3rd Person's POV

Laney sits watching Colby play bass on stage with the band as she sips on her soda. She was still feeling pain in her arm from earlier when she fell out Buffy's window but the band had a short gig at The Bronze. She felt horrible for not being able to be up there with the boys but they sounded fine without her.

Devon
I think I talk too much
I need to listen, baby
I need to listen, baby
I need to listen good

I think I try too hard
How I look, what I do, what I'm sayin', ah
I spend too much time explainin' myself
I hope there's some time to change it

Devon & Colby
I can taste it, my heart's breakin', please don't say
That you know, when you know
I can't take it, I'm impatient, tell me baby
Now I know, you should go

I know I'll fall in love with you, baby
And that's not what I wanna do
I hope you won't ever lie to me
And if you do, I know I won't be your cry baby

Colby
I think I worry a lot
I need to take it easy
I got this anxious feeling
But it goes away for a minute
When I'm with you breathing

Laney smiles to herself as Colby glances over and winks at her. Shaking her head she turns back to the bar and sighs.

"What a hottie."

Turning to the side she sees a brunette girl with curly hair and red lip gloss looking at Colby.

"Uh yeah he is."

The girl looks at Laney and smirks, "Don't worry I won't make a move. I can tell he's yours."

Laney chuckles, "And how do you know that?"

"One, he hasn't taken his eyes off you yet. Well I mean duh. You're a babe. Two, you gripped your glass so tight just now I thought it would break."

Laughing nervously Laney lets go of the glass and wipes her hands on her skirt. Smiling she raises a hand up to the girl.

"I'm Laney. Are you new around here? Visiting family?"

The girl nods shaking Laney's hand, "Something like that."

...

The bell rings for lunch hour at Sunnydale High School. Seniors are leaving the front doors of school and walking along the sidewalk past the stairs. Two pairs of legs stand at the edge of the sidewalk, one standing calmly, the other rocking back and forth, heel to toe.

Willow and Oz stand, waiting for Xander and Cordelia so they can go. Oz is characteristically calm, but Willow is swaying around, almost nervously.

Willow smiles, "I'm giddy."

"Oh, I like you giddy. Always have."

"It's the freedom! As Seniors, we can go off-campus now for lunch. It's no longer cutting. It's legal! Heck, it's expected! Wow, it's, uh, also a big step forward, a Senior moment, one that has to be savored."

Oz looks back and sees Xander and Cordelia coming.

Willow stammers thinking about it, "You can't just rush into this, you know?"

Xander heads for Willow's side opposite Oz, and the two boys each grab an arm and start to pull her across the street.

"Ohh!"

She starts to resist, leaning backward with all of her weight.

"No, I can't!"

Oz and Xander just lift her by the arms and pull harder. Cordelia smiles at the spectacle.

"You can."

"See, you are." Oz smiles.

Willow frowns, "Oh, but, no! What if they changed the rule without telling? What if they're lying in wait to arrest me a-and, and throw me in detention and mark my unblemished record?"

They reach the other side of the street, and Oz and Xander steady her on the sidewalk.

Xander smiles, "Breathe... Breathe."

Willow takes a breath and lets it out, calming herself, "Okay. Hmm..."

Oz takes Willow by the hand and Xander puts his arm around Cordelia. Cordelia smiles as she sees Laney walks out the school building. She follows her best friends eye sight to a black car that had been parked with a tall boy standing leaning on it waiting for her. Cordelia curses moving from under Xander's arm. She quickly runs over to the car as fast as she could while wearing heels.

"Colby! Help me!"

Colby raises an eyebrow as he looks down at Cordelia in worry but slight confusion, "Are you okay?"

"Oh I'm fine physically."

"Obviously not mentally." Laney jokes as she comes up and hugs Colby.

Cordelia smiles rolling her eyes, "So funny. Hardy har. Anyways as I was saying... I was trying to convince your boyfriend to help me convince you..."

Laney frowns, "To what?"

