me either, as it turns out.

Winnow, thank you. Are you going to post some fic?

Actually this is my first foray into the world of fan fiction. I do love to write though, so I'm hoping to get inspired and try my hand eventually.

be careful Winnow, you're me, just a short couple of months ago.

Anyone remember this?

Can't say I remember it, ita, but it's certainly pretty.

Yerp!

Awww. Warm fuzzys come from me when I think of it.

Oooooh, Deb! Lovely! Is there more?

(quibble - how would you feel about "Love" rather than "Luv"? I can't see Mrs Peel, who's so formal that Steed only once or twice calls her Emma, thinking of it as spelled l.u.v. YMrsPeelMV. But loving it otherwise.)

Kat! Andrew! Yay! Oh, I liked that.

Anyone remember this?

Hell yeah. We should update. I've got Buffyverse stuff that's not there, I'm fairly sure.

Um. Who's running it these days? Is it SA?

Heh. Fay, there is indeed more; she's meeting with Steed and yes, I will totally change the luv to love. I was riffing on my own memories of Just South of Oxford Street in that point in time; everyone talked as if they came from Liverpoool. It was a Beatles thing.

I'll post as I go along; today is a honker, though. Stay tuned (or I can e you with some when it's ready).

Thanks all. Glad you liked the Andrew.

Deena, the expanded Gunn is good. Well, everyone's stuff is so good.

Ah, fuck it.

Okay. Here's the start of me answering my own freaking challenge. Like, 1600+ expositiony words. Subject to MASSIVE changes, as I may decide to totally cut some stuff. Maybe. I haven't decided. I'm still not sure where I'm going, I'm letting the bunny lead me.

Dying for the third time would have been the charm. Buffy realized that when Dawn was killed, and again when she found Giles's body, carefully arranged on her front porch. She left her home, what was left of her friends and family, but that didn't stop the remaining demons and vampires from coming after her. It wasn't like evil went away, just because the Hellmouth closed; it didn't even bother to take a sick day.

She managed seven years of running and hiding before she swallowed the last bits of her pride and went to L.A., looking for some sort of help. Wishing she'd died back then wasn't the same thing as having an open death wish, and she couldn't keep fighting alone if she wanted to live. She'd thought she was a target as the Slayer, with every wannabe big bad wanting a piece of her. Maybe she had been, but it was nothing compared to the target she made with the power stripped away and nothing left but the girl.

Not that she really got a chance to be a girl.

It was easy enough to find him. Not so easy to get an appointment to see him, so she found herself watching his building and waiting for an in. When she found it, she was blunt.

"There's no such thing as an ex-Slayer Protection plan. You got me into this mess, now get me out."

Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, once and former Watcher, translator of the spell that allowed her to give up her status as the Chosen One, dropped his coffee at the sound of her voice.

• **

She looked awful. That was his first thought. His second was to wonder what she was doing there and what exactly it was she expected him to do.

"Buffy, you knew the risks when you chose your course of action."

Tired hazel eyes assessed him, and seemed to find him wanting. "Did I? I don't think anyone bothered to tell me there'd still be enough of them left over to be a problem, that they'd try to get to me through my friends, my family. Or that when they got sick of that, it would be open season on Buffy Summers. You should have just killed me."

"You were given a chance, that's more than Faith had. It's more than most people are given. As unfortunate as your situation may be, it's not my responsibility."

Her face hardened, a frown crossing her brow. "It was about her, wasn't it?" Her voice held the quiet conviction of one who has just found the last piece to a puzzle. "It wasn't about saving the world, or restoring the balance, or whatever else I was told. You did it for her, so she wouldn't have my blood on her hands."