She'd taken a week or so to adjust to Los Angeles, learn her way around, and pick up the muggle supplies she wanted to add to her bag just in case.

To get a feel for the Slayer and what she was like, she met a few of the contacts the Watchers Council had given her trying to get a feel for the Slayer.

Her dad hadn't offered much beyond being unsurprised she was in trouble enough this time to run away. What did that even mean? Did he not care that his seventeen year old daughter was by herself, doing who knew what in a city the size of Los Angeles? The friends were all mostly former friends, mostly it seemed because the Slayer had pretty much severed contact with most anyone from her time in Los Angeles. Intentionally, it seemed. Hermione wondered why she'd done that.

Sunnydale had just made her somewhat sad. She'd spoken to everyone there, and they were all clearly worried. Her watcher, Rupert Giles, it seemed was constantly on the go if word got to him that someone who could be his Slayer was spotted.

No one had been able to offer her any ideas as to where she might flee, outside of Los Angeles. Joyce had at least provided her with the names of a mall and a few other things she'd hung out at while a student at Hemry High.

So, she'd returned to Los Angeles, hoping the Slayer was there and that she was actually strong enough to cadet the spell she needed to so that it would span the entirety, or most of, Los Angeles. She had a good map sectioned off based on how far she thought her spell should be able to go. She had started at the furthest north point of the Los Angeles proper on her way back from Sunnydale. She'd work her way from there until she found her.

Hopefully at any rate. If she'd gone somewhere not Los Angeles. Well, she was completely on her own.

She had found the Slayer, though with some time and patience. It was pretty easy to enhance the locator spell on her with the assistance of the blood sample the Watchers Council had supplied her with of their Slayer. They'd given her more than enough for this task. If she had to go to another city the size of Los Angeles, though, she'd be cutting it close. She took that to mean they'd been fairly confident it was where she'd ended up. She wasn't sure why they hadn't done this themselves, but she wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. She could only assume while the presence of other owls in their owlery suggested other magical people that those they employed weren't capable of doing this. Then again, maybe they had owls to contact those in the wizarding world. Maybe they had no other magical people working for them. She didn't know! She hadn't thought to ask that, just assuming the owls meant the presence of other witches or wizards.

Regardless, for whatever reason they'd chosen her at a time she'd needed to be chosen. A basically all expenses paid trip to Los Angeles after the past seven years was not at all unwelcome.

Doing the interviews she had with Xander Harris and Willow Rosenberg had given Hermione a twinge of guilt that she'd left Harry and Ronald without word, however, certainly the Ministry would tell them about her letter declining their job offer. It wasn't the same thing as telling them she was going away herself, she knew, but it was all she'd been able to do at the time. She knew her best friends hadn't used her the way the rest of the magical world had, but they were the magical world to her.

Xander and Willow were clearly concerned for their friend. Xander was feeling guilty about something. Hermione was tempted to push into his mind to find out why, but she refrained. Willow felt guilty, too, but she was vocal about her reasoning. She'd attempted to restore Angel's soul and could only assume it didn't work. (Either that or they were off together, but no one seemed to truly believe that was the case it seemed.)

So, she found the Slayer. She was, in fact, alive and well. Hermione just wasn't sure now that she'd found her how exactly to approach her. What did she say? Did she tell her right away she was from the Watchers Council? Would that make her run away? She could do locator spells easy enough, but she knew that blood sample the Council provided her with had made it much easier.

She'd observed her at the diner she worked at.

Anne.

She was seventeen, Lydia had said. It was closer to next January than last January now, so she imagined she was nearing eighteen now.

She'd come here about a week now, trying to find some way of talking to the Slayer. She knew nothing about what interested her and she wasn't American so initiating a conversation about any potential common ground escaped her.

"More coffee?" the Slayer said as she approached Hermione's table.

"Yes, please," she said.

"You're British, right?"

The question came after she'd refilled her coffee. The coffee wasn't great, but it was decent. And better than the tea she'd had her first day here. She'd never realized she was a snob about tea! Ordinarily, Hermione would have taken the question as just being polite but having observed her for a week now she did not initiate small talk with customers. So, she took that to mean she wanted to talk to Hermione. She hoped that was a good sign. And she thanked Morgana that the Slayer had initiated a conversation because Hermione was pretty sure she'd still be here a week from now if she had to.

