AN E-BUFF-ANY
By: Tezza1502
Disclaimer: I hereby declare that I do not, in any way, own or make money from 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer'. It is © Joss Whedon, the WB, Mutant Enemy Productions, and various other business entities. I'm just playing in their sandbox, is all. I'll put it back in its proper place before I leave, I promise!
Distribution: Um, sure, if you feel like its worthy. Just make sure it's still credited as MY story, and drop me a line so that I know where to go and look at it when you're done.
Notes: Set in the very first episode of Season Two. What if things had proceeded a little different when Buffy decided to dance with Xander just after she arrived back? What would change?
Just a little bit of fluff that came to me one day. Only a one-shot. Pointless as all get out, but seeing as I haven't posted anything in months, I need to keep my eye in. So here you go...
Buffy had spotted Angel skulking around the edges of the dance floor of the Bronze about five minutes ago. He had been acting a little standoffish since she had returned the other day from her summer with her father, and it was pissing her off.
'How dare he! I come back from the dead, defeat one the oldest Vampires on record, and all he can do is act like it's no biggie! I mean really, what's a girl gotta do to get some credit around here?' Just then, she spotted Xander Harris out of the corner of her eye, sitting next to his childhood friend, Willow Rosenberg. He was watching the Slayer glide around the edges of the dance floor in her little black dress, while trying to look like he was not watching her. 'Hmmm…' A thought became a plan so quickly, it neatly side stepped the 'Is this really a good idea?' part of her brain. 'Time to see whether Angel feels anything for me. And you, my Xander-shaped friend, just volunteered to be the means to my end.' With that horribly mangled mish-mash of a thought, Buffy set about dragging Xander away from Willow and on to the dance floor, where she proceeded to polish his crotch with her buttocks.
After several minutes of grinding against him, she twisted and turned around him so that she could keep an eye on her undead paramour, gauging the much older man's reaction to her actions.
'Nup. Still standing there like a non-jealous lump!' She pouted. 'Time to turn up the pressure a notch.'
Stopping what she had been doing to Xander, she leant in and moulded herself against him. She chuckled to herself as she felt his entire body stiffen against her. Breathing huskily into his ear, she whispered, "Did I ever thank you for coming with Angel to save my life that night in the Master's lair?"
"N-No." Xander stammered, wondering what the girl of his dreams was about to do to him, as well as being more than a little annoyed at the misconception she was still labouring under about that night.
Buffy was about to lean in and verbally carve out the heart of her best male friend with her next words, when she looked over his shoulder and noticed that Angel was staring at her with a raised eyebrow and a slightly amused expression on his face, as if he had guessed what she was up to with Xander and was wondering how far she would go to get a reaction out of either of them. It irritated the living crap out of her, that she was so easily seen through. 'Right! No more Little Miss Nice Slayer. The gloves are coming off!' With that, she reached out.
Grabbing Xander's ears firmly, she guided his mouth down to hers.
It was a little awkward, Buffy correctly guessing that this was probably Xander's first real kiss. But she persevered, nodding internally as he got over his utter shock and began kissing her back. When she felt his hands rest gently on her hips, she moved a little closer to him.
After a couple of minutes, she pushed him back gently, finding herself in a completely different mindset than the one she had initiated the kiss with. 'Woo-hoo! Whoever he ends up with is not going to have too many complaints about his technique.' She grinned at the thought of Xander-smooches after some decent practice with a willing partner. Then she noted the way he was looking at her.
It was of someone who looked like they had just gone to heaven.
'Wow. A kiss from me really meant that much to him?' Buffy was starting to feel a little guilty about using her best male friend to get a rise out of someone he hated and she liked. 'Damn! What do I do now?' She thought about running away and leaving him like this, but decided against it. 'He doesn't deserve to be hurt like that. And Willow'd kill me. No judge. No jury. Just straight to old sparky.' Shaking away the guilt that the thought of her other best friend brought, Buffy gave Xander a sincere smile and brushed her palm along his cheek. "Thank you, for helping save me that night." She whispered softly, her eyes unexpectedly tearing up at the thought of what the young man before her had done for her. For bringing her back to life.
Xander gulped and fidgeted nervously. "Yeah well, someone had to. And-" Before he could complete his sentence, Buffy was torn from his loose embrace and whipped around by an incensed Angel.
"What do you think you're doing?!"
