June 5, 2003

Dear Diary,

There was a Scooby meeting today and I was invited!

I was sitting out by the pool with some of the girls when Kennedy came down and said Buffy wanted to see me. Kennedy looked weird - sort of half upset and half pissed-off.  At first I thought maybe I had done something to make her angry.  Then I realized that it was more a I’ve-just-had-a-fight-with-my-girlfriend look.

While I was still trying to decide if I should say anything, Andrew came over and asked if she wanted to go on an emergency supply run.  (He was out of potato chips.)  She thought about it for a minute and then they left.

I’m not sure what’s going on with Kennedy and Willow. They never seem to do anything together.  Not that there’s much to do stuck in this motel, but you know what I mean.  It’s like each wants to do something different only neither one knows what that different something is.

But I digress.  (Isn’t that the neatest word?  I heard Giles say it so I looked it up and this is my very first chance to use it.)  When I got to our room Buffy was there with Giles and Willow and Xander.  I knew right away the Scooby Executive Board was in session and I wondered why I was there.  I sort of half expected Buffy to tell me it was a mistake and I should go away.  But she didn’t. She said a lot of stuff needed to be talked about and since some of it involved me I should stay.

Giles got a chair for me, Xander handed me a Coke, and Willow leaned over and whispered that if I wanted to take notes she could help with the color coding.  Just like that - I was a Scooby.

Willow said she’d talked to her parents and that they were okay.  They’d been on a business trip of some kind (I’ve never been exactly sure what it is they do but they sure travel a lot.) and they said they were very busy right now and would get in touch with her again at a more convenient time.

Willow didn’t say anything but I could tell they didn’t ask how she got out of Sunnydale or where she was or even if she was okay.  I think Xander guessed, too, cause when Willow got to the “convenient time” part he took hold of her hand and held it real tight.

Then it was Xander’s turn.  He said he’d called his Uncle Rory to find out if his parents were there and his uncle had told him that the last time he’d talked to them they’d said they weren’t going to leave Sunnydale.  Xander and Willow were still holding hands but now it seemed more like she was holding his hand than he was holding hers.

Buffy said she’d talked to Faith and that Robin is better. (I’m never going to get used to calling him that.  Everyone knows teachers and principals don’t have first names.  It’s a rule.)  Anyway, he’s still going to need to stay in the hospital for at least another week.  No one said, but I guess he and Faith are a couple now because she’s spending most of her time there with him.

Giles said he’d talked to Percy and until everything is straightened out the Council is going to take care of the bills.  I was really proud of Buffy.  She only made threats twice while Giles was telling about Percy’s plans for the new watchers.

Then came the part that involved me.  Buffy said we needed to make some decisions since home is at the bottom of a great big hole and Dad is totally out of the picture.  He hasn’t even bothered to return our calls.  Too busy, I guess.  At least that was his excuse when he finally called after Mom died.  This time his secretary just said that he was glad we were ok and that he'd get in touch sometime to catch up.  Catch up?!  Like our house falls into hell every day.  Well, maybe it does, but still, you think he'd call.

I told Buffy I didn’t care whether we ever heard from him again.  That she and Willow and Xander and Giles were a better family than Dad had ever been.  Things got kind of mushy then.  Which I am totally not going to write about.  But we decided that we are a family and we’re staying together.  All we’ve got to do now is figure out where home is going to be.

I wish Giles could stay, too, but I know there’s lots of important Council stuff he has to do since he’s the only real Watcher left.  (I wonder why they call the ones who don’t watch anything Watchers?  Shouldn’t they be called something else.  Report Readers or something? )

Nobody’s really saying anything about Giles leaving. Xander just sort of looks away and Willow puts on her resolve face.  Buffy’s not saying it, but I know she’s going to miss him, too.  Her mouth smiles when she talks about it, but her eyes look all sad.  But she keeps saying that we’re all going to keep in touch and it won’t be like it was before.  This time before he goes, I’m going to make him promise to come to visit lots and lots.  And if there’s one thing about Giles, it’s that he always keeps his promises.

Not like a certain father I could name.

More later.