Title: In a perfect world
Author: Joyce
Rating: G
Timeline: Beginning of season three. Buffy isn't back from her departure yet. Angel never returned, at least not to Sunnydale. He got out of hell and went to LA after that, realising that he and Buffy would never work out. He did call Giles however to let him know he was alive, but he didn't tell Giles that Buffy had to kill him. He also told Giles that he had to tell Buffy when she was ready. So it's up to Giles to determine when he thinks she's ready. Cordelia and Xander are still together, as are Willow and Oz. Spike got staked by Drusilla after he took her out of Sunnydale, and she went to Mexico.
Why did she go to Mexico ? I don't know, I think she could have fun there.
Chapter one.
Home sweet homeThe house of Willow Rosenberg.
(10.05 PM)
Willow relaxed into Oz's arms, enjoying the movie she was watching. Next to her Cordelia was sitting in a position similar to hers, only the arms wrapped around her belonged to Xander. They had rented 'Dirty dancing', much to the dislike of the guys. Oz was looking more bored than usual and Xander had trouble keeping his eyes open. School has started a couple of weeks before and still there was no sign of Buffy. The gang was getting tired, having to go to school in the day and slaying vampires in the evening. Or rather, they were trying to slay vampires. They had decided that they needed a night of fun. Oz looked to his right, to see Xander with his eyes closed, mouth a bit open.
"Xander, do you also wish we were slaying right now?"
The dark haired boy woke up with a start. "What ? I wasn't sleeping. I wasn't."
Oz nodded, replying somewhat sarcastically, "Sure."
Xander got of Willow's couch, telling them that he was going to the kitchen to get some drinks. The girls barely heard him and Oz only raised his thumb to indicate that he was fine with that. Wondering how long a movie about dancing could last he walked into Willow's kitchen. He would make some popcorn with the drinks; it would give him an excuse to stay away somewhat longer. After he got some Cokes, he put the popcorn in the microwave and waited for the magic 'plop' sounds. He smiled; popcorn always reminded him of Buffy. She could eat buckets of it and still want more. It hurt to think about her, because if brought back all these questions he couldn't stop himself from thinking almost all of the time. Where was she? Was she alive? Did she think about them too?
The sound of the microwave beeping released him from his thoughts, but he couldn't stop himself from feeling the way he did. On the outside he was doing ok, on the inside he missed her like crazy.
LA, the hotel room of Buffy Summers.
(10.05 PM)
Buffy was watching 'Dirty dancing' on cable, while eating some popcorn. She had been in LA for more than three months now, working as a waitress by day, and sitting in her room by night. Her first weeks had been tough; she couldn't get the image of Angel out of her head. After a while she started living somewhat again. She wasn't healed, not by a long shot, but she stopped having dreams about Angel almost a month ago. Instead, visions of her mom and friends started haunting her. She would walk into the restaurant she worked in and see Willow, but it was just a girl with red hair. Every woman who had curls turned into her mom. Short guys were Oz, brunette girls, Cordelia, older men with glasses, Giles. She would see them everywhere. But she would never see Xander, and she felt guilty about that. She missed them all so much, and she wanted to go home. But she was afraid that her mom wouldn't let her back into her life again, that her friends hated her for leaving them. If she closed her eyes she could see them, Willow, Oz, Cordelia, Xander, Giles, her mom... but there faces where always a bit blurry, except for Xander's. She could always see him perfectly clear, smiling at her, motioning her to come home. She wondered about that, but she also felt less guilty for not seeing him in other people. It didn't mean that she had forgotten about him, 'cause in her mind he was still there. Clear as ever.
As the credits of 'Dirty Dancing'rolled over her screen, she turned down the lights and fell asleep...
She was in Sunnydale again and she walked down the streets she knew so well, heading for her home. As she entered her house she yelled for her mom. No answer. She went up the stairs and searched for her there... no one. Panicking she went to her school, entered the library. No one was there either. She yelled for Giles, Willow, Xander. No one answered.
Suddenly she found herself in a graveyard. Before her, six fresh graves appeared. Standing before the first one she read the inscription on the stone.
"Daniel Osborne.
"Oz"
May he rest in peace."