Buffy removed her arm from Angel's grip and shoved him backwards angrily. "Thanking Xander for saving my life. Why do you care? You've been pretty much ignoring me since I came back to Sunnydale, anyway." She spat, not noticing the expression forming on Xander's face behind her as she spoke.
"What?" Angel's expression became wary. "What's he been saying?"
'Huh?' "Nothing. He was the one that did CPR on me after you brought him with you to the Master's cave. Remember?" Seeing Angel relax a little too quickly, she turned to Xander just in time to see him finish rolling his eyes. "Why? Is there something I should know?" She growled, quickly losing sight of her original objective for the night. Something was not right here, and she wanted to know what!
Angel was about to say something when he was beaten to the punch.
"Oh you have got to be kidding me!" The Slayer and the ensouled Vampire both turned to Xander. "You…you were using me to make deadboy jealous?" He pointed from one to the other.
Buffy paled at the growing expression of disgust on his face, suddenly realising that she might have gone a little too far in her efforts to get a reaction from the one she was really after. "Xander…no…I…"
"Shut it!" He commanded. Opening and shutting his mouth a few times, he finally settled on what he wanted to say. "Him, I can understand keeping quiet about what really happened that night. He is what he is, after all. Nothing but a leech." Angel started to say something in his defence, but was silenced by a glare from Xander. "But you, Buffy. I really though you were better than that." He snorted as a thought occurred to him. "Man, Cordelia would be so proud of you right now."
"…Xander?" Buffy was distraught. She was nothing like her. "It's not like that. Really."
Xander snorted at her words. "Yeah right. Tell it to some other dumbass. I'm out of here."
Buffy tried to clutch at his arm as he turned away. "Xander, please. If you'd just-"
He pulled away from her and continued walking. "Go to hell, both of you!" He snarled as he vanished into the crowd.
Buffy had stood there stunned for a few seconds before she gathered her wits together and tried to follow him.
Angel, knowing full well that trying to grab a Slayer when she's in a foul mood is just asking to be staked somewhere painful, followed her outside at a more sedate pace. When he finally exited, he found her waiting for him with a furious expression on her beautiful features. "Where's Xander?"
"He gave me the slip." Buffy growled. "Okay, what the heck is going on between you two? And what does it have to do with what happened down in that cave?"
"Nothing important." Angel hedged. "The boy's just jealous that you didn't pick him, is all."
"Uh-huh." 'I'm not so sure I'd pick you right now either, smart-ass. Don't go counting your chickens before their hatched!' She fumed. "So how come every time I mention that he came with you that night, he snorts and rolls his eyes." She was about to continue, when she noticed something odd. She resumed speaking in a more thoughtful tone. "And why do you flinch a little whenever I say that he,"
Angel winced.
"came with you,"
The wince was more pronounced this time.
"to save me."
This time he actually groaned.
Buffy watched his antics with growing anger and more than a little confusion. Then all of a sudden, it hit her.
"oh God," She whispered in shock.
"He brought you."
The long, loud and painful conversation she'd had with Angel that night did not help her mood the next day. The fact that she had discovered that the Master's bones had been dug up, and were missing on her way home after said conversation didn't help either.
In fact, the next day at school was one of the hardest ones Buffy had endured for a long time. Since those final days at Hemery, in fact. It had begun after her mother had dropped her off at the front steps. Xander was serving her a generous portion of cold shoulder as he waited out the front of the school. When she attempted to walk over and speak with him about what Angel had told her, he had actually growled at her. 'How the heck can a normal guy scare a Slayer that much?' She wondered as she backed away.
She had spent the first few classes totally withdrawn, wondering if she had inadvertently firebombed her friendship with Willow during her public humiliation of Xander the night before. After all, the red head had not approached her at all during the morning. 'She and Xander are probably somewhere working on a 'We Hate Buffy' club right now.' She thought miserably as she looked around for any sign of the other scoobies, without success.
Heading for the library during a free period, she burst in to hear the tail end of a conversation between her watcher and Principal Snyder about Jenny Calender's unexpected absence from school. After the little troll had exited, she was interrupted by Xander bursting in and stating that both Willow and Cordelia were missing from school as well.
She had just managed to get out her own news about how the Master's skeleton was no longer where they had buried it, when a rock flew through the window, almost taking out Giles. After she caught it, Buffy removed both a wristwatch and a hairpin from the note wrapped around the rock.
"Hey, that's Willow's!" Xander exclaimed.