"I am," Hermione said.

"I'm sorry it took me so long to ask."

"No apologies necessary, I'm sure you see hundreds of people a day."

"Yes, but I have a close friend who is British."

Hermione smiled at that.

"It's just, I assumed the first couple of times I saw you…"

"That I am a tourist," Hermione said.

"Yes."

"I am. I just happen to like your coffee," Hermione said with a smile. Thankfully, Buffy didn't seem much better at small talk then she did. That was good. Hermione always thought she came across as being an idiot in situations like this.

"How long are you in town for?"

Hermione shrugged. Interesting question, that. Not one she could answer truthfully. For that matter she didn't really know for sure. She'd located her, but what if she didn't want to be found? Lydia had approached her privately with the blood sample. Her supervisor had sort of suggested that they wanted to be sure the Slayer was all right more than anything. While the hell mouth in Sunnydale was where they preferred her to be, if she was functioning in Los Angeles and carrying out her duties she'd made it sound as if they weren't going to strongarm her into returning to Sunnydale tomorrow. No doubt they would eventually. A hell mouth didn't sound like a good thing for the Slayer to be absent from for very long. Hermione had disillusioned herself a couple of times and followed Buffy after her shifts ended. She went to her apartment and that was about it. She saw no signs of her performing her Slayer duties. Unless she did them well after midnight.

 "I'm really not sure. I am on business, so I guess as long as that takes me."

"I see," Buffy said.

That bit of conversation continued throughout the time Hermione was in the diner today. Buffy told her about her British friend, Hermione told her about her first few days here in Los Angeles, leaving out the bits about magical Los Angeles and spying on her. Being a first-timer it was quite impressive, muggle and magical.

It was … nice, comfortable in a way that Hermione had never experienced before. She'd always struggled to make friends. Maybe it was because Buffy was here alone and lonely. She wasn't sure, but she sensed the girl wanted company. Or possibly she was projecting her own desires onto Buffy. She could admit she was missing Harry and Ron, the companionship not the drama of the wizarding world. Hermione went with that instinct and as she was about to leave that day, she flagged Buffy down.

"You know I was going to go see that new Bruce Willis movie tonight. Would you be interested?"

"Oh, well, money's kind of tight right now. You know, middle of the month," Buffy said, fiddling with her apron.

"I have my company's credit card. I'll just write it off."

"Are you sure?" she asked, sounding quite hopeful at the idea. So it had been a good idea to ask! Excellent!

"I am. I'll meet you back here?"

She wasn't really going to use the Council's card. She had her own money. It had been an experience finding Los Angeles' wizarding bank and converting galleons into American muggle money. Evidently Gringotts didn't report her breakin to other wizarding banks because she was able to complete her transactions without issue. She'd expected a wanted poster or something she supposed.

She had opened up her own muggle bank account back in London that her paychecks were deposited into but didn't have an ATM card. She'd have to fix that she supposed if she was going to be traveling. She hadn't even thought of it until arriving here. For some reason she didn't want the Watchers Council accessing her Gringotts account.

Honestly, she was surprised she still had a Gringotts account. She'd sort of expected them to close it, but evidently being Harry's best friend carried some clout even on the heels of a burglary. (As it turned out Gringotts did not like cursed items being in their vaults. They had basically a don't ask/don't tell policy in place, but items like the horcrux were not supposed to be kept there.)

At least not until she knew for sure she was going to stick with this job. Once she decided she'd consider allowing them to deposit there, but as she had no plans on setting foot in London's magical world in the near future she didn't really see the point at this time.

"Yeah. I'm done at three, but let me head home and change and everything. So, five o'clock?"

"Sounds great," Hermione said. She offered the Slayer her hand. "I'm Hermione, by the way."

"Anne," Buffy said, returning her hand shake.

"It's nice to officially meet you, Anne. I'll see you around five then."

Hermione finished her coffee then, paid her bill, left a nice tip for Buffy, and then left to go back to her hotel room. Once there she looked up the movie listings for Armageddon and realized that there'd be a showing nearby they could make it to.