She cried out in pain but no sound was heard. The next tombstone was Cordelia's, followed by Giles'. By then she was crying. Her crying became hysterical when she reached the next one, which read Willow. She stayed by that grave for a while, not believing that she was standing in front of the grave of her best friend. After a while she got up and walked to the next one. It was Xander's. She just stood there, numb, mourning for her friends, for Xander, while being afraid for the last stone. Because there was only one person she cared about left. When she got there she saw that it read Joyce Summers...
Buffy woke up with a scream. She hadn't had dreams about her loved ones before, and she instinctively knew that this was a sign. That they were in trouble. A big threat was coming there way. She got out of bed and packed her bag. Whether they wanted her or not, she was going home to protect them from anything wanting to hurt them.
Buffy's house
(9.05 PM)
Joyce was sitting in her living room, surrounded by people, but still feeling alone. Willow, Xander, Oz, Cordelia and Giles had dropped by. They would often do that before they would go on patrol. Just to check on her. She appreciated it, but it didn't make it hurt any less. They all knew that, but they still tried. They had to.
Xander was in the kitchen, again, making a snack for them all. He always loved to eat before going on patrol, claiming that it got him fired up.
There was a knock on the door and Joyce stood to open it, freezing when she saw Buffy in front of her. After staring at each other for a long time the two just hugged, thankful to hold each other again. Meanwhile the others stood by and watched; Giles relieved to see her again, her friends amazed at her sudden reapearance.
The scene was interrupted by Xander, walking in the living room. A huge plate of food with him.
"Ladies, gentlemen, I've got it all. I've got twinkies, which you all can't have..."
He stopped dead in his tracks when he recognized the person who was slowly letting go of her mother.
"Buffy..."
She looked at him, noting that he had changed somewhat. He looked older, somehow more adult. And in that instant she knew why she never saw anybody who reminded her of Xander. There simply wasn't anyone. Only Xander could remind her of Xander. Not really getting what that meant, she just stared back at him.
"Xander..."
It was all she could say. Cordelia, who was getting nervous by the way Buffy and her boyfriend were looking at each other, interrupted.
"Eh, Buffy, not that I mind that you are back, 'cause I really do... I mean, who knew that patrolling could cause so many nails to break and not to mention the clothes I..."
Seeing everybody stare at her she stopped talking. Giles took over.
"I think what she means is this: Why are you back ?'"
Chapter 2.
Facing the musicBuffy's house (9.20 PM)
Buffy felt the stares of all the people she loved on her and didn't really know what to say.
"I...ehhh...well...I....I kinda had a dream."
Xander nodded. "The 'I kinda had a dream' speech..."
Buffy gave him a look, and he backed off, sensing that she needed to speak without his usual interruptions.
"It was pretty scary, and I think it was one of my "watch out, there's trouble coming your way" dreams."
Giles took a step forward. "What did you dream about Buffy ? Did you see any demons ?"
She shook her head. "I saw your graves..."
The room fell silent., not knowing what to say or how to react. After a long silence, the group looked at Xander. He just raised his hands up in defense.
"Sorry, no joke here; I'm just as freaked out as you all are by the news that Buffy saw our graves in her dreams. I mean, call me crazy here, but that doesn't sound to good."
Buffy gave him a smile, trying to be as comforting as she could. "You know I would never let anything happen to you guys, right ?"
He nodded. "Not on purpose, but that doesn't mean bad things can't happen... Besides, you were ferfectly fine letting things happen to us the last three months..."
Xander stopped talking, seeing the hurt look on her face and the warning look on the face of Willow. He went on anyway, because he needed some of the frustration of the past few months out of his system.
"I don't want to hurt you Buff, really I don't. But where the hell have you been? Why didn't you at least call? Do you know how worried we all were about you? Do you know what you did to you mom? Why did you do that to us?"
His last question was almost a whisper, and it almost broke Buffy's heart hearing the pain in his voice, seeing the pain in all of their faces.
"I...I can't talk about this now, please Xand, could we go back to why I came back?"
Before Xander could answer Giles nodded. "We don't have to talk about this now, if you're not ready, but it will have to be discussed some time."