"And I believe that's Jenny's… er, Miss Calender owns a watch like that as well." Giles added.
After reading the note, which challenged the Slayer to come to the Bronze and stop them, Buffy attempted to leave to check out whether the information on it.
"Whoa! Hold up, Slayer." Xander demanded, pulling her up short as she passed him. "It's probably a trap. You do know that, don't you?"
Giles blinked at how Xander had addressed his slayer, before agreeing with the teen.
"Maybe, but we shouldn't take the chance. So I'm gonna-" Xander cut her off.
"Wait until Giles and I can arm ourselves so we can join you." He finished for her firmly.
Buffy scowled. "Look, Xander, I'm the Slayer, so I should-"
"Oh give that 'I'm The Slayer' crap a rest!" He growled impatiently. "This is a trap. A blind person could see that. And the fact that three of the Scoobies have already been taken should show even you that someone wants to pull a divide & conquer on us."
Buffy was very taken aback by both the words and the distain he was directing at her right now.
"So why don't you take a deep breath, think about things for more than half a second, then wait while Giles does his research thing and figures out why the vamps want us." He stepped in closer and loomed over the shorter girl. "'Cause if something happens to Willow because you just couldn't stand to wait five minutes and figure out the vamps real plans, I'll kill you." With that growled promise, he spun away from a thoroughly frightened Slayer and turned to Giles. "What have you got for us, G-man? Why would they need them alive? Why tell us about it, and not just kill them?" He winced as he spoke, not wanting to entertain that thought fully just yet.
Rupert looked at Xander in shock over his attitude towards the Slayer, before whipping his glasses off for a quick, contemplative polishing. "W-Well, this is obviously some sort of ritual. The Master's bones. Cordelia, Willow and Jenny…Miss Calender all taken, but kept alive. A-And the fact that they have for all intents and purposes warned us that something is afoot with that note," He gestured absently at the piece of paper still in Buffy's hand. "I agree with you, Xander. It is a trap. But for who?"
Unbelievably proud that the British Watcher had basically admitted that he, Xander, loser extraordinaire, had figured out something before the other two, he tried to continue that momentum. "Um, it must be for either you or me, 'cause they tried to get the Slayer out of the way. Most likely you." He offered.
Giles was once again impressed by Xander's thinking. "Yes, that sounds plausible. Now why would…" He petered out as a hint of an idea teased around his subconscious. He withdrew further into his mind, trying to coax the errant thought further out.
"Giles? Helloooo!" Buffy waved a hand in front of his face. Upon getting no reaction, she turned to Xander. "Great! I think you broke him."
Xander shrugged. "Nah, he's thinking. His eyebrows are still twitching slightly. And he's still wiping his glasses. See?" He countered, pointing.
Buffy frowned, before nodding. "Oh yeah."
"Oh Good Lord!" Giles suddenly burst out of his contemplation and flew into the book stacks. "They couldn't be… But why else would they… Oh dear, this is bad…"
The other two watched him, slightly bemused.
"Y'know, for an English guy, and a librarian to boot, he's really having trouble putting those complete sentences together." Buffy quipped.
Xander nodded, forgetting his enmity in the rush to find a solution to their latest crisis. "Yeah, but he seems to have figured it all out, so I think we can let it slide just this once."
"I-It's all here!" The older man shouted, reappearing with a ratty old book in his hands. "The Anointed One and his followers must be trying to resurrect the Master, using the bones and an obscure ritual." He pointed excitedly towards a page.
"Boo-yah! Can I pick 'em or what?" Xander grinned.
"You the man, Xander." Buffy agreed, glad that he didn't seem to be angry with her for the moment.
"So, what have you got for us, G-man?"
"Oh, uh, it seems that the ritual requires the blood of whomever was the closest to the Master at the time of his death." Rupert answered.
"Oh." Buffy paled. "I guess that means me, huh?" She shrugged. "After all, we killed each other. You can't get much closer than that, can you?"
Xander raised a hand. "Um, not to take that away from you Buffy, but what if it's something else? Why grab the others, and try to grab either Giles or me, if they only need you?"
Buffy opened and closed her mouth a few times, trying to come up with a retort.
"Oh dear…" Giles interjected, blanching. "The vampires are coming for me."
"How do you know that?"
"Something Xander said." Xander grinned and puffed out his chest. "When you threw the Master through that skylight, where did he land?"
"In the middle of the library. He got staked through the heart by a piece of wood when he landed." The Slayer answered, recalling that night with a shiver.