She thought over what she'd observed about Buffy Summers aka Anne over the past week or so.

She was alone. She was nervous. She didn't go out of her way to make friends. She was polite to her customers, but not to the point of crossing any lines. She did not engage them in conversation, though she was friendly enough. And despite knowing that she was wicked strong (she was the Slayer after all) she never raised her hand to male customers who got fresh with her. There'd been plenty of those.

She was more tolerant than Hermione would have been.

Hermione could see in Buffy's eyes that she'd lived through something traumatic. She imagined Buffy saw the same thing in Hermione's eyes. Maybe that was why she gave the witch more than just a moment of her time.

The movie was good. Lots of Aerosmith songs, which she supposed shouldn't have surprised her since Steven Tyler's daughter starred in it. One guy near them had seemed disappointed she hadn't gotten naked in the movie. She couldn't imagine wasting money to see a movie in the hope that someone would get naked in it. Were people really that shallow?

Afterward they stopped at a local restaurant. Hermione hoped she'd find out a little more about Buffy and why she was hiding.

Hermione could understand wanting to get away and as a result despite working for the Watchers Council she wasn't sure she wanted to just turn the Slayer over to them. She wanted to be sure turning her in was the best thing for her, just as being away from wizarding Britain was the best thing for Hermione right now. She sensed somehow Lydia knew this. Doing the locator spell with the Slayer's blood wouldn't have taken her more than a few days to a week maybe at most depending on where Buffy had been at the time the spell had been cast. If she was somewhere like a mall or something she could have been gone by the time Hermione had shown up. However, Lydia telling her that she realized it would take time made her think she could take her time with this assignment.

She wasn't sure if that really mattered, honestly. Hermione wouldn't want anyone turning her in so she was giving Buffy the same thing.

"So, you're traveling alone?" Buffy asked.

"I am."

"No boyfriend?" she asked.

The question kind of surprised her. Then maybe there was a reason she'd jumped right to boyfriends. Surely traveling with someone didn't always have to be a boyfriend.

"No," she said.

She wasn't sure Ronald had actually been a boyfriend. She'd hoped for years for him to be, but now. Well, she really wasn't sure anymore. There was a lot of things for her to sort through where he was concerned. There were things about him that she really wasn't sure she liked very much.

"We had a … complicated relationship. That whole does he or doesn't he like me game for years and then when it finally comes to a head you ask yourself if this is who you really want. I really don't think I do as it turns out. Want him, I mean."

"Oh God," Buffy said with a nod. "I get it. Mine loved me. That all in, forever love. You know?"

Hermione had to admit she was envious because she didn't know. She liked Ronald, thought he was a good man, but forever? Love? She hadn't thought much beyond the here and now with him. When thinking about a future, she just didn't see Ronald in it. She nodded though, wanting the Slayer to talk.

"He fell back into the wrong crowd. People he used to hang with."

"Gangs," Hermione whispered. She knew the LA area was overrun by them and would obviously not know she was talking about Sunnydale not Los Angeles. She knew the truth, of course, but Anne didn't know that and gangs would be a logical assumption. At least Hermione thought so.

"Kind of," Buffy said simply.

Hermione reached over and settled her hand over Buffy's. "I'm sorry."

Buffy shrugged. "It's okay, thanks," she said. She sighed heavily and got quiet. "He's gone now. Died, I mean," she said, getting a distant look in her eyes.

Hermione squeezed her hand, pleased the Slayer let her do that. She knew some people weren't fond of being touched. Buffy was silent for a while. Hermione let her be. She was obviously thinking about something. She saw the moment Buffy came out of her thoughts and was back here with her in the present.

"You and I, and everyone here are alive, though, that's all that matters, right?"

Oh, if she wasn't aware she was the Slayer that statement would probably be taken a very different way. Hermione, however, realized she meant Angel was dead, but the world had been saved.

Had she had to kill him?

She probed the Slayer's mind. It was a questionable thing to do to a non-magical person and certainly without asking permission, but she needed to know. She couldn't help her, she couldn't understand why she was here as Anne and how much work she'd have to do to get her to want to go back to Sunnydale without knowing.