She smiled at him thankfully. He went on. "Do you think you saw a prophecy in your dream ?"
"No, I think it was some kind of warning. It was almost like the dream was trying to tell me that something big was coming, something that could kill us all. I had to come after that. I couldn't leave you guys here knowing that you might die. I couldn't."
Joyce interrupted. "Do you guys mind if we rap it up for know? I know this is important but you can all discuss this again in the morning, and I really need to speak with my daughter."
The group just got up to get their coats. Willow looked at her boyfriend. "What do you think, should we go to Restfield Cemetery tonight ?"
"Yeah, we haven't done that one in four days. Xand, Cor, you guys ok with that?"
Cordelia sighed. "Fine by me, but I don't see why we have to go patrolling. Hello... Our superhero is back!"
Buffy stepped in. "She's right, you guys shouldn't go patrolling. It's dangerous."
Xander just smiled. "We've been patrolling for three months now Buff, we should do fine."
He closed the door behind him and left Buffy with her mom. "Tell me he was joking ! Have they really been patroling while I was gone ?"
"Yes Buffy, they have."
"I really screwed up, didn't I?"
"I'd say you have."
"Could I just go to my room mom ? I know you want to talk, but I'm tired."
"Just a second, maybe you can explain to me first why you wouldn't come back until you thought we were in trouble. Why did you have to see my grave in your dream before you could decide that you needed to come home?"
Buffy understood the underlying question here. "I did miss you mom, every day. I was just so hurt and so afraid that you would hate me. I was afraid to come back..."
"You were afraid of your own mom.... What did you think I would do?"
"I don't know mom, maybe I was afraid that you wouldn't let me back into your life. I mean, that's pretty much what you said last time we talked."
Joyce sat down on the couch, not really believing what she was hearing. "I was upset that day, I mean...finding out your secret wasn't easy. I said things I didn't mean, how could you think they were true?"
Buffy sat down next to her. "I don't know, I never saw you so angry...and it was just easier pretending that you didn't want me home. That you wanted me gone; otherwise I would have gone crazy these last months."
"Are you staying this time?"
"Yes, I'm staying."
The two held each other on the couch for a long time. Finally Joyce brushed some hair out of her daughter's face. "This doesn't mean everything is forgiven just yet. It will take time to get the trust back again. Can you handle that?"
"Yeah, I can."
"Good, now go to bed."
Buffy started to walk up the stairs but was stopped by her mother saying her name.
"Yeah?"
"I love you."
"I love you too, Mom."
The sweet moment was interrupted by a knock on the door. After opening it, Cordelia rushed in, crying. "Buffy! It's Xander...He's.."
"What is it?"
"We were attacked by a vampire and the thing got Xander and we don't know if we got there in time. He looks so pale and his pulse is so weak...I don't know if he's going to..."
She stopted talking, not able to finish her sentence. Buffy tried to keep calm, but her heart was beating too fast and she was scared to dead. "Cordy, do you think he drank the blood of the vampire too?"
"No, but I think we may have gotten there to late. He lost so many blood..."
"Where is he now?"
"Oz drove him to the hospital. I came to you 'cause I thought you might want to be there too."
Buffy looked at her mom. Joyce nodded. "Go, he needs you. Call me if you know anything."
"I will."
They were gone.
Sunnydale hospital, ( 10.45 PM)
Buffy was pacing in the waiting room. They had gotten there as fast as they could. When they arrived they were told that he needed blood, fast. Buffy's and Willow's were the only ones that matched his blood so they both offered to give him some of theirs. They had done that a half an hour ago and know they were waiting to hear from the doctor. Willow was sitting in a chair, her eyes puffy from crying and still a little dizzy from the loss of blood. It was worth it though, everything would we worth it just as long as Xander was going to be ok. Oz stood behing her, massaging her neck,offering her all the support he could give her. Giles and Cordelia had gone to get something to eat, although nobody was hungry. They just needed something to do. Buffy got scared when she saw the doctor entering the waiting room. Afraid to hear his news.
"He's going to be oke. It was a close call and he's still weak, but he'll live."
Buffy wanted to hugh the doctor; instead she just smiled the biggest smile. Meanwhile Willow was just holding Oz, thankful that her best friend was going to live.