"Indeed. And who was in the room."
"You, Miss Calender, Willow and…" Buffy also paled as the answer hit her.
"And Cordelia." Giles finished for her.
"Oh crap!"
"A very succinct summation of the situation, Buffy." The Watcher replied. "If you had charged off like you wanted too, it is very likely that they would have come here to capture me, and kill Xander because he was not necessary for the ritual."
Buffy looked from one to the other, fighting away tears over what had almost happened. "Crap oh crap I'm so sorry I didn't mean to I really thought I was doing the right thing…" As she started to fold under the weight of her almost-decision, two strong arms caught her before she made it to the ground.
"Buffster!" Xander grabbed her and drew her into a comfortable hug. "It's okay. You stayed. We're now a step ahead of the bad guys. And we're gonna save our friends. Count on it." He stated.
Buffy let herself snuggle into her friends arms for a second before turning her face up to him, allowing his confidence to wash over her. "Really?"
Xander looked down at her warmly. "For sure. We have a plan, and we have an advantage." Giving her one last squeeze, he stepped back. "We also have a very annoyed Slayer in our corner who doesn't appreciate some dumbass vamps trying to hurt her friends." Getting a wan smile out of his friend, he turned to Giles. "What say we head over to the Bronze together, get some info out of whatever's waiting for us there, then go rescue our friends." He grinned evilly. "And Cordelia." He added as an afterthought.
The other two nodded.
"Indeed. Lets."
"Lets go rescue the others and kick some vampire butt!"
The visit to the Bronze went as it would have normally. Only instead of having to go back and forth while gathering up Angel, they merely took down the lone vampire waiting there and began torturing her for information straight away.
Having learned what they wanted, then they collected Angel, and explained to him what was going on as they made their way towards the warehouse where the ritual was to be performed.
Entering the hideout with extreme stealth, they sized up the opposition. The vampires were milling around the table that had the Master's skeleton on it, apparently awaiting word from the team sent to retrieve Giles from the library.
With their forces split, Buffy and Angel decided to attack them now, instead of waiting for the rest to show up at some later point. While providing the distraction, Giles and Xander set about releasing the others from where they were chained upside down over the table.
Several minutes of fighting and a successful rescue later, the rest of the Scoobies watched as Buffy approached the Master's remains with a sledgehammer. Pounding it into dust, everyone could tell from her posture that a great inner weight had been lifted from Buffy Summers' shoulders with that cathartic act.
Dropping the hammer to the ground, she looked up at her friends with a weary smile. "What say we go home now huh guys."
The next day saw Buffy once again nervously awaiting the arrival of her friends at the front of the school. Despite recent events, she still didn't know where her two best friends stood in relation to the way she had treated them over the past couple of days. Plus, she was having wiggy thoughts about Xander. The way he had taken charge, and come up with those ideas. The way he had stood up to her. Plus the way she had felt while in his arms briefly, the day before. Yeah, 'wiggy thoughts' just about covered it nicely.
Finally, she spotted them walking along the footpath, close enough that their shoulders were almost touching. Willow was wearing her usual smile, the one that says she's blissfully happy just to be in the presence of her childhood friend and long time secret crush. Xander's expression, on the other hand, was a little more pensive.
As she approached, they both looked up as one and frowned slightly. 'Oh crap. They hate me.' Buffy panicked and started talking before the other two could say anything.
"Um guys? I'm so sorry for the way I've been acting the past couple of days. It wasn't you. It was a lot of little things, and a couple of not-so-little things all building up in my head and I didn't know what to do about them. I know I should have tried to talk to you two, being my best friends an' all. But I just…I couldn't get the words out." She faced Xander, not letting either of them interrupt. "Xander, I shouldn't have danced with you like that, at the Bronze. I was annoyed at Angel, and I decided to use you to make him jealous. It wasn't fair to you, and I'm sorry. Thank you for talking some sense into me yesterday. And a big thank you for dragging Angel down into the Master's lair to save my life. You really saved the day, both times, an' I'll try to listen to you more in the future okay." She turned to Willow, once again cutting off any chance of them speaking. "Willow? I remember what you told me about Xander when I first showed up last year, an' I'm sorry for doing what I did. It was wrong of me, and I'll understand if you hate my guts for it." Finally, Buffy ran out of words, and was content to just hang her head in shame and await judgement.