"Please come to the picnic with us."

Laney grimaces, "I'd rather choke."

"Laney." Colby chuckles shaking his head.

"On my own vomit..." Laney continues with a blank stoic look on her face.

Cordelia pouts, "But you guys are my friends. Buffy will have her friends there. Who will I talk to? Who's going to listen to me go on and on about why I absolutely love dry shampoo? And what shoes would go with my new dress. And what necklace is to die for that I saw in the mall window the other day."

Laney smiles softly, "We can talk about all that stuff. "

Cordelia smiles.

"Not around them though."

Cordelia frowns.

Colby chuckles once more before seeing Cordelia give him a pleading look. Rolling his eyes jokingly he pulls Laney away from the car a little.

"Baby don't you think you can put your feelings aside for maybe thirty minutes just to sit with your best friend. She has to go because Xander is her boyfriend. And his friends happen to be the Scooby Gang. Who you happen to not like right now. But you like Cordy. Just sit with her for a little bit. You don't have to be friends again with them. Just give it a chance."

Laney sighs looking at him with puppy dog eyes, "Why do you have to be right all the time?"

Colby shrugs kissing her forehead, "It's a gift."

Laney slaps his arm before walking back over to the car where Cordelia stayed put.

"I will go and sit with you."

"Yay!"

"No longer than thirty minutes. And I am not friends with them again. This is torture for me."

Cordelia smiles pulling Laney into a hug, "Well I appreciate you enduring this torture for me. I owe you."

"Yeah you do." Turning to Colby she holds up her pointer finger, "And where are you going mister? You got me into this, now you stick by my side."

Colby smiles holding his hands up in surrender. He puts his keys back in his pocket then grabs Laney's awaiting hand.

Cordelia guides the couple across the street and over to a smiling Oz, and nervous Xander and Willow.

"Sorry I invited Laney. I know you guys don't mind." Cordelia grins.

"N-no not at all." Willow stammers.

"Let's get this over with." Laney mutters as she begins to walk towards the small park in front of the school.

The others quickly follow behind. Willow grins relaxed, "This is good! This is... Hey, we're Seniors!" She jokes with an attitude, "Hey, I'm walkin' here!"

Laney smiles before frowning and shaking her head.

They see Buffy just inside the park. She has laid out a blanket in the shade of a palm tree by a bench, and is setting out serving plates of food and bottles of drinks. The group begins to walk toward her.

Xander grins, "Ahh. Buffy and food."

Laney raises an eyebrow as she looks at his hand connected to her best friends, "Or just food."

Xander chuckles nervously, "Right that's what I meant."

Willow frowns looking at the six of them all holding hands with their significant other, "Maybe we shouldn't be too couple-y around Buffy."

Cordelia gasps, "Oh, you mean 'cause of how the only guy that ever liked her turned into a vicious killer and had to be put down like a dog?"

Laney snorts as Colby chuckles to himself.

Xander stares at his girlfriend admiringly, "Can she cram complex issues into a nutshell, or what?"

They come up behind the tree just out of Buffy's view.

Oz nods, "All right, prepare to uncouple..."

They take a few more steps.

"Uncouple."

They let go of each other as they come around the tree. Willow crosses in front of Xander so Buffy sees girls on the right, boys on the left.

"Buffy, banned from campus, but not from our hearts, how are you and what's for lunch?" Xander asks.

Oz climbs onto the bench and sits on the backrest. The others kneel on the blanket. Colby sits with Laney in the middle and Cordelia on the right side of her.

"Oh, I just threw a few things together." Buffy smiles. She was shocked to see Laney there. They still weren't on good terms but they could be civil over lunch.

Cordelia looks impressed with Buffy's offerings, "When did you become Martha
Stewart?"

Buffy jokes, "First of all, Martha Stewart knows jack about hand-cut prosciutto." She hands out drink bottles.

"I don't believe she slays, either."

