"You did what?"

Willow tried not to hunch her shoulders. "I invited Cordelia. And Wesley and Angel. Well, for the fireworks part, not the sunshiney picnicky part." She stared back at Anya with her resolve face on. "Cordy was one of the gang before you were - all three of them were -- and she and Wesley saved Giles' life. So you're going to be polite to her - to all of them - if it kills you. Because if you aren't..."

She left the threat dangle, not sure what exactly you could threaten an ex vengeance demon with.

"She'll behave herself," Xander said. "Won't you, honey?"

"Oh, fine. But she better not go anywhere near you."

"I don't think that's going to be a problem," Buffy said dryly.

"Hey. We made peace before she left," Xander said.

"Making peace doesn't exactly match up to 'I wanna hold your hand,' Xander. Especially not where Cordelia's concerned."

"Point made, and taken. Now can we move on to the important stuff? Like how much food we're going to need?"

Buffy, ensconced on the sofa with the phone, rolled her eyes. "No, you're not missing much here," she told Riley, who was on his way back from San Diego - more military-type papers to sign. "The usual petty squabbling. And speaking of which, my dad called again. Twice in a summer, must be some kind of record. Yeah he loves me, but it's more genetic than anything else. Daughter equals unconditional love, which is great but I wish it got triggered more than every couple of years, you know?"

She checked the status of the food debate with one ear. Willow and Xander were arguing over traditional dogs and burgers versus barbecued chicken. Anya apparently needed to be told that "dogs" didn't mean actual canines. Tara had disappeared into the kitchen earlier, and- from the sounds - was mixing up more lemonade.

"Uh-oh. You might want to bring extra dogs with you - I sense a Xander pig-out in the making." She laughed. "What is it with guys and hot dogs? No, take it back, don't want to know. Nope, Giles promises no prophesies are on tap to ruin the long holiday weekend. No vampires, demons, strange geologic fluctuations or old friends with evil intent coming to town. Discounting the Los Angeles contingent, anyway. Yeah, Will invited them. No, you won't have to talk to him. You're not getting all jealousy, are you?

She listened for a moment, then smiled, twining the cord around her fingers. "Good. I doubt he'll come, anyway. Big friendly not-world-ending gatherings were never his thing."

#
"It looks worse in the daylight," Wesley observed.

"Yeah, well. Willow said nobody wanted to buy the land, and the school board was totally unanimous in not wanting to rebuild on the site, so..."

"So they merely abandoned it?"

"Guess so."

The former high school still lay in ruins, weeds and vines overgrowing portions of the remaining structure after a surprisingly wet summer. There was no graffiti on any of the brick walls, but other than that it looked like any other half-destroyed building. The sat in the car, pulled alongside the curb. Neither of them had made any move to get out, satisfied to merely observe from a distance.

"You seen enough?" she asked finally. "Cause it's really weirding me out, looking at it."

"Hmm? Ah, yes. Sorry about that. I just wish... I do wish that things could have ended differently."

Cordelia shifted in her seat and touched her companion's shoulder lightly. "Wishes, beggars. Remember? Only room for one brooder in this partnership, Wes. And, sorry, you just don't look as good when you do it."

That made him smile. "Yes well, perhaps after a few decades more of practice..."

"Perish the thought. Come on, enough with the morbid hometown sightseeing tour. Time to drop off trunk-riding boy back there at the mansion, and get to the park. We were supposed to be there almost half an hour ago, and I'm not wasting an entrance on them."

"Aren't picnics supposed to take place, ah, in the afternoon?"

Cordelia shook her head as he pulled the car away from the curb and headed towards the other end of town. "Not on the Fourth, British guy. Just be glad we're not there to sign up for the three-legged race. Although, we're both close to the same height, so it wouldn't have been a total disaster..."

Wesley silently thanked god for large favors.

#
"So where are they?" Willow looked up from where she and Tara were sorting sandwiches for later.

"Give them time, Will," Buffy said. She was lying on her side, her head resting on Riley's thigh. "It's only noon - they had to drive down in holiday traffic. Unless Cordelia's driving, it'll take them forever. Way to go, Giles!"