Xander and Willow looked at each other, stunned at the petite blonde's rambling outburst.
"Wow, Wills. I thing she's trying to take over your title as lord of the babble." Xander finally said.
Willow mock-frowned. "She better not! I worked hard to earn that. Many years of taping myself and playing it back at high speed were required to hone my skills." She said with a hint of pride, before refocussing on the situation before them. "So what should we do with a repentant Slayer?"
"So early in the morning?" Xander replied, causing the girls to both groan at his play on words. "Dunno. We could leave her to her own devices, but we've seen where that can lead." He stroked his chin as if in deep thought, dragging out Buffy's agony a little. "Plus, if we ignore her, there will be sad-puppy-eyes. And pouting. Lots and lots of pouting. She'll pout at me, and she'll pout at you, Wills. Then you'll feel sorry for her, so you'll start pouting at me. And while Willow-pouts are absolutely adorable, too much can be bad for your health." Xander ignored the look of surprise Willow gave him after his comment, focussing on Buffy instead. "So Miss Summers, Miss Rosenberg and I spent last night discussing your fate at great length, wondering whether or not to take you back as our best friend on probation. Before we let you know of our final decision, we need some reassurances first. Do you solemnly swear not to use me a strippers dancing pole in future, just to make deadboy jealous. Unless, of course, you are willing to follow through, that is." He grinned and wiggled his eyebrows at the cautiously optimistic expression he was seeing appear on her face. "If you do, there might be tips involved."
Buffy, relieved that she might be about to be forgiven, started babbling without thinking again. "What? Oh, yeah. Yes, I won't rub against you any more. Unless I mean to follow through." Buffy thought about what she had just said, and went bright red. "Oh God, no, I mean, yes, I mean, oh God I didn't say that. I meant that I'd rather rub against Angel, oh God I didn't mean to say that I would rub against you if you wanted me too, I just…oh God I'm just gonna shut up now." Buffy buried her face in her hands and tried to sink into the ground without a trace.
Willow watched her best female friend writhe in embarrassment for a bit, before taking pity on her. "Do ya think we've tortured her enough?"
Xander seemed to think about that for a minute. "Yeah, I guess so."
"What?" Buffy looked up with shiny eyes full of cautious hope. "You guys forgive me?"
"Do you promise to listen to us when we suggest something, and not pull that 'I'm the Slayer, I'm perfect' crap all the time?" Xander countered.
Buffy nodded vigorously. "Yes. I promise."
Willow and Xander looked at each other, and Buffy could almost see the conversation flying between them at the speed of thought. With a last nod, they turned and looked at her.
"Very well." Willow sighed theatrically.
"I s'pose we could find it within ourselves to forgive you." Xander continued in the same tone.
"This time." The red head finished with a hint of steel.
Buffy looked at them both with pure happiness.
Xander clicked his fingers in front of her. "Hey, c'mon. Make with the hugs already." He demanded.
And Buffy complied, with great enthusiasm.
"GAAH!! Slayer strength. SLAYER STRENGTH!!"
As the three scoobies made their way into the school after their reaffirmation of friendship, two Oracles, a Higher Being and a Balance Demon watched their progress from just outside of regular perception.
"To what purpose did you change the flow of things?" The Higher Being asked imperiously.
"To ensure that certain events did not come to pass." One of the Oracles, the female, replied.
"And to, y'know, help keep the balance." The Balance Demon, Whistler, added.
"Explain." The Higher Being demanded.
"Well, y'know how most Slayers have a limited shelf life?" The Higher Being nodded, impatient. "Well, since the blondie was revived by Harris, she is destined to become one of the longest lived Slayers ever recorded. Unfortunately, Slayers are demonically-tainted hunters first an' foremost. So they naturally don't play well with others. It's completely against their inner nature. The longer she stays alive, the more pronounced that trait becomes. Over time, she would begin to push the others away from herself, in the process making more an' more bad calls."
The male Oracle took up the tale. "In time, she would have sundered the Slayer spirit into hundreds of fragments, believing that doing so would aid her in the fight against The First Evil." All four sentients shuddered at the mention of that malevolent entity, not to mention the spell that would have essentially meant the permanent fracturing of the Slayer line.
"As it is now, she will be more willing to listen and accept advice from those whom she trusts, especially the boy." The female Oracle continued. "He has proven to her that he is able to contribute to 'her' cause, and that he is willing to forgive her when she is contrite. Something that will see them in good stead in the future."