"Can we see him?"
The doctor nodded at the redhead. "Yes, but two at a time please."
"Buff, you wanna come with me?"
"Yeah."
When they entered the room they saw Xander trying to sit up. Buffy rushed to him. "You can't do that, not yet. You need to rest."
He shook his head alomost violently. "No, I need to get out of here. You don't understand. It's coming, he told me..."
Willow was worried about his mental health by now. "What is coming ? Who told you what ?"
"The vampire, he told me the Master would rise again...He said that was only the first thing in many things to come. It's coming, something bigger then the Master, something we can't fight..."
Buffy got scared by the look of terror in his eyes. "What, what did he say?"
"He called it the first vampire, the one that was made out of pure evil. The one that couldn't be killed... The one that was destined to end the world..."
Chapter three
Being the friend of a slayerSunnydale Hospital,
(11. 00 PM)
"He called it the first vampire, the one that was made out of pure evil. The one that couldn't be killed... The one that was destined to end the world..."
Xander finished his sentence somewhat ashamed. He knew it sounded dramatic, not to mention a bit unbelievable, that is why Buffy's next words surprised him.
"Xand, I believe he told you this, I really do, but why did he tell you? I mean, he was probably hungry and figured you were a nice snack, but why would he tell you stories of doom?"
"He kinda had different plans for me. I wasn't his snack, thank you very much, he wanted to turn me. He knew me as one of your friends, and he wanted me to give you this message as well ass...my demonic new self."
Willow interrupted. "Did you drink any of his blood?"
He smiled. "No Will, thanks to you guys, he only got to feed off me. And then the cavalry rushed in to save me. He didn't have time to make me drink his blood."
Buffy sighed. "I can't believe I've only been back one night and here we are talking about blood, vampires and big evil coming. You gotta love Sunnydale!"
Xander looked at her. "Bigger picture here Buff, I was drained of my blood tonight. Some thing sucked blood out of me, could we cover that shock first before we discuss the disadvantages of coming home?"
Willow walked over to her best friend and hugged him. "We are not discussing anything anymore. As you just said, you were drained of blood! Get some sleep and don't ever scare me like that again! Not to mention the fact that this is a school night...Do you think you could get bitten on the weekend next time?"
Xander laughed, and then let her out of his embrace. "Next time I'll tell him to come back on a Saturday."
"That's the spirit!"
The girls got up to give him his rest. He stopped them from leaving. "Could you guys send Cordelia in? She'll probably be be a little bit pissed if she finds out I only talked to you guys and then went to sleep. Besides, I kinda need to see her. Oh, and tell Oz and Giles that I'm fine and that I will see them tomorrow. The doctor said I could go home in the morning, once I got some rest."
The girls nodded and left the room. When they entered the waiting room again Giles and Cordelia were back from their snack trip. Buffy looked at the brunette.
"He wants to see you."
As Cordelia left the room, Buffy suddenly thought of something. "Willow, didn't you just say something about it being a school night?"
The redhead frowned. "Yeah, why?"
"So, you guys have been going to school this last month and slaying in the evenings?"
Oz nodded. "Yeah, we told them we were slaying vampires in the evening, but strangely enough they didn't believe us, so we had to come to school anyway."
"Didn't you graduate last year?"
"I forgot to go to summer school, so no."
Willow still didn't get why Buffy talked about school all of a sudden. "Why the sudden interest in our academic life, Buff?"
"It just kinda dawned on me that I don't have such a life anymore, I was expelled... Remember?"
Giles gave her a reassuring smile. "I will talk to Snyder myself; he has no right to keep you out of the school. You deserve education and the murder charges against you were dropped. It will be fine, I promise."
Buffy was kinda relieved to hear that, although the thought of no school didn't seem all that bad to her, but he was probably right about her having a right to get an education. After all, that was important, albeit somewhat boring. Looking around the waiting room she couldn't find her purse anywhere and she remembered that she left it in Xander's room.
"Guys, I'll be right back, I left my purse in Xander's room and I need my keys and ehh... my favorite kind of lipstick."
She walked out of the waiting room. Oz shook his head. "Women and lipstick..."
