Buffy doesn't leave home. She IS home. Protecting the nest.

Have you read this bit (http://www.teaattheford.net/conversation.php?id=1821#29031) of Georgia on my Mind by macha3? Macha's really into this idea -- she touches it in descant descending, too, beautifully -- Buffy as hostess and protector of Home. In the post-series part I've linked, instead of leaving home to start a Hero's Journey, she takes home with her -- literally and metaphorically. And she keeps on scooping up her murderers and outcasts and bringing them home, along the way. It's really a neat read.