bronze. He was part time bartender and part time fill in for whatever band needed an extra guitarist. There was also the band that he and Oz were putting together. Unlike Dingoes, these guys were not in it to get rich and famous. They preferred to just do The Bronze and stay at home in Sunnydale.
That part suited Faith just fine. She had enough of Oz traveling. It was great that he had given up the band for her, but she knew that music was a part of him. Not that booking gigs at The Bronze wasn't great. It was just that he was a musician and needed to be playing himself. Faith was just glad that he had found a way to not travel so much.
She herself had shockingly opted for college. At the moment, her major was undecided. It was a little known fact that the dark haired young woman was actually quite the whiz with computers. She was leaning toward something along those lines. There were so many options, she just wasn't quite sure which one was right for her. Interestingly, she and Buffy were roommates.
Of course, Willow had opted for computer programming. Now if there was ever a whiz with the computer, Willow was the whiz. She was one of the few people that had known that Faith was almost as good as her at the computers. They had a lot of classes the same their freshmen year and spent a lot of time together. They even talked about one day opening up their own tech support business.
Tara was just glad that Willow was out of danger. Even though it had been nearly four years since the trial, she still worried that someone was going to come and say that there had been a mistake. She was so afraid that Willow would be taken from her. To try and keep her mind off from things, she kept herself busy with her classes and with home life with Willow.
After seeing how poorly her mother had been treated as well as she and her brother and of course her sister, Tara wanted to do something to help those that could not stand up for themselves. She had decided that she needed to be a social worker and perhaps she could be the one that made a difference in someone's life.
The young couple had found a tiny little apartment that was not far from the college campus. Both Tara and Willow worked at the local little coffee shop to pay the rent. Tara had, like Anya, inherited a bit of money from her father. It was not as much as Anya had, but it still had nearly paid for her education.
The two were close then they had ever been. Spending all of their free time together, which wasn't much was what they did. Having learned that life can change in a heartbeat, the two went on many picnics and walks. They spent at least one night at The Bronze with their friends. Again, they wanted to make sure that they lived life to the fullest.
Giles had closed himself off from a lot of things. Dawn's mother had unfortunately passed on leaving only him to care for her. The young teen had turned rebellious for some reason. He could not understand if it was because of her mother's death or because he had refused to let her date until she was sixteen. Now that moment had come and she was going out with older women that were no good for her.
The one bright spot for himself was the fact that he had gotten as the head librarian at the college. It was something to behold, that UC-Sunnydale library. It was also something for him to get used to the whole entire filing system being on computers. If only Jenny had been around she could have been the one to teach him everything.
That was part of the reason for their breakup as well. Joyce always felt jealous of Jenny Calendar even though she had been gone for so long. Part of it was the loyalty that Giles felt toward his former girlfriend. After all, it was because of him that she was gone. If he had not been related to Ethan, then Jenny would still be alive.
It was all enough to close himself off from the thought of love. Willow, Tara, and Faith had often tried to set him up. He had always out and out refused to even consider going on a date. Usually he used the excuse that he was too busy for a relationship or that it was not a good time because of the school semester.
Cordelia had opted to try to find her fame and fortune in LA. She was finding it harder then she had thought that it would be. However, she had one thing that she would be eternally grateful for. She had found the real deal with Donny. He had opted to rejoin the Army when his four years was up. It was looking more and more like he was going to be a career military man.
That was the one glitch in their relationship. It was not because Cordelia did not want him in the Army. In fact, she was very proud of her soldier boy. It was just that because of being in the Army, Donny moved around a lot. If the two ever decided to take that next step, she would have to give up her dreams of becoming an actress or a model.
Donny was greatly sympathetic to her as well. He had seen how repressed both his mother and his sister had been. They had never gotten the choice of what they wanted to do in life. He had little say himself. Now that he finally had the final say, he was doing what made him happy. Yet, if it cost him Cordelia, he was not so sure that it was worth it.
Wesley had gotten over his cold feet and in a big way. Instead of waiting until their planned June wedding, he had swept Fred off to Las Vegas. The two had spent a wonderful weekend as their honeymoon. The two seemed so happy together. Yet, there also were their little problems as well.
Work was not one of them for either. Fred had taken over as librarian at the high school. She loved to be in the library, especially all by herself. There was just so much knowledge in al of the books. It excited her to think about. Wesley had gotten tenure. He was now teaching the computer classes that his mentor had been teaching. It felt weird to be the one to take over Jenny Calendar's place. At least it was someone that knew her and cared a great deal for her.