Willow gave him a look. "Are you saying anything about my lipsticks?"
He replied fast. "Never, I wouldn't dare to go there..."
Buffy entered Xander's room to see Cordelia holding him, kissing him. She cleared her throat. "Sorry, left my purse here."
The couple looked up, Cordelia a little annoyed, Xander yawning. "It's ok, Buff."
Cordelia looked at her boyfriend, seeing he was tired. "I was getting ready to leave anyway."
Buffy picked up her purse and headed for the door. "You guys take your time saying goodbye, we will wait for you in the... ehh.... waiting room, Cor."
She left the room, wondering why it bothered her so much to see them together.
Sunnydale High School
(9.10 AM)
Willow walked into the library, with Oz right behind her. "Giles, are you here?"
He emerged from his office. "Yes, is something wrong?"
"We just wanted to know if you have any information about what Xander said, you know, about the first vampire."
"Well, it's fairly difficult. I've been up all night trying to find some information that might be useful and I must say I found some pretty interesting..."
Oz interrupted. "You have nothing, have you?"
"No, not really, but I did find some references that indicate that this is the year a new force will rise. It may be the thing Buffy was warned about in her dream. And it is very possible that it is the first vampire Xander told you about."
Willow looked at her watch. "We have to go; we have class in five minutes. Could you call Buffy and tell her this? She wanted to come herself this morning to ask if you knew anything, but she isn't allowed on campus until Snyder gives her the ok to come back. Oh, and Xander says hi. He'll be back to annoy you tomorrow, those were his words, not mine. Gotta go now, bye Giles."
They walked out of the library, Oz with a hint of a smile on his face. "How do you pack so many words in one sentence and still remember to breathe?"
"It's a gift I have."
Xander's Hospital Room
(10.00 AM)
Buffy peeked around the corner of Xander's room to see him up and eating breakfast. "Good morning. Tell me, how are you enjoying the terrible hospital food?"
His face lit up in a smile. "Hey Buff, come in, I'm enjoying it to an extended level. But you know I would eat anything. What are you doing here?"
"Mom went to work and everybody is at school, and since I'm not allowed to go there, I figured I could bug you."
"You are always welcome to bug me, Buff."
"Thanks, oh, Giles called, he told me that he found some things in his books. Mostly a bunch of stuff telling that big evil is coming our way. He thinks my dream warned me about that. He also thinks that the evil thing is your first vampire."
"My first vampire, hey, I was just the first guy to hear about it!"
"Whatever, he is still researching it as we speak."
Xander grinned. "Cool, that means I get to skip math and researching today."
"You see, almost getting killed has it advantages."
"Yeah, wanna see if there's anything on TV?"
"Sure."
Xander moved to the right of his bed a little so she could sit next to him, and watch the tv that was hanging above his bed. They decided to watch a old episode of Baywatch, with Buffy making fun of the story line and Xander pointing out that the show was about the beauty of nature. They were halfway trough the show when he suddenly looked at her very serious. She got uncomfortable.
"What?"
"I missed you, you know."
"I missed you, too... all of you."
"Why did you leave?"
"I had to. So much had happened, I didn't see any other way. I mean ... I lost everything."
"What happened in that fight with Angelus, Buff?"
"Nothing much, I fought him, I won, I killed him, I saved the world."
"You tell fascinating stories."
She smiled at him. "Right now, it's all I can share with you. I promise that someday I tell you the whole story."
"When you're ready?"
"Yeah."
He was silent for a while, watching Pamela Anderson save some kid from drowning. "Where did you go?"
"I went to LA, worked there as a waitress."
"Did you meet any big stars while you were there?"
"Not really, the big stars don't usually eat at Barney's Ribs."
He laughed. "You never know, he could have made the best ribs in town."
"They weren't. Believe me, I know."
They were silent again, just content to be together and have some mindless fun. Xander knew that he needed to back off with the questions; she had told him everything she wanted him to know, for now. As soon as she was ready, she would tell him what really happened to her in the last three months. Meanwhile, Buffy was just happy to be around the ones she trusted again, the ones she loved. She watched Xander out of the corner of her eyes and couldn't help but smile at the way he was looking at the TV. Like the image of a running Pamela was all that mattered in the world...