Her Watcher, looking very pleased with himself, made a slight bow in her direction as Xander scrambled to catch the football the older man had just thrown in his direction. Riley gave Giles a high-five, which the older man returned after a second's hesitation.

"Should he be doing that?" Willow, diverted, started to worry in a different direction. "I mean, the doctor said -"

Tara looked up, worried as well, but Buffy waved a casual hand at them both. "Nah, he's fine. Fresh air, gentle exercise - just what the doctor ordered, right? Besides, it's good to see them all making nice. Gives a girl warm-and-fuzzies -- hey, there's Cordy! And - oh my god, is that Wesley?"

She sat up, as the three girls stared across the park at the two figures coming towards them. Cordelia was immediately recognizable, but the man next to her... the height was right, and the build...but Buffy couldn't remember the last time she had seen her non-Watcher wearing khakis. Okay, she couldn't remember the first time, either. And a brown polo shirt...whatever influence Cordy had on him, it was all to the good.

"His hair," Willow said in a tone of...something.

Buffy's gaze rose. Yeah, his hair was... darker? Lighter? Longer! "No hair gel," she noted. "Who knew he scruffed well?"

There was a moment of confusion as the two newcomers joined those already on the blanket, and the guys came in as well. A round of handshaking and hugs, and an uncomfortable moment when Anya put herself between Xander and Cordelia.

"Down, girl," Cordelia said. "I don't poach." She left Xander and Anya arguing, then turned to Tara, giving her a thorough look-over. "Cute," she said to Willow. "You're moving up in the world."

Buffy and Riley both gaped, Willow blinked, Tara blushed, and Giles bit the inside of his check to keep from laughing. Wesley merely shook his head in resignation. "What?" she asked him heatedly. "I'm not right?"

The tension broke just as Giles was starting to choke from not laughing, Willow having decided that Cordelia wasn't making fun of them.

"Some things never change," Buffy observed to Giles as they rearranged themselves on the blankets. "Cordelia's still Cordelia. Tactless as ever."

The older man looked at her, astonished. "Really?" he said, reaching for a plate on which Willow had just deposited a roast beef sandwich. "I actually thought she handled the situation quite well."

Buffy snorted. "Right. Tara's still beet red."

Giles looked over to where Willow's girlfriend was seated. She was indeed still quite red. She was also speaking to Wesley with as much animation as he had ever seen in her, both of them completely set at ease. Cordelia's comment, while blunt, had taken a potentially awkward situation and made it into something amusing, to be talked about, not danced around. What he had sensed about her, that drug-foggy morning in the hospital, was confirmed here. Her sharpness had been tempered, somehow.

Wesley too, was changed, he thought. Not so much the blueberry scone now. It wasn't just the more casual look - there was something about the way he held himself; a lack of stiffness in his body, a more relaxed look around the eyes.

"Hey, none of that!" He turned, surprised, to see Cordelia next to him. Buffy had moved off at some point to sit with Riley, her head leaning against his shoulder. The brunette balanced her plate on one knee as she sat cross-legged next to him. "I know all the signs of incipient brood," she continued. "And I'm not going to have any of it, okay? Today is to be totally brood-free, at least until the boss gets here."

Her words were teasing, but her eyes were serious, and he realized once again the depth of the debt he owed her.

"Cordelia, I -"

Her look turned wary. "No sappiness either, okay?"

He hadn't been sure what the hell he was going to say, anyway. "Agreed." Looking away, he found Wesley looking at them, his gaze speculative. But when Giles raised an eyebrow in inquiry, the other man merely smiled faintly, and looked away.

#
By late afternoon, they had consumed everything in the oversized picnic baskets, digested, played a more enthusiastic-than-successful game of touch football (girls against guys, with the Slayer being sent to the blanket for tackling Xander one time too many), made a raid on the unsuspecting ice cream truck ("I hate these things," Xander said as he devoured his second Rocketpop), and watched as the park filled up with other revelers, all settling in for the best view of the fireworks.

Joyce arrived around dusk, bringing with her another blanket, and a canister of OFF!.

