A return to the world.

[scooby_leader]

It had been a short hiatus from everything social, but it had, indeed, been a hiatus. For about a week, the only person she'd seen with any regularity was Connor, but even that hardly counted. She had been a bit distant from him because there really was no avoiding him, with them living together and all. She didn't mind having him around, but

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[crazyspacegirl]

River liked to climb trees. A different point of view than she could get from down on the ground was often the best way to see things clearly.

She didn't often find other people in her trees, but she wasn't really surprised to find Buffy on the next branch.

"Hello."

[scooby_leader]

Buffy let her head swing back and it took a minute to process what she was seeing.

"Hey, River!" She said, scooting a little closer. "I didn't see you here. I'm not interrupting, am I?"

[crazyspacegirl]

"No. I'm not doing anything but sitting in a tree."

To be truthful, it was nice to have company sometimes, even in trees.

[scooby_leader]

"Same," she said, sighing and leaning against the trunk. "It's nice though." She smiled. "You doing alright?"

[crazyspacegirl]

"I am very fine," answered River. "How have you been? Did you see the storm? It was spectacular."

[scooby_leader]

"I've been... Well, you're too smart to lie to, River, I've been kinda shitty," she said, forcing a small smile. "But the storm was gorgeous."

[crazyspacegirl]

"Jayne hasn't been mean to you, has he?" River asked, concerned.

[scooby_leader]

"What? Oh, God, that's an entire other story," she said, dropping her head into her hands.

[crazyspacegirl]

"I hope you were not mean to him." River wouldn't have thought that Buffy would do anything to hurt Jayne, but sometimes it was hard to tell about people. She almost missed being able to really read minds, like she had before. Sometimes it made things a lot easier.

[scooby_leader]

There was that flash of danger River had mentioned to Buffy. She was right, it was intense and overwhelming, but it didn't scare Buffy so much as disarm her for a moment.

"Quite the opposite," she said, rubbing the heel of her hands into her eyes.

[crazyspacegirl]

"Okay."

River relaxed a bit. As much as she liked Buffy, Jayne was crew and no one was allowed to mess with her crew. Even Jayne.

"What's the matter, then?"

[scooby_leader]

"Well, this man that I loved? His son showed up and is living with me, and I think he's got a... crush on me or something. And I'm falling for someone that I really, really shouldn't."

[crazyspacegirl]

"That sounds very... complicated."

River still had a hard time understanding the relationships between people. No one ever said what they meant when the sort of love Buffy was talking about was involved. They danced around and hurt each other and hardly anyone was ever happy.

It was a very bad rate of return for the time and effort spent. Not at all efficient.

[scooby_leader]

"I kissed him," Buffy admitted, not sure why she was doing as much. "And he always freaks out when I tell him the truth, but he's always there when I need him. I hate it because he... doesn't want me," she said, dropping her head.

[crazyspacegirl]

"Well, you should find someone who does want you, then."

Why did things that seemed perfectly obvious and reasonable to River never occur to anyone else? Probably the same reason she didn't understand why anyone did anything most of the time.

[scooby_leader]

"That had occured to me," she said, smiling dryly. "But I'm... kind of stuck on him."