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[biteandavoid]

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[proactive_with_pep]

Tradition used to be spending the summer with her dad. The entire summer. Whether it was spent at the beach, at the mall, or traveling with him whenever work would call him away during her visit with him, he made sure they had as much time together as he could. Only tradition took a sharp left and veered off the highway towards LAX and never looked back about a week into her summer vacation.

So it's no surprise by the time August rolls around, two months into her vacation with Hank, she pushes to go home earlier than agreed upon. She's been bored out of her skull ─ there's only so much shopping even she can do. She's done being miserable. Done moping in her room, or what used to be her room at her dad's since he turned it into some fitness studio several months before. Something about a midlife crisis or whatever.

She doesn't call or, well that's it, really, to tell anyone she's coming home sooner than expected. Leaving it as a sort of surprise. One she hopes they like.

Mainly Angel, though.

Of course her plan to drop all her suitcases at the house and run to Angel doesn't go accordingly. Joyce steals her away for some bonding. Asking how the summer went and if she had fun. Buffy lies. Right through her teeth. She's not in the mood to hear her mom talk about how she knew Hank would pull a stunt like that, and rag on every little wrong thing (okay, a lot of big, wrong things) her dad does.

"It was fun. A little boring at times but yanno, that's how it sometimes is with dad." She tells Joyce, brushing it off as no big and praying Joyce takes it at face value and doesn't ask anything else.

Thankfully that's exactly what she does. Allowing Buffy to, "Heading out to see Willow and Xander." With the promise she'd be safe and that'd she'd be back early. Even if it wasn't a school night. Technically it wouldn't be a school night for a while. Another two weeks to be exact. Two weeks of nearly uninterrupted time she'd get to spend with Angel. Who she starts looking for out on patrol, since it's already dark out.

That, however, does not go the way she hoped. The first vampire she runs into is not him. It's some wannabe biker. All teeth and bad hygiene. Same as his friends that join him out of nowhere, or so it seems. Hey, what's a homecoming if not for a few fanged jerks trying to ruin her outfit. And, yeah, kill her and drink from her like she's a chalice, yada, yada, yada. At least that's what one of the vampires hisses at her before she slays him. Then the next, and the next, until she's alone.

Almost alone. As she dusts her dress off and combs her fingers through her hair, trying to work a few leaves out of it, that unmistakable and unique tingle goes up her spine and floods her senses, letting her know, "Angel." is there, even before she turns around to him.