Oz makes hmph sound, "Oh, I hear she can, but she doesn't like to."

Buffy opens her bottle, "Second of all, way too much free time on my hands since I got kicked out of school."

Willow frowns, "Oh, I know they'll let you back in."

"Don't you and your mom have a meeting with Principal Snyder?"

"We're seeing Snyde-Man tomorrow."

Willow notices a boy, "Ooo, Scott Hope at eleven o'clock."

Buffy looks and smiles softly before looking away.

"He likes you. He wanted to ask you out last year, but you weren't ready then. But I think you're ready now, or at least in the state of pre-readiness to make conversation, or-or to do that thing with your mouth that boys like."

Buffy snaps her head around at Willow and gives her a shocked look.

Laney snorts once more almost spitting out her drink, "Seriously Willow, not the right wording."

Willow thinks before gasping as she realizes her slip-up, "Oh! I didn't mean the bad thing with your mouth, I meant that little half-smile thing that you..." She suddenly turns and glares at Oz, "You're supposed to stop me when I do that."

Oz smiles and shakes his head, "I like when you do that."

Laney smiles at the two. She was glad her sister had a nice boy who cared about her and made her laugh and smile and feel like she could be her weird smart self. She was still very much upset with her that was for sure. But she did wish her sister well.

Scott has finished talking with his friends and comes toward them. Buffy watches him approach. As he passes he looks over at Buffy.

Scott smiles, "Hi, Buffy."

Buffy smiles back, "Hi."

Scott just continues on his way. Willow breaks out into a huge smile, "I think that went very well. Don't you think that went very well?"

Cordelia nods, "He didn't try to slit our throats or anything. That's progress."

"Hey, did you do that little half-smile thing?"

Buffy sighs, "Look, I'm not trying to snare Scott Hope. I just want to get my life back, you know, do normal stuff."

"Like date?"

"Well..."

Xander chuckles, "Oh, you wanna date. I saw that half-smile, you little slut."

Buffy punches him on the arm, and none too lightly.

Xander smiles and chuckles, "Ow." Before wincing and holding his arm.

"All right, yes, date and shop and hang out and go to school and save the world from unspeakable demons. You know, I wanna do girlie stuff!"

"Speaking of girlie stuff, Cordy and I have somewhere to be. This was nice. Thanks for the mini sandwich."

The group watches as Laney stands up pulling Cordelia behind her. Colby nods a goodbye to them before following the two girls.

"I'm confused. What girlie stuff are we doing?"

"Hush and I'll buy you that necklace from the mall."

"Oh... nice."

Cordelia smiles following along without a fight.

As the three walk back towards the school, Laney frowns feeling her chest get tight as she thought about Angel. Hearing all the talk about Buffy's ex and not wanting her next one to kill any of them made her start to think back to what happened to her.

Peeking over at Colby she feels her frown deepen. She still had yet to tell Colby what exactly happened. She couldn't tell him. He would be heartbroken. Shattered even.

"What's wrong?"

Laney looks up and realizes she had been sitting in Colby's car in the passenger seat as Cordelia sat in the backseat.

"Nothing. I just couldn't breathe sitting there. It's too soon to be all buddy buddy again."

"I'm glad you're trying though. You're a strong girl, Laney. You don't have to have everything figured out right now."

"Yeah I'm just grateful you tried for me. Now let's go shopping before third period starts."

Laney smiles at Cordelia before turning forward and putting her seatbelt on. She feels Colby take her hand as he drives off.

She felt at home. These two were all she needed. And of course Giles. But regardless she knew she would be okay. Maybe not now. But eventually.

...

At the Bronze, a fast paced song blasts throughout the club. Bodyrock by Moby plays as couples together. Most couples are dancing normally, but there's two in particular that are a bit more energetic about it.

Laney smiles as Colby spins her. She turns with her back to his front as she slowly grinds against him. Her arms reach over her head and grip his neck gently pulling him down to her level as his hands find her waist.

