Return
by Kirayoshi
Bright Side of the Road
[reviews]
Chapter Ten
Bright Side of the Road
One month later;
"Yes!" Willow shouted triumphantly as she sat at her computer at the Magic Box. "Buffy Summers is alive and well!"
"We know that," Tara smiled as she leaned forward on Willow's shoulders. "Remember, that situation with Riley Finn last month? We've been celebrating her return ever since."
"Funny, babe," Willow stuck her tongue out at her lover. "I meant in the legal sense." She showed Tara the screen. "I just hacked into public records, and changed her legal status so she's no longer dead. Erased all her death certificates, her autopsy report, all that. I also located her birth certificate, and arranged for a notarized copy to be mailed to her house so she can apply for a driver's license, and I even had the title deed for her home signed over to her."
"Not bad, hacker girl," Tara leaned in and kissed Willow's cheek.
"Not a perfect hacking job, I'm afraid," Willow admitted. "I wasn't able to rescue her bank account, or the trust fund her mom set up for her. All that money went over to Dawn's trust fund when Buffy was first declared dead."
"Hey, she'll be okay," Tara assured Willow. "And with you moving into her house once college starts up, you'll be able to help out."
"Yeah," Willow smirked slightly. "Practically had to twist her arm to convince her to let me pay rent, but she still needs the money. At least until she can get a job. But she'll be okay."
"Speaking of which," Tara heard the door-chimes jangle as the shop's front door was opened, and noticed Buffy and Dawn as they entered the shop. They seemed to be arguing about something.
Willow and Tara left the backroom to greet their friends. "Hey Buff, Dawnie, what's up?"
"Buffy made me watch the most disgusting movie I ever saw," Dawn complained dramatically.
"Oh?" Willow's interest was piqued. "Which movie was that?"
"It's called 'Harold and Maude'," Buffy explained, "and it wasn't disgusting at all. It was one of Mom's favorites and we still had the video, so I decided to check it out."
"Buffy, it was gross!" Dawn shrieked.
"Harold and Maude?" Tara smiled. "I loved that movie. Remember, Willow, we saw that at the revival house in San Francisco just before we started our sophomore classes."
"Yeah, with Ruth Gordon as the kindly old woman who taught that kid about life," Willow continued.
Dawn just looked at the other two women with shock in her eyes. "Are you kidding? The movie had an eighteen-year-old boy having sex with an eighty-year-old woman!"
Buffy shook her head, amused at her sister's overreaction. "Dawn, the movie wasn't about that. It was about how Ruth Gordon taught the boy to shake off his obsession with death and embrace life."
"Yeah," Dawn continued, "but he had sex with an eighty-year-old woman."
"Hey," Buffy reminded her sister, "you didn't object to that one movie where the guy had sex with a pie!"
"That was different," Dawn amended hastily, as Tara and Willow started to giggle. "That was just dumb comedy. And say, now that I think about it, don't you think that Michelle in that movie looks an awful lot like..."
"Uh, Buffy," Willow squeaked, hoping to deflect Dawn's interest. "You wanna check this out?" She took Buffy and Dawn into the back room and directed their attention to the computer. "I've been going into hacker mode here, and managed to legally resurrect you. Now you can get a driver's license, and you now own your house." Buffy sat at the computer and perused the records that Willow had edited. She still didn't understand half of what she saw on the screen, but took Willow's assurances at face value.
"Great, now all I have to do is get a job," Buffy smiled at her friend.
"I'm sure Giles can find a position here in the Magic Box," Tara offered.
"Thanks, Tara," Buffy replied. "But I want to get a job on my own. Still, the Box can be my plan B." She stood up from her seat at the computer, and announced, "Hey girls, can you close up for lunch or something? I've got something to show you."
"Sure," Tara smiled. She and Willow joined Buffy and Dawn, Tara taking the time to set up the 'Closed, back in 30 minutes' sign in the window and locking the door.
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The cemetery wasn't quite where Willow envisioned herself at the moment, but Buffy seemed genuinely pleased about something here. Willow was especially curious as to why Buffy had chosen to lug a portable CD player with her.
They stopped at an all-too-familiar stone. Buffy glanced at the stone's inscription, fighting back the shudder of seeing her own name engraved on the stone. "She saved the world a lot," she read the epitaph, a sardonic smile on her face. "Let me guess, Wills, your idea?"
"Well," Willow blushed crimson, "Xander and I worked on it together."
"Hey, short and sweet, I like it," Buffy assured her friend with a smile. "Anyway, it'll be going down tomorrow. I spoke with the funeral director, and he agreed to remove the empty coffin and the stone." She glanced at her mother's stone, which stood alongside her own. "I'm thinking of planting a tree here. Maybe something in a nice shade tree. I think mom would like that."
"I know she would approve," Tara nodded.
"Yeah," Willow agreed. "Maybe a sycamore, or something like that."
"Yeah," Buffy mused silently. "Well, anyway, before they come in to remove the grave, I wanted to do something, and this is my only chance." She placed the CD player on the ground by the gravesite, and pressed play. She turned to the others, smiled, extended her arms, and said, "Let's dance!"
A bright, upbeat melody filled the air, and Van Morrison started to sing;
From the dark end of the street
To the bright side of the road
We'll be lovers once again on the
Bright side of the road
Little darlin', come with me
Won't you help me share my load
From the dark end of the street
To the bright side of the road
Willow and Tara exchanged puzzled looks at first, but as Buffy took Dawn in her arms and began dancing with abandon over her own grave, they began to understand. Buffy, in this strange way, was reaffirming her life. Willow took Tara's hand, and they joined Buffy and Dawn on the small plot of land, dancing together.
Into this life we're born
Baby sometimes we don't know why
And time seems to go by so fast
In the twinkling of an eye
Let's enjoy it while we can
Won't you help me sing my song
From the dark end of the street
To the bright side of the road
Buffy glanced briefly at her friends, as they enjoyed each other's company and closeness. She knew that in a few days Tara would begin her classes at Berkeley College and Willow would miss her while she was gone. And soon Buffy would have to start Slaying again. And life, whatever it was in the Hellmouth, would go on.
But now she had a fuller understanding about her life. About life in general. Death may have been her gift before, but death, in the end, was a part of her greater gift. Life was her gift now. She would gladly give it in protection of her friends if it came to that. But until then, she intended to share that gift with her friends, and not shut herself off from them.
Buffy, for the first time in such a long time, was truly alive. And she intended to stay that way, no matter what the world threw at her.
Buffy lived.
From the dark end of the street
To the bright side of the road
We'll be lovers once again
On the bright side of the road
We'll be lovers once again on the bright side of the road