It was right there in the forefront of her mind, probably because she'd just been thinking about it. Hermione saw the whole scene play out. Their battle, what she guessed had been the restoration of his soul that Willow Rosenberg had done based on what happened next (Hermione felt terrible invading her intimate and painful memories like this), and her having to drive a sword through him anyway because Acathla was animating.

She did that to save the world and her friends hadn't known. Buffy didn't think they'd understand. Her mum had told her not to come back essentially it seemed like, based on Buffy's memory of a conversation they'd had anyway. Hermione knew memories were only as good as how the person interpreted things. Even that could influence how a memory seemed when being looked at like this. So, she'd left. Come to LA and become Anne. She was guessing her time spent with Hermione was the first she'd spent with another person socially since coming here, too.

She pulled out of the Slayer's mind quickly. She truly felt bad, but she was glad she'd done it. Even if Buffy didn't know she knew, Hermione thought she could talk to her more honestly now.

"You're right," Hermione said. "No one gets it, do they?" she said.

She looked around at the others in the restaurant. She and Buffy had helped save the world from two very different threats within the past two months and yet no one acknowledged them. No one even knew. They were just going about their days as if it was any other day. They would never know. Each of them was sworn to secrecy.

"No," she said.

They made small talk after that, Hermione wasn't going to push her when she was obviously raw. Buffy was rather honest with her in a cryptic way about where she was from and what she was doing there. Hermione tried to be as honest as she could, but after seeing the Slayer's memories she knew that she wasn't going to report back to the Watchers Council she had found her.

Yet anyway.

She realized she would have to eventually, that's what she was sent here to do.

By the Watchers Council.

Her employer.

She was willing to give her a bit of time, though. Lydia had seemed to understand, or expect, that this would take some time. Hermione thought on that idea again. Did Lydia have an idea of what had happened?

She'd read the Slayer's file before coming here. Between what she'd read and what she'd just seen in Buffy's memories, she had no doubt that after a little time to pick up the pieces and put herself back together mentally that she'd return to her Watcher and her duties. This was not a woman who turned her back on her calling. She saw a lot of herself in the Slayer, turning her back on her friends because she needed to heal on her own terms.

She was down, not out. She would get back up to fight another day. Well, Hermione hoped she'd never have to fight another day in her life, but it was the Slayer's purpose so the other woman didn't have much choice really.

Instead of force, Hermione thought a friend might be the better way to get her to make the decision to return faster. She hadn't been working for the Watchers Council for very long and didn't truly know how they operated, but she couldn't imagine if she reported that she'd found the Slayer but she wasn't ready to return yet that they'd just kick back and wait for her to be ready. Something told Hermione they'd come to her and expect her to lead them to Buffy, violating the friendship and trust she'd carefully built thus far. She might flee and keep running once she realized that Hermione could find her no matter where she went. For that matter, she may stop fleeing and go the other route if she was still despondent enough over the fact she'd had to kill Angel.

She might kill herself. Where would Sunnydale be? Where would her mum be? Where would the world be? Acathla wasn't the only baddie out there who wanted to create havoc in the world.

It took her about a month to come clean with the Slayer about who and what she was, and why she was there. In that month they'd done a lot of things: museums, the beach, and even a day at DisneyLand. Hermione had paid for it all. It had been fun, for both of them so she considered it worth it.

She'd had to tell her. She liked the Slayer too much and really didn't think hinting around things was getting the other woman to the point she would want to go back home. She came to the conclusion that she had to be direct and to the point.

Buffy hadn't talked to her for days afterward and Hermione felt a little … lost without her friend. Finally, though, Buffy had come to her room, seemingly realizing she wasn't running off to tell anyone she'd found her, and they'd talked. (Whether she'd been more concerned Hermione would tell the Watchers Council or her mum Hermione wasn't sure.)

That moment, seeming to realize she had someone to listen to her who understood (remotely) why she'd left, was a turning point. Hermione wasn't judging her and hadn't run back to Sunnydale or the Council to tell on her.

Buffy seemed to realize her friend truly wanted her to want to go back versus being forced to.  She could see in Buffy's eyes that the Slayer knew she had to go back. She was scared that her mum wouldn't let her back into the house. She was scared that her friends would say something mean spirited, unintentionally or not.