Sunnydale High School
(12.00 AM)
Willow walked into the library again. She had a lunch break and wanted to see if Giles had found anything more. She found Giles pacing, muttering 'Oh dear' to himself.
"What is it Giles, what have you found?"
"Apparently the first vampire isn't a vampire like we know it. This book says it really is invulnerable. Next to that, he almost always stays away from our world. He has been here once before, and wiped out almost half of the population then."
"Alone?"
"In a sense, he can control regular vampires with his mind, which means he has a pretty strong army. And according to this book, we don't have much time. This book says that he will walk the earth again in seven days, bringing the Master as a general for his army."
Willow paled. "Oh dear..."
"That's not all. He will rise six feet from where you are standing."
"The Hellmouth will open again?"
"Unless we find a way to stop him from rising, yes."
"That is not good..."
Chapter four
Facing your feelings
Xander's hospital room. (12.10 AM)
Xander and Buffy were busy packing up the few belongings Xander had with him. He had just been told that he could leave the hospital, if he took it slow for a couple of days. Of course, he jumped at the chance. Staying in bed and having nothing to do wasn't really something he had been enjoying too much. He looked at his best friend, still a bit amazed by her sudden reapearance in his life. He had forgotten how beautiful she was. Quickly shaking his mind from thoughts he didn't want to have yet again he decided to break the silence.
"So, ehh, Buff, do you wanna escorte me to my house. We could hang out in casa del Harris before we go over to Giles's to see if he knows anything yet."
She nodded. "Sounds like a plan, but I do wanna call my mom from your house. She's at the art gallery but I wanna let her know that I'll be home tonight. She still a little...well, you know..."
"Upset with everything that has happened, worried about you?"
"Yeah that, only about ten times worse."
"It takes time Buff, it will get better, you'll see. And hey, your mom at her worst is still a hell of a lot better then my parents at their best. You see, there's always a silver lining."
She laughed at his joke, even though it hurt her to see the look in his eyes everytime he mentioned his parents. He always claimed that he didn't care about his lazy, drunken parents, but she knew better. She always pretented she didn't care about her father not really paying attention to her either, but it did hurt. It always did. His situation must be ten times worse.
"Ok Xand, I think we have spend enough time in this hospital. I say we head to casa del Harris."
"Yes, my lady. Your wish is my command."
She gave him a sweet smile. "I will remember that."
She left the room, leaving Xander to ponder her last comment for a while. He quickly decided that he would never understand women and shaking his head he followed her out of the room.
Xander's house. (12.45 AM)
Xander opened the door of his house a bit carefully, hoping that he wouldn't run into his parents. He had no such luck, his father was standing behind the door and from the looks of things he hadn't been starting his day with a glass of orange juice.
"Where the hell have you been?"
"I just got home from the hospital dad, remember you were called by a mister Giles about me getting into a accident last night."
His father was clearly having trouble remembering such a conversation.
"Why didn't you just call yourself?"
"Because I wasn't really in the position to pick up a phone. And anyway, as touching as your sudden sign of somewhat caring is, I'm home now. I'm fine."
Buffy had been standing behind Xander silently, just listening to the conversation. Not believing how Xander could deal with this on a daily basis and still come out of it the way that he did. She noticed his father looking at her and managed a weak smile and a wave.
"Hi, mister Harris."
"Who the hell are you?"
He didn't bother to listen to her reply and turned to his son instead.
"Aren't you going out with that hot little brunette?"
"You mean Cordelia dad, Cordelia. Yes, I'm still going out with her. This is Buffy, you met her before."
"Whatever." And with that his father turned around and headed for the kitchen, not really interested anymore. Xander watched him go.
"My dad, ladies and gentlemen...."
Buffy touched his arm. "I'm sorry Xand."
He shook his head, smiling. "Don't be, I'll live. Let's go to my room, he never comes there."
"What about your mom?"
"Oh, she's probably passed out by now, it's almost one in the afternoon after all."
He walked up the stairs. Not really watching if Buffy was following him or not. She came into the room a couple of seconds after him.
"How do you do it?"
"Do what Buff?"
