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Willow swiped at the cloud of cigarette smoke in vain. The bar was crowded for a Wednesday night, and she couldn�t wait until last call. It wasn�t a bad job; she and Cordelia had worked worse jobs in the past. But the thrill of working in a bar outside of a military post was getting old. The same people came in every night, had the same drinks, and complained about the same things. Jim, the owner of the club, wasn�t all that bad to work for. It was just the fact that this wasn�t what she had imagined she�d be doing at the age of twenty-three. She had plans, big ones. That hadn�t included moving every four or five months, to a new town, new people, and a new pathetic job.

She missed her friends. At least she had been buddied up with Cordelia, this way she still had a piece of home with her. They had left Sunnydale together almost three years ago. Three years? Yup, in a couple of days it would be three years. Was the plan working? Or were she and Cordelia still moving around, exiling themselves for no need?

******

Cordelia glared the young GI into submission. What was it with drunken men and the need to pinch waitress�s butts? She was ready to snap. The job had been fun when she and Willow had first started, but it was getting old, and fast.

How were the others? Were they happy, or did they find having to pick up their lives every couple of months getting to become unbearable. Did they think of the friendships that were put on indefinite hold one summer night, to keep the world safe from Glory? Were they even alive? These thoughts were always running through the former May Queen�s mind, even though she and Willow had stopped talking about them out loud. Except for once a year, on the anniversary date, that was only three days away. They would break out the strong stuff and drink the night away, making toasts to those they left behind.

****

Xander watched as Anya unpacked their small amount of possessions. They could never keep much, made the moves a lot easier that way. The less they had the less attachment to the places they had been, and people they had met. They allowed themselves one small shoebox of pictures from their past. Pictures filled with innocent smiles, funny antics, and special occasions. Once in awhile they would open the box to look at the pictures. Mostly it was the security of just knowing the box was near by.

He felt like he was losing a little piece of himself everyday. Thank God for Anya. Without her he would have given up years ago. He wanted to go home, to walk down the streets of Sunnydale to Gile�s apartment. To see his friends gathered, waiting for him. But he had given up that luxury almost three years ago. Who�s plan had it been? It seemed to have been perfect at the time, a master plan to fool Glory on her hunt for the Key.

****

Gile�s read from the book, getting frustrated knowing that a certain redhead could�ve found the answer hours ago. He could almost feel all of their presences around him. Xander slouched back shoving foodstuff in his mouth. Willow soothing sore feelings, as she hacked her way through the internet. Anya and her annoying habit of bringing up useful information hours into a research party. Even Cordelia, Wesley and Angel. The way they�d show up from LA when needed. Where were they all, were they all okay? He was like a father to some, a friend to others. This was a lot harder than even he thought it was going to be. He was lucky to be with both Buffy and Dawn.

The two girls weren�t the same young fountains of youths that they had once been. They had been jaded. All in one year they lost their Mother, their Father abandoned any responsibility he should have shown. If all this wasn�t hard enough, Buffy lost Riley twice. Once to the Initiative, the other to death. The poor boy hadn�t lasted three months, when word came that he had died. Reeling from her Mother�s death, and hearing of his death had pushed the slayer too far over the edge. She had lost her sparkle.

It hadn�t helped that after Angel�s soul had been anchored that the two had forced themselves into the relationship they both knew was already dead. No these years had not been kind to the three of them. He only hoped that the others were fairing well.
****

�Wes man pull the stick out of your ass. I live here too, and I�m getting tired of all these damn rules.� Gunn shouted at the Englishman who was sitting across the room, glaring back.

�Will you two shut up!� Lindsey put his head in his heads trying to think if his fate would have been any worse if he had just stayed with Wolfram and Hart. Out of all the people he could�ve been paired with why these two? He and Cordelia had started being honest about their attraction to one another, now he got to stay awake all night wondering where his beautiful girl was.

�This sucks. Every year at this time we all go through this. It�s like some sort of freaky PMS thing.� Gunn grumbled. It was days until the three-year mark. It had only been three years, seemed like thirty. He had long ago forgotten the purpose of this entire thing. True the three of them had become pretty good friends, but with out some sort of reason to get up in the morning, life just wasn�t the same.
************

Angel stepped out onto the pier, staring out to sea. With a heavy heart he tried to remember each of their faces. Of the oddities that made them all family. He knew by being a vampire he was going to out live them all, having to one day say goodbye. But knowing they were most likely still all alive, and not being able to be near them, was slowly driving him insane.

He had just recently arrived to the small Maine coast town. It was well into the summer season, and no one would think twice about his sudden arrival. He made it a habit to move every couple of months, mostly to larger cities; it was easier to get lost when people are ignoring you. This time he wanted to move to a small town, and the quiet it could provide.

He had started out with Buffy, Dawn and Giles. First moving to Denver, then to Chicago. It was in Chicago that he and the slayer finally admitted that what they once had, and fought so hard for was no longer there. It wasn�t a tear filled good-bye. She had had so many of them that one more didn�t faze her. It was the closure he had needed to go on with out the blonde in his life.

Now he dreamt about a redhead. He snorted at the thought. He had so many chances to notice her, but like the thickheaded idiot he was he had just seen her as one of the group. The little redheaded girl who was good for telling him where to find Buffy. Not the redheaded witch who saved his soul, brought him back from Hell, and offered unconditional friendship that no one in all this life and unlife had ever offered.

Closing his eyes he sent out the same prayer he made every night. May the Gods watch over his family, and keep them safe.
********
�It�s almost time.�

�I know. The balance has been tipped with out their help. Evil is winning.�

�Isn�t ironic the thing they all have been running from died months after they fled?�

�Our warrior no longer fights, our seer no longer sees. The slayer no longer slays. The witch no longer uses her powers, and the others stay in hiding. They had thought by running they were keeping each other safe, but they are all forgetting the importance of the fight. It will be time soon.�

The new oracles nodded in agreement and started to make their plans.