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Disclaimer: Everyone Btvs-related belongs to Joss, blah blah blah.
Prologue
In the months following the departures of some of her closest friends, the one thing that gave Stefanie Marks even the slightest amount of stableness was the journal she had taken to writing in every day. Her nights were spent just composing her thoughts instead of sleeping. In the end, it worked well at keeping her sane.
However, Stefanie knew that the pain would never truly go away, no matter how much she tried. The presence of Ivory Summers, daughter to the two devoted-to-each-other vampires, Buffy and Angel, saw to that. With both Ivory's parents gone, it had been left to Stefanie to raise the young girl, alongside her own daughter, Risa. At first, it was difficult, but Stefanie soon settled into a routine where seeing after the two infants proved manageable.
What made it worse was that the memories of the events that caused these losses were still very fresh. They haunted Stefanie most of the time, even when she least expected them to. She thought more than once of seeking professional help to sort it all out. But what would she tell such a person? *My best friend, who is a Vampire Slayer turned vampire, was lost a few weeks ago.* That would go over really well.
Consequently, Stefanie was left to suffer in silence. Then, one evening when the never-ceasing nightmares woke her from a deep sleep, she found time to glide over to the plush window seat.
She sat there silently, staring out into the cruel night sky, lost in her brooding thoughts. "It's not fair," Stefanie mused out loud. "But it's funny how quickly everything you live for can be lost." She wiped a tear from her eye, then retrieved her journal from beneath the cushion at her feet, opening it to write.
It's been six months since I last saw Buffy, Stefanie started. Everyday gets a little easier, but it may take a lifetime before all the hurt goes away. Perhaps it was because we had survived so much together or maybe it was because we kept fighting back whatever fate threw at us with no sweat... Either way, Buffy and I and all our friends somehow got it into our heads that we were indestructible. And, oh, did we pay the price for such reasoning...
Stefanie took a deep breath, wiping away a few more tears. We were fools, she continued recording. Perhaps fate saw that we had gotten away with our good fortune long enough. Whatever it was, it threw us the biggest curve, one that was oh so devastating. In just one second, our lives were insured to never be the same.
Stefanie sniffled, realizing that too many tears were blurring her sight to continue writing. She set the journal aside, leaning closer to the window and resting her head against the pane of glass. Her grief overtook her quickly as the memories were dredged up once more.
She missed all of them: Buffy, Angel, Giles, Cordelia, and Giles' wife, Jenny. The only ones out of the whole group who remained in Sunnydale were herself, Willow and Xander, and their son. The others were simply gone.
"Amazing how much has changed," Stefanie whispered. "I thought we'd always be a team, that nothing could separate us. What a fool I was." At that, Stefanie thought back to the events that had started it all. It seemed like only yesterday that Buffy and Angel's wedding had taken place. But at the same time, it felt like an eternity ago...