"How can you live your life in this house and still come out of it as the sweet and caring guy that you are?"
He had to fight back the tears by her question and the genuine care he saw on her face. God, he had missed her so much.
"I have Willow, and Cordy, Giles, Oz, you... You guys keep me normal."
She smiled. "Normal?"
"Ok. Not really normal, you guys keep me...well...me. Am I making any sense at all?"
"Yes, you are making a whole lot of sense. And you know what, with all the unnormal things in my life it is nice to now that I help to keep at least one thing the way it should be."
"You do Buff, you really do..."
She looked into his eyes and saw the love, friendship and respect he felt for her and it made her feel alive for the first time in months. For the first time since Angel.
"You wanna watch some TV?"
He nodded. "Sure, we have had a lot of serious conversations today, so lets just forget about our problems and watch the...oohhh...the way to serious conversations of the kids in Dawson's Creek, who, by the way, are only sixteen in bizarro world. Nobody talks like that."
He plopped down on his bed and Buffy followed to lie besides him. Head to the tv, and already focused on the everlasing Pacey/Dawson/Joey triangle. They were going to have a afternoon of plain teen fun.
Xander's kitchen (5.30 AM)
Buffy had not felt this good in a long time. She and Xander had watched some TV until they decided that they had enough life lessons from Dawson to last a lifetime. Xander had put on some CD's after that, he had been dancing like crazy for about five minutes until he remembered that he was supposed to take it easy. Those five minutes alone however had Buffy cracking up, she had totally forgotten about the way Xander Harris danced. At least he called it dancing, she had long ago called it a circus act. After that they played some computer games, with Xander being way too fanatic and Buffy easily winning every single time. In short, Buffy had a good time and she was loving every minute of it. She never knew that spending time with Xander could be so much fun, but she also never really gave him a chance. In fact, she had discovered that this was the first time she had ever been alone with him for such a amount of time since they met.
Now they were in his kitchen, grabbing something to eat before they went over to Giles's. Willow had called earlier, telling them that they were supposed to meet at 6.30. So they didn't have time for a fancy dinner, of course in the Harris household nobody knew what a fancy dinner was so it wasn't really a problem.
"Ok Buff, let's see, I have pizza, some leftover Chinese food and ehm...more pizza. Take your pick."
"I'll have the pizza, thank you."
"One pizza coming up for the Buffinator."
He turned around to smile at her and she was shocked to find out that she was actually atracted to him right now. She was atracted to her Xander shaped friend, who had a girlfriend and wasn't Angel. And somehow that last fact didn't really seem to bother her, even though she still loved Angel, would always love Angel. She was beginning to see however that she may had made a big mistake by turning Xander down, was beginning to see what Willow and Cordelia were able to see all along. Boy, did she have great timing. Develop feelings for your best friend when he's finaly over you and happy with another girl. Not to mention the fact that this other girl was sort of, kinda, a friend of hers.
"Buffy, hi! Is anybody in there? Buffy!!"
She realised he was talking to her and blushed, which caused him to look at her funny since she never did that.
"Sorry Xand, zoned out there."
"Yeah, you really were in a whole other place."
"If you only knew..."
Again, he looked at her strangely and she quickly took a bite out of her pizza. He did the same thing, thinking again that women were of a whole other species.
And then it hit him.
"You were thinking of Angel, weren't you?"
She smiled. "Yeah, a bit."
"You still miss him, don't you?"
"Yeah, I guess a part of me will always miss him. He was my first love, but he's gone and I have to accept that and move on. Even though it is one of the hardest things I ever had to do."
To her suprise he got up and gave her a big comforting hug.
"I know Buff, but trust me, it will get better. And you know what, I just know that there is a great guy for you outhere, with nothing to do but love you. You gotta believe that."
She tightened her hold on him. "Yeah, I believe that..."
He released her and kissed her on the forehead.
"Good, now, let's eat!"
She did just that, even though she knew that her life had gotten a lot more complicated over the past two days.
Giles his apartment (6.30)
Buffy and Xander bounced into Giles's apartment, with Buffy laughing over the latest joke Xander had just told. They were greeted by Willow and Oz, who were both sitting on the couch, looking very much in love and Cordelia who was looking bored. Her expression changed to jealous when she noticed the way Buffy and Xander were laughing at eachother. Giles was pacing around, a worried expression on his face.
