"Rupert, are you in here?" a female voice called out.

"Miss Calendar, it's good to see you," Giles said, having quickly left his office.

"I told you to call me Jenny," she reminded him. "What happened to you?" she asked, concerned, and started fussing over him.

"It's nothing," Giles assured her, a bit embarrassed by the attention but enjoying it all the same. "A bit of male bonding is all."

"Male bonding?" Jenny asked with a grin. "I never knew you had it in you."

Xander stepped into the doorway and sipped his tea, amused. He'd returned for a second cup after retrieving Angel, finding Giles a lot more tolerable now.

"I was a bit wilder in my youth," Giles admitted, "but I think you'll find-"

"I caught this guy sneaking around," Angel interrupted, dragging a familiar looking figure out of the stacks.

"Hey, Ripper!" Ethan greeted Giles, Angel's hand gripping the back of his neck.

"Ethan!" Giles growled out.

"Ethan," Xander greeted the shopkeep and Chaos Mage cheerfully. It was hard to be upset with the man who had given you riches beyond measure after all.

"Xander?" Giles asked.

"The entire costume thing may have been a pain for a lot of people, but none of the kids got killed, probably a record in this town, and I received a wealth of knowledge," Xander said, "besides, he's in the same boat as you and having you both in one place should speed things up considerably."

"I... I can see your point, however there were numerous injuries and quite a bit of trauma," Giles pointed out.

"Fair enough," Xander said. "I'm not saying you have to be buddy buddy with him, I'm just saying he did me a good turn and you should both work together until we deal with the demon."

"I suppose you're right," Giles conceded. He turned to Ethan. "Keep in mind that as soon as the demon is dealt with I owe you a beating."

"You actually have a workable plan to deal with Eyghon?" Ethan asked skeptically, straightening his clothes as Angel released him.

"Yes," Giles said, "one that's obvious in retrospect. I'm not going to share the details with you because I don't trust you however."

"Not even the broad strokes so I don't screw something up?" Ethan asked.

"Demon attacks, we split, demon is taken care of by someone else," Xander said.

"I like the fleeing part, not too fond of the being bait part I can tell is included," he said honestly.

Xander nodded. "Fine, but this counts as the one I owe you. Meet me at the costume shop tomorrow at noon. Also, try not to eat anything and drink only water."

"Are you sure?" Giles asked Xander, guessing what he was going to do.

"It keeps him safe and insures he doesn't interfere in our plan," Xander replied. "The sleepwalker won't be able to target him, so you'll be the only signal left."

"I'm missing quite a lot here I feel," Ethan said.

"Don't worry about it," Xander said, "just remember three things, only drink water, be at your shop tomorrow at noon, and finally... do you see that blue car in the parking lot?"

"Where?" Ethan asked, turning to look out the window.

Xander shot the floor under Ethan and he vanished into the mirror. "And that's one less complication," he said as the puddle of silver evaporated.

"I'm kind of relieved you can't do that to me," Angel said in the sudden silence.

"Why not?" Giles asked curiously.

"Vampires cast no reflection so they can't exist on the other side of the mirror," Xander explained. "I haven't looked into why and am simply very, very, happy about it."

"What about other demons?" Giles asked.

"No clue," Xander replied. "Like I said, I haven't looked into it."

"Excuse me, a demon is going to attack?" Jenny asked.

"I'm afraid so," Giles replied reluctantly. "You may wish to be elsewhere for a time."

"Are you sure you'll be alright?" she asked, laying a hand on his arm.

"Arrhh!" a dead man roared as he rushed out of the stacks.

"And that's our cue," Xander said, stepping close to the two and shooting the ground beneath them.

The ground rose up like they were sinking in quicksand, quickly covering their heads and leaving them standing in the same spot they were just moments before as if nothing had occurred, Angel and the demon seemingly absent.

"That was something," Jenny said, looking around.

"How will we know if it worked?" Giles asked, rubbing his wrist.

Xander gestured towards the mirror on the back of the library doors, which showed Angel wrestling the demon in the very room they were in.

The pair looked from the mirror to the empty room.

"You get used to it," Xander assured them.