"You're the best, mom," Buffy told her, gratefully spraying her exposed skin, then handing the can to Riley. "I swear, there must be something about Slayer blood that they just love."

"Yeah, you'd think with all the vampires in town, the mosquitoes would just give up and go away," Xander groused.

"Interesting thought," Wesley began, "but-"

"Wes." Cordelia slapped him lightly on the shoulder. "Shut up."

"But it is -"

"Wes."

The voice was deeper than Cordelia's.

"Angel." Buffy managed to remain where she was as her former boyfriend stepped out of the shadows. There was still light enough to see clearly, but the sun was obviously out of implosion-causing range. He had always loved dusk, she remembered. And hated it, too.

His eyes met hers, his face not as deadpan as she remembered. A twinge of - something - and then it was gone. She blinked, fighting the urge to go to him, to be held in his arms, remembering again that he wasn't hers any more, that she wasn't his.

"I was merely saying -" Wesley tried again.

"Wes!" Both of them in concert this time, and the look on his face - smugly satisfied - made Buffy realize that the ex-Watcher had been teasing them. And they were teasing back.

She processed that realization. Okay, she'd dealt with the whole Cordy-Wesley thing, even if they'd finally gotten over that whole vibe-ing thing from high school, but this...this was weird. She couldn't remember Angel ever being that kind of, well, playful before. She ran through her memories, and only came up with a few moments that qualified.

New scenario, she thought. Okay. Gather info, then freak. Riley, sitting behind and to her left, put an arm around her shoulder and she leaned into it, thankful for the warm support.

"You just came down?" Willow looked at the sky, confused.

"No, I came down with Cordelia and Wesley."

"Vampire express-- packed into the trunk of the car. It's a good thing he doesn't own a Toyota," Cordelia told her. "We dropped him off at the mansion, so he could do a little housecleaning."

"Dusting?" That was from Tara. Cordelia wrinkled her nose. "Staking. Then dusting."

"I'm glad you could make it," Giles ignored the by-play and stood to greet Angel. The two men stood, on opposite sides of the blankets, and looked at each other. The vampire swallowed hard, and dropped his gaze first.

"Good. I was afraid I was going to have to, like, tie you two together like some really bad buddy movie or something." Cordelia shifted to make room for Angel next to her. "Sit. You do that lurking thing, and everyone's going to have a crick in their necks before the fireworks even start. You know Anya, right? And that's Tara, Willow's new squeeze."

Tara managed not to blush this time.

#
An hour later, and Buffy was still watching. And gathering information. She hadn't ever been real good on nuances before, but she was getting the hang of it, she thought. The way Angel tugged at Cordelia's hair to get her attention. The way Cordelia leaned against Wesley when she reached for something - not flirtatious-lean, just matter-of-fact. The way Wesley corrected Angel when he got the fact of a story wrong, and Angel made him tell it instead. The way one or the other of them always was between Angel and Riley.

Family, she realized with a weird icky feeling in her stomach. They're acting like a family. Like we do with each other. The stuff we almost lost, before.

"Hey."

Buffy started, then relaxed. "Way too sneaky," she told her friend.

"Nah, you were just thinking deep Buffy thoughts," Willow replied. "Angel stuff?"

Buffy looked at Angel again. "Not really. Just... leaving Sunnydale was really good for them, wasn't it?"

Willow followed her gaze. "Nobody knew them in L.A.," she said, shrugging. "They got to start all over, I guess. Reinvent themselves."

"Yeah." Buffy played with a blade of grass by her toes. "You guys could have done that. Left Sunnydale. Been someone else, someone different."

"I happen to like who I am," Willow said, slightly indignant.

"Yeah but...you know what I mean. You could have gotten away from all this."

Willow snorted. "Yeah, looks like Cordelia did a great job of getting away. Look, Buffy, there's something you tend to forget, and I'm going to keep on reminding you. I could have left. Xander could have left. Giles could have walked away any time in the past year. But we stayed. And it's not just 'cause we're tied to you. It's cause we wanted to. We chose to. Okay?"

Buffy turned to look at her friend, their faces now lit only by the flickering of the citronella candles Joyce and Tara were setting out. "Yeah. I hear ya."

#

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