"You guys better sit down, I have something to tell you all."
Xander made his way over to Cordelia, gave her a kiss and sat down next to her. Buffy watched him go, realising again how stupid she had been in letting him go.
Or rather passing him by. Meanwhile Xander looked at the watcher.
"Shoot, G-man, tell us about the new big bad."
The older man cleared his throat.
"This isn't something we ever dealt with before Xander. The vampire that almost killed you was right when he spoke to you about the first vampire. This creature is extremely evil, and nobody has ever killed him. The last time he was here he simply got bored and decided to go back to hell after a while. He had however wiped out half of the population by then. He will rise in seven days, in the library. Coming out of the Hellmouth, bringing the Master with him as an general for his army. His army will consist out of all the vampires in the world who he can control with his mind."
Willow and Oz had heard this all before, but hearing it the second time didn't seem to make it any less frightening. Meanwhile Xander, Buffy and Cordelia just looked at eachother. All more than afraid. Buffy got the watcher's attention.
"There's got to be a way for me to stop this, or kill him."
Giles started to clean his glasses.
"There is no way to stop him Buffy, at least not for you."
The others looked at him in suprise. Oz decided to ask the question everybody wanted to ask.
"What do you mean not for Buffy? Is there somebody else who could stop this?"
"Yes, the prophesies speak of a True Warrior, one who is destined to fight the First Vampire and have a chance againt him. However, this True Warrior is a he. It is supposed to be the one who has seen and felt the power of evil and choose to fight the good fight. He has also known the love of a slayer."
Everybody looked at eachother after this. All thinking about the same person, but knowing that it couldn't be. Xander looked around the group.
"Ehh guys, isn't Deadboy a little to....ehhh....well dead for this job."
Buffy looked at her watcher.
"I killed him to soon. Maybe I should have waited, maybe there was another way for me to stop Acathla. I killed Angel to soon and now we are all going to die because of me."
Willow looked at her best friend.
"Buffy, no, this is not your fault. Wait...did you just say Angel...You said you killed Angel instead of Angelus."
Buffy nodded.
"He was Angel again. Something passed trough him and he was himself again. He didn't even know what he had done, but it was too late. Acathla had already been activated, so I kissed him, told him that I loved him and killed him. I killed him..."
She was crying by now. Xander made his way over to her and tried to comfort her as best as he could. Telling her that it wasn't her fault. Meanwhile Giles knew he wasn't done talking yet.
"You didn't destroy the world by killing him Buffy. You see..Angel isn't dead."
Buffy just looked at her watcher speechless. Xander was shocked.
"Wait...didn't Buff just say that she killed him...Then how can he be...What do you mean?"
"Angel is alive. He returned from hell almost a month ago. He doesn't know why, all that he knows is that he's back. He still has his soul and decided to go to LA, knowing that he and Buffy could never truly be together. He thought it would be easier for you this way. He did however call me to tell me about this and told me to tell you when I thought the time was right."
Buffy had a confused and mostly hurt expression.
"You knew he was alive?"
Giles just nodded.
"Why didn't you tell me the moment I came back?"
"I didn't think it was the right time yet. It was to soon."
"Who gave you the right to judge about that?"
"Angel told me to tell you when you were ready. I didn't think you were ready yet."
"Were you ever going to tell me if this True Warrior thing hadn't happened?"
The watcher remained silent while Buffy got up to look him straight in the face.
"ANSWER ME!"
"No, I wasn't going to tell you anytime soon..."
Buffy felt like her world had just fallen around her. She looked around the room and noticed the fear in everybody's eyes, the amazement. When she looked at Xander she saw pain for what she was feeling. For a long moment all she could do was look into those eyes, gathering her strenght there. Then she looked back at her watcher.
"I can't do this right now, I need to be away from you."
She turned to Xander.
"Please come with me?"
He hesitated, looking between Cordelia and Buffy. Seeing the pain she was in he made his decision. He followed Buffy out of the room. She would need somebody and he was going to be there for her. Always...
To be continued....