"Hrm. And what of her attempt at a romantic liaison with the ensouled vampiric champion?"
Whistler snickered. "A major wedge has been put between them, with her finding out that Harris was actually the one that never gave up on her. So that should put Angel back on his original path. And it helps Harris get further into blondie's good books, too. He was willing to defy prophecy for her, while the Watcher and ratboy were willing to give up and let her die. Which also ties in with the other thing. He's willing to go to such lengths for a friend, for her. So she won't be so quick to dismiss him from now on."
"Good. He is a rare soul, that boy. And well named too." The Higher Being shifted his interest. "And of the other Slayer? Kendra, I believe her name is?"
"Her calling will proceed as decreed. However, now that we have altered events somewhat, her fate is more open. As is that of the one that was to have come after, Faith."
"Hrm. That attempted ascension?"
"Still happening. All of it. Just the 'Dark Slayer' part of the equation is a bit more iffy now." Whistler answered easily.
"The Key business?"
"Also destined to occur as originally seen. However, the Key may not end up with the blonde Slayer, as originally perceived." The male Oracle said.
"As long as that pest, Glorificius, is removed from this realm permanently, it matters not who the Key is shaped from." The Higher Being spat, causing a weakening in the barrier between dimensions to form where it landed. "And the Witch? Will these altered events affect her? I will not have her throwing tantrums and upsetting everything every time she gets annoyed. She will be too powerful to be left to her own devices."
The Oracles allowed a rare smirk to grace their faces. "Now that the Gypsy 'techno pagan', Jenny Calender, is likely to survive what was to have been Angelus' murderous rampage, the witch Rosenberg will have all the spiritual guidance she will need. As for her emotional needs…"
Whistler pointed towards two students walking through the school hallways some distance away. "I believe that is being taken care of as we speak."
"So have you really forgiven Buffy?" Willow asked as they walked randomly through the halls of Sunnydale High.
"What?" Xander started, having been completely lost in thought. "Oh. Yeah, I have."
"So when are you going to try and get her to dance over you again?" She continued, feeling a little sad inside.
"What do you mean, Wills."
She sighed. "Well, I mean, with what you were saying this morning. Y'know, tips and all. I thought-"
Xander let out a breath noisily. "Nah. I was just making her squirm a bit."
"Really?"
"Really." He continued. "I mean, it felt good. I won't deny that. But she was still only using me to get a rise out of the broodmeister. I think… no, I understand now that she really doesn't see me like that. At all. But, I don't hate her, or anything." Xander brought his thoughts about one Buffy Summers into order. "I guess, now that I know for sure that she'll never see me that way, I kinda see her more as a sister than anything else now."
"oh" A smile began to creep onto her face.
"Besides, I kinda have my eye on someone else right now."
Willow's expression sunk again. "Really?"
"Really. Have for a little while, actually."
"So, who is it?" She asked, steeling herself for another round of Xander-angst and Willow-frustration.
"Well, she's really cute, going all the way up to beautiful when the light is just right. Very smart. And looks absolutely adorable, especially with a dollop of cream on her nose."
"What?" Willow's entire body went cold with shock. 'No way! He couldn't mean…'
"Yeah." Xander continued speaking, apparently unaware of the effects his words were having. "It makes me wanna wipe it off gently, then lean in and kiss away what ever I missed…"
"Uh-huh." Willow was about two seconds away from fainting. 'Pleasepleasepleaseplease, don't be messing with me!'
Reaching out gently, Xander placed his arm over Willow's shoulders and drew her close to him. "What say you and I get a couple of mocha's on the way home, so I can practice wiping the foam off." He asked as he looked adoringly into her eyes.
"Sure!" She squeaked, barely able to breathe due to her excitement. "Practise makes perfect after all."
Xander chuckled at her expression. "That it does."
THE END
Notes: For those of you who don't know, or have never read a BtVS fic before, Alexander means' Protector of Mankind', or some such, in one of the ancient languages.
----
--"So what should we do with a repentant Slayer?"
"So early in the morning?" Xander replied, causing the girls to both groan at his play on words.--
There is an old song, a sea shanty I think, in which the chorus goes something like:-
"Oh, what shall we do with the drunken sailor,
Early in the morning."
I kinda tried to turn it into a bad play on words. (I succeeded. By a large margin, I think.) Anyway, that's what that was about, just in case anyone was scratching their heads and wondering why I was being a little more loopy than normal.