She feels her heart start to drop as she feels her brain pull her into a memory. Suddenly she is brought back to reality as she is spun around again. She feels Colby rest his forehead against hers as his hands move up to gently hold her face.

"Hey... come back to me."

Laney takes a deep breath in as she nods slowly, "Sorry. I blacked out for a second."

"I know..."

"How?"

"I felt you... you stopped breathing for a second. You went stiff. If you're not comfortable with that next level yet, it's okay. I understand, Laney. Just talk to me. Okay?"

Laney smiles sadly before nodding, "I will."

Another couple leaves the dance floor, and walk past an alcove furnished like a turn-of-the-century parlor, with a love seat, a couple of armchairs, tables and a lamp with a pink shade. Another couple is sitting on the loveseat having some romantic smoochies. Buffy walks into view from behind carrying drinks and heads for them. In the loveseat is Willow and Oz.

Buffy sits in an adjacent chair, "Don't let me interrupt."

Willow and Oz look up from their kissing. Willow sits up. Buffy smiles and hands Oz one of the drinks.

"Thanks." Oz smiles.

Willow notices Buffy's cheery mood and smiles as Oz accepts another drink from her and passes one to Willow.

"Are you..." Willow turns to Oz, "Is she all glowy?"

Buffy rolls her eyes up to the right and gives them an innocent look.

Oz nods, "Yeah, I suspect happiness."

Buffy smiles, "I passed my English makeup exam, hangin' with my friends. Hello, my life, how I've missed you."

Scott approaches them.

Willow grins, "Hi, Scott. What are you doing here?"

Scott gives her a soft smile, "You told me if I came after 8:00, I could run into Buffy."

Buffy shoots Willow a look. Willow is embarrassed and hides behind her drink, taking a big gulp.

Scott to Buffy, smiling, "Uh, I'm sorry. I'm a bad liar. It's not good for the soul." He gestures at his face, "O-o-or the skin, actually. It makes me blotch."

Buffy smiles once more, "Hi, Scott."

"Hi."

Things are a bit awkward now, and Scott looks around for something to comment on.

"Don't you love this song?"

"Uh, yeah! Actually, I do."

"Well, would you like to..." Scott indicates the dance floor.

Buffy frowns, "Dance? Um..."

Willow smiles at her encouragingly.

"I don't know."

Willow frowns slapping her forehead.

"I'm bad with... Well..." Buffy begins to fidget, "Thank you for asking, it's just that there..."

Scott smiles holding his hands up to reassure her, "Okay, you know what? I'm just gonna go stand by the dance floor. If you change your mind, you can mosey on over, and then if not, then you don't mosey. No harm, no foul, right?"

Buffy smiles halfheartedly, "Right."

Scott walks off to find a place to wait. Buffy rolls her eyes and flops her head back, mentally kicking herself for the way she handled that.

Willow looks very disappointed, "Come on, Buffy. I mean, the guy is charm, a-and normal, which is what you wanted to get back to."

"Plus bonus points for use of the word 'mosey'." Oz adds.

Buffy shakes her head, "I just don't think I'm ready."

"What's stopping you?"

Before she can say anything, Cordelia and Xander walk up.

"Check out Slut-O-Rama and her Disco Dave."

She points and looks onto the dance floor as she and Xander sit on a low table against a wall. They all stare at the other energetic dancing couple that had been beside Laney and Colby. Although the girl's style is more contemporary, the guy is dancing way too fast for the music, with an unmistakable 70's disco influence.

Cordelia scoffs, "What was the last thing that guy danced to, K.C. and the Sunshine Band?"

Willow and Oz both cock their heads to look at them.

The couple continues to dance, getting close and touching each other at one point, then separating again.

Buffy begins to really wonder about them. The couple gets close again, and the girl extends her arm, pointing at the door. The guy takes the hint, and leads her out with his arm around her. Buffy watches them go, suspicious of his intentions. She sees him say bye to his buddy and head for the door.