Their biggest conflict was children. Wesley had always wanted a house full of children. Fred on the other hand had never really seen herself as the motherly type. Her own mother had not been the greatest. She would rather not pass along to her children whatever her own mother had passed on to her. It was the thing that kept the two young lovers arguing.
After Darla had left, Angel had closed himself off a bit from everyone. The only one that even got a little close to him was his brother. Spike knew that it was not because of him. It was because his heart had been broken one too many times. And they had their father to blame for it all. It was really hard to watch his big brother going through what he was. He just wished that Angel would confide in him sometime.
Angel had opted not to go to college after his senior year. It was not because he did not have the money. It was because he felt that he wanted to be an ordinary man and get his hands dirty. In fact, he had become the manager of the local mechanic shop. His ultimate goal was to own a place of his own some day. There was just something about being under the hood of a car that got to him. It also felt good that he was able to help people.
That pretty much brings us up to date with all of our Sunnydale citizens. It was now two months into the semester of college. That meant that it was getting to be fall. The air was getting to be a bit crisper. It was time for snuggling under the covers with your loved one. Or for some, it was curling up with a good book.
It also meant that it was closing in on someone's birthday. Tara was soon to turn the age of eighteen. It was something that she did not care about. To her, age was not that important. What was important that you lived every day to its fullest and did not take anything for granted. Especially not to take love for granted.
Willow was busy making plans for a surprise birthday party. Of course, Faith was the one that was helping her the most. The two were still very close after the trial. If anything, the trial had reminded the two of how close they had been when they were kids and before Faith had been forced to move to Boston.
The two of them were different as night as day. To an outsider, they would wonder what exactly the two had in common. But there is sometimes when there is no explanation for things. It was just simply a matter of the two of them being able to relate and understand one another. It was definitely true that the two of them would do anything for each other.
In this case, that meant that Faith was going to place hostess for one heck of a party. The last party that she had thrown was to celebrate Willow's exoneration. That had been one heck of a party that the young woman had thrown. All of their friends had ended up staying the night. It was great to be so wanted and so carefree like that.
But life had made them grow up as well. True, they were still only freshmen in college. But they had seen so much more and been through so much more then most of the people their age. It was said, even of Faith, that the young people had this maturity about them. Yet, they still knew how to have a good time.
In this case, it was party time for Tara. Of course there was going to be one large cake for her. There was also going to be the ice cream. Oz's and Spike's makeshift band was going to be the life entertainment. All that was left was getting the word out about the party and yet not get it back to Tara.
That was the hardest part. Willow had long ago made a promise that she would not keep anything from Tara. Tara had made the same promise to Willow. The redhead knew that this was something different. But it was still hard to look Tara in the eye and lie to her. Especially when she lied about being with Faith.
Willow got the vibe that Tara thought that there might just be something going on between her and Faith. That thought was ridiculous. It was true that Faith was one sexy woman, but there was nothing more then friendship between them. In fact, Willow liked to think of Faith as the sister that she had never had. It would just be icky to think of anything happening with her best friend and sister.
Tara knew that she could trust Willow with anything. Ever since that mixup with the letter, the two had been very honest with one another. Sometimes, they had been too honest. But it was a good thing. Without honesty, there could be no trust. Without trust, there could not be a relationship.
That thought echoed throughout both Willow's and Tara's minds. After all, a simple letter was what nearly had broken the two a apart. It was all over a misunderstanding. If Tara had just told her that she was going to see her brother, it wouldn't have happened. Or, if Willow had kept trying to call Tara so that she could find out the truth for herself, they could avoided a whole lot of unhappy times.
Willow watched as Faith was picking out what decorations they should use for the party. It all seemed so long ago that this could not even be an option. When Tara had first moved to Sunnydale, her father would have stood in the way of any kind of relationship between the two. Heck, he would have tried to keep her isolated and for good.
The redhead smiled as she looked at the one thing that the two friends had agreed upon. There was a pictured of Tara and her on a picnic. The two had been holding hands and content with looking into one another eyes. It was Faith that had shattered that moment with a click of her camera. Yet, Willow was grateful. She could see for herself the love that flowed between the two of them in that picture.
Faith turned to Willow. "All set." She smiled big. "This is going to be one heck of a party. I think we'll outdo the last one. I can't wait to get my party going on. Just hope that we don't have any uninvited guests"
Willow cringed at the thought. There couldn't be trouble at the party. It had to go perfect. It would go perfect. She would make sure that it would go perfect. Her girl deserved that. Any way that it took, this was going to go off with out a hitch. Or was it?