1.
They stop the bus in L.A. and when Giles disappears to make some phone calls, Buffy sneaks away for just a few minutes alone.
She stops at the first bar she finds, a seedy hole in the wall that boasts a sticky floor and stinky patrons. But it doesn't look like they'll ask her for i.d. (it's buried in Sunnydale) and it can't be any more sticky and stinky than a hellmouth full of ubervamps.
The bartender looks at her like she's insane when she tries to order a strawberry daiquiri, so she shrugs and points to the first tap she sees. The beer is dark and sort of solid-looking and definitely solid tasting, but it does the trick, loosens her limbs and numbs her brain enough that when Faith struts in and sinks on the stool beside her, Buffy doesn't mind.
Later, in a bathroom that is cleaner than the rest of the place (though that's not saying much), Faith sinks her fingers into Buffy and kisses away the numbness.
Buffy doesn't mind that, either.
2. Rome is fun, she thinks, and giggles. Stumbles a little on the dance floor and giggles again.
Lucky for her Gabriel is veryveryclose and she grabs his bicep to steady herself, gropes it a little once she has her feet more or less under her again. He wraps an arm around her waist and tugs her even closer and wow is he hot and is that his. . .?
She giggles again.
Gabriel leans down and his mouth brushes her ear. Buffy thinks maybe he says something about taking her home but it's kind of hard to tell when all she can think about are very lusty things. She just smiles and nods and when they get into his limo (which warrants another giggle) he gives the driver her address without even asking and she thinks maybe she should try to file that way, for later.
Right now she's busy. Mouth and hands and wow he's good with his hands, because she didn't even notice her top disappearing. She tells him that and he smiles. He has the smile of an angel, she thinks, and maybe she tells him that too or maybe she just imagines those lips turning into a knowing smirk before he wraps them around her nipple.
3. On the first anniversary of Sunnydale's demise Buffy cleans out her savings and books a ticket to Madagascar. Xander is waiting for her when she steps off the plane, looking tanned and lean but definitely not better.
They drink too much bourbon, say more in silence than either could bear to speak, and when Xander kisses her with eyes that are open and daring her to protest, Buffy leans into him and lets the past go.
4. There's a knock on her door and she opens it to find a lanky American college boy with blue eyes and a two word greeting that is a punch in the gut.
Angel's dead, he says and after she realizes she's not going to actually double over in pain she considers returning the favor.
Instead she turns around, leaves him standing in the doorway as she makes her way to the cabinet that holds the leftover tequila from Andrew's stupid Cinco de Mayo party. When she gets back to the living room the door is closed and the guy is sitting on her couch. She unscrews the cap, takes a swig straight from the bottle and coughs as it burns down her throat.
They pass the bottle back and forth while Connor (his name is Connor, Angel's son, when did Angel have a son?) tells her about the fight in L.A. and Buffy tells him how much she loved his dad.
By the time he's under her on the couch, inside her and moving in stuttering thrusts, it feels like she's known him since she was 16.
5. Angel's not dead, after all, and once he gets over the fact that she screwed his son (apparently a really sore spot between them) he insinuates himself back in her life with a vengeance.
Buffy takes a bite out of the strawberry Angel is holding in front of her mouth, then takes another sip of the offered champagne. It bubbles down her throat, into her tummy, all the way through her and it's amazing that alcohol can make a person feel this way.
The next morning, completely sober and completely naked next to Angel, Buffy figures out the bubbly feeling wasn't the champagne at all.
The End