"I don't think that guy thrives on sunshine."

She quickly puts down her drink and starts out after them. As she crosses the room behind the dance floor, Scott sees her coming and steps over to intercept her.

"Hi."

Buffy stops short, startled and frowns, "Hi. Oh, no, I..." She points at the door, "I-I have to..."

Scott nods as he gets it, "Oh. Uh, uh, sorry, my bad."

Buffy looks apologetic, "No. I-it's mine. Really, it's mine, but I..." She glances back at the others, "I-I-I have to go."

She hurries out as Scott is left standing very confused.

Buffy strides outside the Bronze and looking around. Xander comes out right behind her followed closely by the others.

"Where'd she go?" Buffy frowns.

She takes a few steps down the alley to the left to check things out. The others looks around also.

Cordelia waves a hand nonchalantly, "I bet it's nothing. They're probably just making out."

Buffy comes back. They hear a girl call out in a complaining tone.

"Hey!"

They also hear a loud noise, as though something was just broken. Xander pulls a stake out of his jacket. Buffy takes it from him and heads in the direction of the noise.

Willow frowns, "That's not what making out sounds like, unless I'm doing it wrong."

They all follow Buffy around the corner. The boy has the girl up against a section of temporary chain link fencing that's leaning against the building.

"Stop struggling. This won't hurt."

The boy vamps out and moves in to bite the girl. She grabs him by the neck, pushes him away a bit, "Actually it'll hurt a lot," before she elbow jabs him in the face.

He staggers back and regains his balance as she jumps onto a crate. She does a jumping roundhouse kick to his face, knocking him to the pavement. Buffy arrives allowing the girl to finally notices her and approach, smiling.

"It's okay, I got it. You're, uh, Buffy, right?"

Buffy is taken aback. Just as she's about to answer, the vampire comes up behind the girl and grabs her by the shoulders. She snaps her head back to head butt him in the face and grabs onto his arm.

"I'm Faith."

She twists the vampire around and shoves him into the section of chain link fence.

Oz whispers to Willow, "I'm gonna go out on a limb and say there's a new Slayer in town."

Faith knees him in the gut from behind. The vamp whirls around and tries to backhand punch her, but she easily ducks it. She punches him in the gut and then again in the face. Everyone just watches her fight. Xander follows her moves with jerks of his head. She does a high side kick to the vampire's jaw, grabs onto his shirt and neck and throws him to the ground. The vamp does a no-hand front roll to control his fall while

Faith reaches towards Buffy gesturing for the stake.

"Can I borrow that?"

Buffy stands frozen.

Suddenly a hand jerks it from her own and throws it to Faith. Buffy glances over at Laney as the girl looks at Faith in awe.

The vampire uses the momentum of his roll to get back to his feet and runs at Faith, throwing a punch as he comes. She ducks it, hooks her hand on his shoulder, turns him around and pushes him back into the fence. She raises the stake and jams it cleanly into his chest and jerks it back out. The vampire instantly crumbles into ashes. Buffy stares in confused amazement. Faith faces her and hands her back the stake.

"There ya go, B." She pulls Laney into hug, "Thanks Lane. Couldn't have done it without you."

"Oh please..."

The two girls continue chatting as they walking past the group. Buffy turns to stare after them, unsure how to react. Before the girls get too far, Laney stops and runs back to the group.

"Forgot something."

She grabs Cordelia's hand and pulls the girl along side and her new friend. The three walk into the Bronze leaving the rest of the gang to confusion.

"What the heck just happened and who the heck was that?"

How are we feeling?!?

Faith is finally here!!! And Laney got to meet her first. How do you think this will affect their relationship?

Cordy and Laney are obviously still going to be the greatest besties there ever was. I really enjoy writing their friendship. I'm gonna miss this next season.

Colby and Laney are the freaking cutest stablest relationship ever. Well... for now. They can't be too perfect 😮‍💨

Future predictions?

Any special requests...