"Where's Ethan?" Giles asked, looking around for a moment before returning his attention to the mirror.

"A different reflection," Xander replied. "I didn't feel like dealing with any drama."

"Probably for the best," Giles decided as he watched the zombie Angel was fighting dissolve into green goo and the Vampire's face start shifting and bulging from the dual possessions as the demons inside of him fought.

"How real is all of this?" Jenny asked curiously.

"Drinking water is fine, the food won't nourish you and may provoke an allergic reaction. Physical properties are pretty stable, chemical less so, and biological not at all," Xander rattled off. "That's all oversimplified of course."

"And the pills mother gives you does nothing at all," Jenny quoted.

Giles grinned as Angel's game face morphed into its vampire game face one last time before returning to normal. "I'd avoid the mushrooms at any rate."

Xander pulled a small box out of his pocket and tossed it to Giles, who fumbled but caught it.

"What's this?" he asked as he opened it.

"It's cuff links," Xander replied, "tap one on a mirror and you come and go from this place."

"Both of them?" Giles asked.

"Both of them," Xander agreed. "I need to make something for Buffy, but I decided a stable reflection we could all access would give us a safe place to meet up or a fall back to. Not to mention just walking home at night is a lot safer this way."

"This is a gift beyond measure," Giles said. "You've basically given us a world."

"I have them to spare," Xander replied. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go tell Angel he did a great job and find some way to pay him back. I'll leave you two kids here to poke around a bit."

Giles opened his mouth to thank him, but Xander had already vanished into a mirror.

"Hey Angel, how you feeling?" Xander asked.

"Mellow," Angel said after a few seconds of thought. "Angelus is actually quiet. He enjoyed the fight."

"If I run across any other problems like that I know who to call now," Xander said. "I owe you one."

"I was happy to help," Angel replied.

"Angel? Xander?" Buffy asked as she, Willow, and Cordelia entered the library. "What are you two doing together, during the day, no less?"

"Giles had me go get him since the demon could attack at any time, unlike most vampires," Xander explained.

"And how likely is that?" Buffy asked, concerned.

"I've already dealt with the demon," Angel assured her, taking her hand.

"What?!" Buffy quickly checked Angel over. "You're OK?"

"I'm fine," Angel told her, smiling, "it was easy."

"Where's Giles?" Willow asked.

"Him and Miss Calendar are in the mirror," Xander told her, shaking his head as Willow tapped the mirror on the back of the library's doors with her pin and stuck her head in. "Not that one. Let me see your pin."

Willow pulled her head out of the mirror and handed Xander her pin. He rubbed his thumb over it and passed it back. "It's tuned to the right reflection now, but considering I left Giles and Miss Calendar alone in there together... I really wouldn't advise bugging them."

"Ah, OK," Willow said. She accepted her pin back and slid it into her pocket.

"And speaking of pens," Xander said, he walked over to the table and opened his backpack, rummaging around inside.

"What's this?" Cordy asked as she caught the slender box he tossed her.

"It's a silver pen," Xander replied. "I can't picture you wearing any piece of jewelry for more than a day or two before feeling the need to change it, so an expensive pen that you won't lose is the best idea for a token. Tap on a mirror to open the way in."

"Thanks," Cordelia said, seemingly fascinated by the pen as she stared at it, examining it closely.

"Buffy, I'll need something from you to make into a key for you, small and metallic if possible," Xander told her.

"What's with the tokens?" Buffy asked, taking off the small silver cross she wore and ignoring the way Angel flinched away from it.

Xander accepted the cross. "I'm connecting them all to a stable reflection so we can escape and meet up in an emergency."

"Or to avoid Snyder," Buffy said.

"That too," Xander agreed.

Willow cleared her throat.

"Oh, Angel, why don't you walk me home?" Buffy suggested.

"It's still daylight outside," Angel pointed out.

"Oh yeah," Buffy said. "Why don't you show me how you sneak in and out of here during the day?"

"Sure," Angel agreed, "right this way." The pair vanished into the stacks.

"What's that about?" Xander wondered aloud.

"Xander, we need to talk," Willow said.

