Lorelai decided not to have Xander work on the Dragonfly. Instead, she dragooned him into helping her with the Lord of the Rings party. The reason that she gave him for doing this was that she no longer had staff to help set things up, so he would have to do instead.

The real reason was that she was hoping that she could convince Xander to tell Rory about his failed attempt at marriage.

Unfortunately, as she discovered while actually setting up the party, she really did need help: after all, setting up tables and giving out cloaks and other Middle Earth-y things didn't happen by itself. So Lorelai didn't actually get much of a chance to talk to Xander. At least, not on any level less superficial than "More elf ears, please." "You got it, boss."

Then, just as the party was settling down to become what all parties for small children ending up being (a pile of screaming and laughing chaos) and Lorelai thought she might get her chance, disaster struck.

Apparently, Sookie didn't actually know what children ate. Or how much they ate. Lorelai didn't actually understand how Sookie had managed that, because she had known Rory for years and when Rory had been the same age as these kids she had eaten enough junk food to make a gannet jealous. Well, she still did that now, but that was beside the point.

The point was, there wasn't actually any proper food for the children. Lorelai suspected that, if food didn't materialize soon, she and Sookie would be ambushed by a horde of screeching children armed with swords. Fake swords, to be sure, but that was no consolation. Lorelai had never planned on being lynched.

Just as she was about to rush out and start buying actual children's food (and, at the same time, deal with the pregnant Sookie going into meltdown because she was going to have a baby and she didn't know what babies wanted), Xander walked into the kitchen and said "Guys? We could do with food now. The kids are getting hungry, and they might just swarm over us like locusts."

"Unfortunately, we've had something of a crisis on that front. We don't actually have any children's food." Lorelai replied. "So, unless you can summon food, Valley Jesus, I'm going to have to dash to Doose's."

Xander waved his hands. Food miraculously failed to appear. "Huh. That always worked for Will." he said, under his breath. Then, louder, he said "The kids aren't going to wait that long. They'll go stampeding down the street and overrun Luke's."

"Can't you distract them, or something?"

Xander opened his mouth to say "How am I meant to distract a horde of ravening children?" when suddenly an idea struck him. Eyes glinting, Xander said "Okay, here's what we do..."

~*~

The children paid absolutely no attention when, about a minute later, Lorelai came out of the kitchen, shut the door and leant on it. She was, after all, a grown up, and everything grownups did was boring.

They did however pay attention when Lorelai shouted, in a voice loud enough to be heard over the din, "They've got a cave troll!"

Instantly, the children went silent. The only sound to be heard was the thumping of giant feet. Then the kitchen door burst open, and standing there was Xander, who let out a deafening roar.

He was promptly swamped by a horde of children. Lorelai used the distraction to make good her escape. As she did, she wished that she had a video camera, because she would love to record that.

~*~

As it turned out, Xander managed to stall the Ravening Horde long enough for Lorelai to go and get food (when she returned, Xander was teaching the kids rudimentary sword fighting. It turned out that Xander really did know his way around a blade, even if it was a fake one).

Soon, Lorelai and Sookie began bringing out the food that didn't need to be cooked, and the Ravening Horde fell on it as though they hadn't eaten in a month.

"Thanks, Xander." Lorelai said.

Xander rubbed his chest absently. "You're welcome."

"Listen-"

"I'm going to tell Rory later."

"How did you know what I was going to say?"

"I'm, like, totally psychic." Xander said, wiggling his fingers in front of him. "That, and it was pretty obvious."

"What changed your mind?"

"I don't want to keep secrets from her. Even if I'm only around for another couple of days."

"Fair enough. When are you going to tell her?"

"This evening. I thought I'd go work on the Dragonfly for a bit while I work out what to say."

"Fine. Go. We can cope without you now."

"Are you sure? The Ravening Horde can be quite a handful." Xander said doubtfully.

"Yeah, I'm sure. We'll be fine. I think we can do without a cave troll for a while." Lorelai assured.

Xander smiled ruefully. "Okay. Thanks."