Slowly, Hermione saw Anne start to fade away and Buffy come back. She told Hermione she patrolled a couple of cemeteries to get back into the habit and routine.

That news coupled with Buffy running into someone she knew from Sunnydale who got into trouble with a demon. Having to perform her Slayer duties in order to save someone's life for the first time in months led to her deciding to head back home. She seemed to finally realize despite the pain of her loss that she did make a difference. Hermione couldn't take the credit for this change, but she sure hoped that she helped at least a little in giving Buffy herself again.

She knew it was time to leave Los Angeles in September after watching Buffy pack her bag and saying their goodbyes. Lily would take over Buffy's apartment and job it sounded like, becoming Anne because she, too, wanted to start over as someone else.

Buffy had described their first meeting, Lily (who was going by Chanterelle then) was part of a vampire club that wanted to become vampires. Buffy had had to stake a friend she'd known from LA. She hadn't seemed to learn much between then and now. Changing your name didn't fix everything. She still had to do the work and learn from her past mistakes. Hermione hoped the girl would be okay.

She checked out of her hotel that she'd called home for almost two months realizing that she'd made her first female friend.

Yes, Ginny was her friend but it was because of Ronald and Harry they were friends not a friendship they'd forged on their own. She did offer to accompany Buffy back to Sunnydale, knowing the Slayer wouldn't accept, but the offer was made and obviously appreciated. They'd hugged and exchanged contact information, promising to keep in touch.

And then she'd returned to London, happy to be home. A home that wasn't truly a home. Yet. She'd had very little time in between coming here and leaving for London to make it hers, but it was a beginning. Hermione had never had anything that was hers before. It was a little strange.

As she was typing up her reports of the interviews she'd conducted while in Los Angeles and Sunnydale the parallels between Buffy's situation and her own weren't lost on her. The big difference? Buffy had a calling, something she was born into. Hermione, she was born a witch but there was nothing making her stay in the magical world.

Like Hermione, Buffy had two friends close to her. She hoped their reunion was a good one. That Willow and Xander would accept her back, no questions asked.

Sadly, Hermione realized that she was not ready for a reunion like that yet. She missed Harry and Ronald, but there were things she still needed to figure out for herself. Talking to them, even via owl, would cloud her thinking. She did not want her friends to influence her decisions. The magical world had both greatly excited and disappointed her. She had to decide now if the excitement outweighed the disappointment.

And where she felt she belonged.

She wasn't even sure what she'd tell them yet.

She'd turned in her field report to Lydia. She detailed interviews that she'd done with her known associates: previous friends, teachers, her watcher, her Sunnydale friends, and both her parents. No one could accuse her of doing a lackadaisical job.

The most concerning thing to Hermione even now, like six weeks after she'd spoken to the man, was that Buffy's father didn't seem to be overly concerned his daughter was missing. Joyce Summers had been beside herself. Hermione wished she'd been able to do more for her.

That wasn't her purpose, though. And at the time of the interview, she hadn't found Buffy yet.

And after she'd found Buffy?

That was making Hermione feel a little less confident and a little more guilty.

As much as she'd wanted to assure Joyce Summers that her daughter was okay, the witch knew it wasn't her place to make the contact. Just like Hermione wouldn't want Lydia telling anyone where she was right now.

Was that cruel?

Probably so, but if her mum had told her not to come home (something Joyce Summers had not told Hermione about but she trusted that the conversation had taken place even if Buffy's memory of it wasn't completely accurate) she could understand why Buffy had left.

She hoped that her reunion with her mum and friends in Sunnydale had gone okay. It had surely happened by now. She imagined her friends would be more than just a little resentful at first. When she'd interviewed them after her arrival in California they'd obviously been concerned. When they found out she was alive and well, though, would that concern be replaced with something else? It was entirely possible and probably more than just a little likely. She hoped, though, that things would go back to normal with Willow and Xander. Hermione suspect the Slayer would need that.

Normalcy.

The report done, case closed on Acathla and the Slayer back where she belonged, she moved on to the next item to research.

And life went on.

Story ©Susan Matthews/APCKRFAN/PhantomRoses.com