Xander's hand moved towards his mirror gun, but he managed to stop himself from firing it and pretended he was just adjusting his jacket. "About what?" he asked.

"Our relationship," Cordelia said.

Xander suppressed a wince, guessing they were going to make him choose between them until he noticed they were holding hands. "I'm listening," he said, trying to puzzle out what was going on.

"We've... gotten together," Willow said, "so we've got to break things off."

"I'm missing something here," Xander said, confused. "I was already dating both of you."

"Yes, and we were both planning to cut the other one out on that," Cordelia explained. "Dating is strictly one on one, so we were both planning on figuring out a way to convince the other to look for greener pastures."

"It's a girl thing," Willow said. "Eventually we would have made you choose between us if that didn't work."

"I..." Xander tilted his head, "am not as surprised by that as I expected. OK, it's been fun, nice dating you," Xander said, leaning heavily on Captain Cold's personality as he tried not to show how much their rejection hurt.

"Which means you can now take me up on my offer," Bobbi said, popping out of the shadows dressed in a Cheshire punk outfit.

The girls jumped, spinning around with Cordelia moving protectively in front of Willow, but Cheshire ignored them and sauntered past.

Xander was relieved to see a friendly face and a quick way out of the awkward conversation he was in. "Cheshire!" He smiled broadly as she grabbed his hand. "Shall we go?"

"Let's," she agreed instantly, pulling him towards the mirror. "I have yet to show you what a decade of gymnastics and ballet classes has really taught me!"

"I am speechless but intrigued," Xander said as she pushed him into the mirror.

"Ciao," Cheshire said, entering the mirror backwards so her smile was the last thing to vanish. Her smile vanished the moment she was on the other side of the mirror and she closed the way with a tap of her finger.

"Thanks, I needed that," Xander said, shaking his head and taking a couple of deep, shaky, breaths.

"First time being dumped?" she asked.

"Yes and no," Xander replied. "Mainly yes."

"Well let's get out of here before they follow us," Cheshire said.

"They can't, you guys have a completely different reflection," Xander said. "I gave each group their own private world."

"I've found the best way to get over a breakup is to cry into a friend's breasts," Cheshire said. "Lorna's got a much better rack than I do, but mine should work. Come on, we'll make a nest of blankets, turn on a bunch of fans to create a whirlwind around it, and cry our eyes out."

Xander allowed himself to be drug off. "I don't think guys do that."

"You can be a macho guy later, for now just be you, alright?" she said earnestly.

"Alright," Xander said, "I'll give it a shot."

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

"Until recently they hated each other," Xander said in between bites of orange sherbet."

Bobbi squeezed him as the wind roared around their nest of blankets in the food court of a reflection of the Sunnydale mall.

"Despite the fact that we actually are in our own little world, this makes it feel like we're in our own little world," Xander said.

"That's its purpose," she agreed, running her fingers through his hair.

"The part that really sucks is I'm going to have to see the two of them, after they tossed me aside, day after day," Xander said. "They'll be together and I'll be alone."

"You won't be alone, you have friends," Bobbi told him. "I'll play girlfriend 'Cheshire' to make them jealous and I can switch off with Lorna dressed as Cheshire to mess with them and for the times you really want to play with their heads, we can have Sean play 'Cheshire'."

"That actually does make me feel better," Xander said.

Bobbi squeezed his head to her chest for a ten count before releasing him. "And the breasts?"

"And the breasts," Xander agreed.

"Good, I was hoping they'd work," Bobbi said. "I mean, I could easily get Lorna for this, but I wanted to do it myself."

"I appreciate it," Xander said.

"Plus if you weren't on rebound I would be molesting you right now," she said. "Wow that sounded funnier in my head and a lot less squicky."

"My birthday draws nigh," Xander said melodramatically.

"Oh, thank god!" Bobbi said.

"Yes indeed," Xander assured her. "As the new year dawns, it'll be only a year until I am eighteen!" He thrust his spoon into the air.

Bobbie groaned. "I'm a pervert!"

Typing By: Abyssal Angel

TN: Interesting idea with the wind tunnel around a nest of blankets, but... How in the world do they hear each other over something like that?

AN: They are right next to each other and it encourages snuggling.