~*~

Xander was no stranger to college parties. Back in Sunnydale, there had been a dorm that had arranged the "Somebody Sneezed Party" and the "Day Ending in Y Party." He'd attended a few of those, because they were the kind of people who didn't care if you actually went to college or not. They just liked partying.

However, he hadn't actually expected Rory to be in one. And not only be in one, but open her door so that the party could go on inside it. He wouldn't have thought that it was her thing.

Still, there she was, sitting on her couch sandwiched between two nattering blondes and looking unhappy about the whole situation.

Well, what kind of White Knight would he be to leave her there?

"Hey, Rory?" Xander said, cutting through the blondes babble. "Do you mind if we talk for a minute?"

Before Rory had a chance to respond, Blonde 1 said "Ro-Gil! You didn't tell us you had a boyfriend!"

"I don't." Rory replied, flushing slightly.

"Are you sure? Because he's pretty hot." Blonde 2 declared.

"I assure you, my body temperature is the same as the next man's." Xander interjected smoothly. "Rory?"

Rory stood up. "Sure. Let's go outside."

"So, Ro-Gil, is it?" Xander said, smiling. "You forgot to mention that."

Rory rolled her eyes. "They're friends of my grandmother's. She thought I should fall in with the right crowd. Anyway, you're one to talk, Valley Jesus."

Xander grimaced. "True."

Rory looked at him. "But I'm guessing you're not here to talk about my Wodehouse-style Grandma, are you?"

Xander shook his head. "No. Although those two wouldn't have been out of place next to Jeeves and Wooster."

"So what was it that you wanted to say?"

Xander took a deep breath. All the suave things that he had planned on saying earlier flew out of his head. Instead, Xander blurted "I was nearly married."

Rory stopped walking. "What?"

"You know yesterday I mentioned things ending badly with my girlfriend? We nearly got married. We would've been married, but then, at the altar, I... I couldn't do it. I couldn't go through with it."

"And that's what you didn't want to tell me yesterday?"

"It is."

"Oh, thank God."

Xander looked at her quizzically. "You're thanking God that I'm not married?"

Rory flushed slightly at the implications of that. "Uh, no. But that's a lot better than I imagined you would say."

"I'm probably going to regret asking this, but: what exactly did you think I was hiding?"

Rory shrugged. "Worst case scenario? You attacked and killed her with a sword. I know it sounds ridiculous, but I have an overactive imagination..."

"Yeah, so far I've managed to go through life without attacking a girlfriend with a sword." Xander said drily.

"Why didn't you want to tell me that?" Rory asked, curiously. "I mean, it's not like it's a big secret, not if you can tell my mom about it."

Xander thought for a moment. "You remind me a lot of a friend of mine. She would've been a lot like you if... if certain things hadn't happened. And I - I didn't want you to change."

Rory turned to face him. "Okay, two things. Firstly, that's kind of sweet. Secondly, you are really, really stupid."

Xander looked taken aback. "Okay, I'm not going to pretend I haven't been called that before, but what did I do to deserve it this time?"

"Do I look like a child to you? I know I'm young, but sooner or later I'm going to go out in the world. I want to be a journalist. A foreign correspondent, if I can manage that. I'm going to see things a lot worse than someone who left his girlfriend at the altar. And you're a nice guy and all, Xander, but I've only known you for five days. Knowing that you were nearly married isn't going to change me at all."

Xander scratched his chest. "I feel like an idiot now."

Rory softened slightly. "It's not your fault."

Xander perked up. "It's not?"

"No. You're a guy. You've got an idiocy quota to fill."

"I - I want to come up with some kind of witty response to that, but I've got nothing."

"See? Idiocy quota."

"Okay, I'll give you that one. I'll probably pop in tomorrow and give you my craftily prepared snarky comeback."

"You do that." Rory said, smiling slightly. Then she said "Your friend. The one I remind you of. What happened to her?"

"It's a long story."

"It's got to be better than that party."

"Who throws a party on a Monday anyway?"

"You're stalling."

Xander sighed noisily. "I know. It's just difficult."

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want."

