(Untitled)

[pylean_cow]

Fred Burkle is aware of the date.

Of course she knows it's not the real date; that with so many people on the island from so many different dimensions and with completely different calendars and units of measurement, the date on the island can only be arbitrarily chosen in order to simplify things. Though, she's not sure why whoever picked the

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[chose]

It should hurt less, given how long Angel spent away before finally going home, but it doesn't. It shouldn't make a difference to her, given how upset she still is with him, but it does. She shouldn't have been checking his hut for signs after all these months, but she was. For the sake of not being entirely contrary, the first thing Buffy knows she should do is seek out everyone who knew - knows - him and deliver the news, so she does.

By chance, she finds Fred in the kitchen, but it takes less than a second for her to all but chicken out. She isn't sure she has it in her to break this news to Fred, not if it's also her birthday. She forces a smile, waves. "There's an earworm if I've ever hear done. Someone you know or...?"

[pylean_cow]

"Kinda," Fred says, and despite her melancholy over missing home and her family on her technical birthday, smiles at Buffy anyway. "I mean, assuming transport to this dimension is instantaneous, it's not actually for about a month, but there could have been some kind of limbo between Los Angeles and here." She shrugs, then adds another slice of boar meat to her sandwich.

"But the date's right, anyway."

[chose]

"Happy birthday," Buffy exhales, giving her best attempt at an appropriately cheery smile. She doesn't have a mirror on hand, but she's almost certain that it falls short, corners of her mouth not reaching quite so high as they should. "I think this calls for a cake," she adds, because when she opens her mouth to speak, the words she knows need to be said don't manage their way out.

[pylean_cow]

"Thanks, but that's okay. It's not like it's my first birthday without a birthday cake," Fred replies, remembering the five birthdays when she didn't even have anyone to talk to. She'd kept a tally of how long she'd been in Pylea and had almost missed her birthday altogether the first year.

She puts the finishing touches on her sandwich, adding the second slice of bread, and that's when she notices that Buffy's 'happy birthday' isn't really all that happy at all. "Are you okay? I really don't mind, you know, the sandwiches here are delicious."

[chose]

Her first instinct, however messed up it may be, is to lie. To pretend everything it okay. Maybe she's spent so long doing just that, it's become second nature to her, but this is one instance where it doesn't come at all easily to Buffy. In fact, even as she opens her mouth to insist, the words that come out are not those she intended to say.

"Angel's gone." It takes her longer than it should to realize it's her own voice saying it, her own lips moving, and when she does, Buffy slaps a hand over her mouth. "I'm so sorry."

[pylean_cow]

"He's just takin' some time away," Fred replies easily, because she knows it's been a while since she's seen Angel, but she's not worried at all. "He did it once back home too, after... after someone he knew died."

She decides that it's probably better if she doesn't say that it was because Buffy died. Fred hasn't met too many people who have died before and come back-- except vampires, but they don't really count-- but she figures it's probably not a good idea to bring that kind of thing up. Especially not over sandwiches.

[chose]

She knew this wouldn't be easy, but until now, Buffy isn't sure she fully grasped just how difficult telling Fred would be. She's had her share of losses over the years, both on island and off, but it's rarely ever been on Buffy to deliver the news. She remembers how harrowing it felt to pull Dawn out of class and tell her about their mom, and that particular memory does nothing to keep the tears from pooling just behind her eyelashes.

The least she can do is meet Fred at eye level, and that's exactly what Buffy forces herself to do. "This isn't like that, this is...

His clothes are gone. I, I was checking his hut and everything he brought with him from LA, it's all gone. And I think he left with it, or - or it left with him, but when that happens - I'm really sorry."

[pylean_cow]

Fred is quiet for a long moment then. It's not that she has to think about what Buffy's said, or even that she has to decide whether or not it sounds possible. Of course it's possible. People are taken from this dimension all the time, just like Fred was taken from hers. So either Angel's back home now, back to a time and place where he's never even met Fred, or he's somewhere else now. It's just as statistically possible for him to be somewhere else.

She grabs a knife and starts to cut her sandwich into halves, then into fourths.

"So, you're sure?" she asks, voice quiet.