What did a pumpkin have to do with Halloween? This thought had always perplexed Willow. And now with Halloween only a day away it was starting to annoy her, "Poor little pumpkins, never doing anyone any harm. Why'd we pick on them?" she mumbled to herself.
The only other person in the house was Xander, who was fixing the windows, again. He'd said something about trying to figure out a way to use a gusset on the window frame. Anya must be getting to him, even when he was working he was thinking about sex.
Willow was fed up trying to carve a reasonably scary face on her pumpkin so wandered through to the front room where Xander was sitting, seemingly admiring his work on the windows, "Did you manage to get a gusset then?". Willow asked, smiling.
"Yes," Xander answered, without even a hint of mirth in his voice, "You see that bit of frame there, that looks a bit thicker than the rest of the frame. That's the gusset. It provides extra support to the framework. Hopefully it'll mean less work the next time the windows get smashed in.".
Realisation dawned on Willow, so that's what he'd meant, he wasn't sex mad after all, "You got your pumpkin all scary then?". Xander asked, "Huh? What? Oh, pumpkin, no. I got thinking about why we pick on pumpkins at Halloween and it just got me depressed.".
"You should have gone shopping with Buffy and Dawnie. It would have taken your mind off things.". Xander said, "Some retail therepy might do you good.".
"Only one problem with that. You can't spend money if you haven't got it. Still a student remember." Willow answered, "I'd have to work Twenty Four Seven in the Magic Box to get even a half decent wage.".
"On behalf of my girlfriend, Hey.".
"I'm sorry. I know she's paying me the same as what Giles did, but it wouldn't hurt to have a bit more money.". Willow finished.
"C'mon," Xander said as he stood up and started towards the dining room, "lets finish these pumpkins.".
As they passed the front door they heard Dawn screaming, then the door flew open as she ran into the house. Xander quickly scanned outside and seeing nothing closed the door. "What's up Dawnie? Somebody start celebrating early?". Xander asked.
"Demon," Dawn gasped, trying to catch her breath, "only one.".
"Where's Buffy?" Willow asked, "Does she need any help?".
"No, I don't think so. She told me to get home, stay safe, and that she'd be right behind me.". Dawn answered.
Suddenly there was a crashing sound from the front room, "Good timing. Dawnie, get upstairs, I'll be right behind you. Xander, go help Buffy, try and get to the weapons chest.". Willow ordered.
Xander ran into the front room to see Buffy fighting what appeared to be a scarecrow with a pumpkin for a head. He tried to sneek round them to get to the weapons chest, but the fight seemed to follow his every movement, "Hey Buff," he shouted, "how about clearing a path for me?".
"What?" Buffy asked, not stopping her assault on the pumpkin headed scarecrow. She then saw where he was trying to head for. "Sure," She shouted back, "An axe would be nice.".
Buffy drew Pumpkin Head to the back of the room, allowing Xander to get to the chest. He threw her an axe that was lying close to the top.
As Buffy caught the weapon she realised it was a small hand-axe, "And what the fuck am I supposed to do with this?" She shouted at Xander as she ducked under a scarecrow arm.
"Shit. Sorry." Xander shouted back, then grabbed a double-headed axe out of the chest and threw this in Buffys direction.
Buffy grabbed the axe but let it follow through on the path of its flight towards Pumpkin Head, then pulled it into an upward arc that took the head clean off the scarecrows shoulders.
After a couple of minutes of not hearing any sounds, Willow creeped downstairs with Dawn. She could see Buffy and Xander surveying the damage so walked into the front room.
"Hey, how'd the frames hold up?" She asked Xander.
"The gusset didn't hold, I'll have to try again." Xander answered.
"Oh well. Praxis makes perfect, as the Greeks used to say." Willow retorted.
THE END