Xander raised an eyebrow. "If I don't tell you, how can you write a scoop on the life and times of Valley Jesus?"

Rory held up an imaginary notebook and pencil. "Okay, go."

"Her name is Willow. We've been friends forever. She's smart - at least as smart as you are, if not smarter. No offence. Anyway, she used to be this shy, cute girl. Came out as gay in college, which was kind of a surprise because she had a crush on me since she was about 5. Not really sure what that says about me. Anyway, she started using - well, anyway she became an addict. I didn't know, I couldn't tell. And it spiralled out of control. People got hurt. Then, after her girlfriend was shot by some misogynistic bastard, she went off the deep end." Xander's hand went to his chest. "But she got better. She's in rehab."

Rory stared at him. What on Earth was she meant to say to that?

"Yeah, cool story, isn't it?" Xander said bitterly.

"Um, no. Not a cool story." Rory said. "That's just... Oh, Xander, I'm sorry."

Xander shrugged uncomfortably. "Well, now you know."

"I feel really bad for making you tell me that." Rory said dejectedly, wringing her hands.

Xander took her hold of her wrists. "Hey. It's not your fault. I wouldn't have told you if I hadn't wanted to." He smiled wanly. "In fact, it makes me feel a lot better just talking about this."

Rory looked up at him. Suddenly, she became aware of exactly how close they were standing.

Xander realised the same thing. He took a deep shuddering breath and let go of Rory's wrists. "Oh, I think that you might've been onto something with the idiocy quota idea."

Rory guessed that she should probably stop staring at him, or at least take a step back, but instead she just said "Why?"

Xander shook his head slightly. "Oh, no. I learnt my lesson yesterday. No sudden spouting of things that are inappropriate."

Rory's lips quirked. "Yeah, randomly talking about how stunning my mom is right now would be wildly inappropriate."

Xander shook his head again. "Actually, thoughts of your mother are about the furthest thing from my thoughts right now."

Rory's breath caught. "Oh yeah? So what exactly are you thinking?" she said softly.

Xander groaned and took a step back. "Please, talk about something ordinary."

Rory blinked. "Um, what?"

"Something ordinary, mundane, absolutely not ero- um, not exciting." Xander pleaded. "Please."

"Uh, okay. So, you've read Wodehouse then."

"Oh, no. I've seen the old British adaptation, you know, the one with Stephen Fry and-"

"And Hugh Laurie, yes. I've seen that too. It's not as good as the books though."

"Really? Maybe I'll break the habit of a life time and actually read a book."

"Oh, you definitely should. It's worth it."

Xander didn't respond. He seemed to be examining his shoes, as though they held the meaning of life. "Um, Xander? Are you alright?"

Suddenly, Xander looked up, eyes meeting hers. Rory felt a tingle run down her spine.

She'd seen smouldering looks before. They'd been a specialty of Jess' - they'd been a large part of what had allowed her to forgive him when he'd been particularly moody.

There were smouldering eyes like his, and then there was this. Rory didn't have the words for this. Not without some cheesy cliché.

Xander took a step forward. Rory didn't move - she felt like a rabbit caught in a car's headlights (yeah, okay, so she couldn't think of anything that wasn't a cliché).

Then he kissed her. There was no other contact. Just his lips. Rory felt her awareness shrink down until all she knew was his lips on hers.

Then, suddenly, they weren't there. Her eyes, which she didn't even remember closing, opened. She swayed forward instinctively, expecting his lips to be there.

They weren't.

"Well." murmured Xander thoughtfully. "That was unexpected."

"Eep!" Rory said profoundly.

"I think that that about covers it, yes."

Heart pounding. Sweaty palms. Pleasant shivers going down spine. Don't think about his lips... "Eep!"

"I've never made a girl speechless before..." Xander said, absently massaging his chest. "Still, we should probably talk about that."

Rory opened her mouth to say something, but apparently her legs had other ideas. Like running in completely the opposite direction.

Xander watched her go. "Should I come after you?" He called. Rory didn't answer. Xander wasn't really surprised. "Oh, Xander, you've really stepped in it now."