Disclaimer: Joss is Boss

It was a bright sunny California day, and Buffy's class was on a field trip to the zoo, she had lost track of Willow and Xander and Giles had somehow managed to keep Angel from going, she had asked if it was slayer related and if she was needed but Giles waved her off, so here she was alone and watching some type of animal.

"Hey look its Buffy with all her friends" Buffy rolled her eye's as Kyle the school bad ass indicated that she was all alone to his friends, who got into as much trouble as he did.

"That's witty" 'have these people forgotten that I have a boyfriend who could knock them all out without breaking a sweat'

"Were you this popular at your old school, you know before you got kicked out" Buffy had to think of Angel topless just to keep her from reacting, the group headed off to terrorize another student, from the look of things it seemed like it was one of their regulars.

She saw Principal Flutie come up and try to diffuse the situation as Xander and Willow came up to her.

"Hey you missed it" Willow chirped happily, it wasn't really the animals that got her all happy but the little alone time with Xander, he hadn't even mentioned Buffy once.

"Missed what" she didn't really care but was always happy to pretend for her friends.

"We saw a couple of Zebra's mating it was very exciting thank you" Xander could see that Buffy wasn't really with them but he put it down to Angel missage.

"And I missed it, yet strangely I feel like I can go on with the world." Buffy knew there wasn't any enthusiasm in her voice but she really couldn't make herself care.

"I'm getting the feeling that your not exactly in the field trip spirit here" Buffy held back her smile she sometimes forgot that her friends could read her easily, not as good as Angel but enough to know that she wasn't exactly happy.

"It's just I took the exact same field trip in L.A, you know same old same old"

"Plus Angel isn't here" Willow added earning a little smile from Buffy and Xander to roll his eyes.

"Buffy this isn't just about animals, it's about not being in class" Xander cut in trying to lighten the mood.

"Your right suddenly the animals look all shiny and new" Buffy looked around feeling a little better.

A commotion up ahead caught their attention, they looked up in time to see Kyle and his buddies leading the student from before Lance Buffy thought his name was into the Hyena house that was sectioned off by yellow tape.

Buffy was going to see what they had planned but Xander stopped her and went instead, Willow and Buffy shared a look before following him, just as they got under the tape they got caught by the main zookeeper. They both waited nervously, they saw Lance run out of the building and a few minutes later Xander walked out confidently and seemingly unharmed, what really shocked the girls was Kyle and the others following him out without taunting or saying much.

Buffy had a strange feeling creep up her spine as Xander approached them but shrugged it off to the others weird behaviour, they spent the rest of afternoon wandering around the zoo not really paying much attention to anything, Buffy didn't really notice anything wrong with Xander except that he was unusually quiet but she had other things on her mind, mostly why Giles needed Angel and not her. Willow noticed however that her best friend was definitely not himself. Finally it was time to head back to school and as Buffy got on the bus she thought she felt Xander sniff her hair but shrugged it off.

When Buffy and Willow entered the library they saw Angel putting his shirt back on and Giles holding an a vile full of blood not even thinking Buffy rushed up to her boyfriend and checked him over for injuries while Willow just looked at Giles confused.

"Angel what's wrong?" Buffy was so panicked that she didn't see her boyfriend smile and place his hands gently on her face to make her look at his face.

'I'm fine just due for a check up, that's why I didn't go with you today, you wouldn't believe some of the things he got me to do" Angel saw Buffy relax at his words and he placed a gentle kiss on her lips.

"Yes well now that's all cleared up, how was your trip" Giles asked the two girls.

"It was so cool me and Xander saw these two Zebra's mating and we had to stop Buffy from beating up some kids" At this Giles and Angel turned their attention back to Buffy who tried to put on an innocent face that didn't fool either man.

"They were sorta asking for it, besides it doesn't matter cuz Xander sorted it out" Buffy would've laughed at their expressions if she didn't remember that weird feeling she had got off Xander. The phone rang as Giles went off to answer it the girls told Angel more about the zoo trip.

It was Joyce who had called wondering if they were going to stay late in the library, Giles assured her that they were on the way and inquired if there was enough for Willow, Joyce just laughed and replied that she now always cooks extra as either Willow or Xander or both were always there for dinner.

The teens watched the watcher do a couple of last minute things before they left the library for the night. At dinner Giles said that due to Angel having a check up he was giving both him and Buffy the night off and since they hadn't been there in a while the three teens decided to go to the Bronze. They called up Xander and he said he would meet them there.

At the Bronze they had managed to find a table, but only two seats, Buffy fixed the problem by sitting Angel down then placing herself in his lap and wrapping his arms around her. They had been there a while Willow telling Angel all about Buffy missing him that day much to the blonde slayer's embarrassment when Xander finally showed up.

He was for once dressed decently with a dark coloured shirt and a pair of jeans, there was an air about him that made girls look towards him instead of away as they usually did, he walked up to the table and took a bite of Buffy's croissant and a sip of her drink abruptly he pulled a face and swallowed the food.

"Ugh what do you call this?"

"It was my buttery croissant and diet cola" Buffy said taken aback by his rude behaviour and she could feel that strange feeling again she looked to Angel to see if he could feel anything and saw he was staring at Xander intently.

Unmindful of the fact that she was sitting in her boyfriends lap Xander lent over and sniffed her hair.

"And the weird behaviour award goes too" Buffy said looking at Xander while holding onto Angel's arms so he wouldn't hit the boy.

"You had a bath" Xander stated

"Yeah I usually do" Buffy looked over to Willow who looked just as confused as she did.

"That's good" Xander suddenly put all his attention on the door and a few seconds later Kyle and his friends walked through it, Buffy sat up a bit and looked to Angel again he looked into her eyes and he nodded, he too felt the strange feeling intensify.

Kyle and his buddies walked right pass there table all of them just stared at Xander and to the others shock he wasn't backing down just stared them down as they went by. They came up to a table where an overweight teen sat.

"What are you doing sitting at our table?" Kyle asked

"Yeah shouldn't you be hovering above the field with Goodyear on you" Rhonda teases making the others laugh but what really shocked Buffy was when Xander laughed along with them.

"What?" Xander asked in question to he's friends disbelieving glares

"The kid's fat"

For the rest of the night there was a slight tension, which caused Buffy and Angel to leave early.

The next day Buffy was training for Giles instead of Angel, she couldn't really focus however and some of her kicks were sloppy, Giles however as starting to ache and was glad his wife knew of his real occupation and wouldn't ask questions about the numerous bruises that he was sure was decorating his body, as Buffy went to kick again he suddenly pulled back and she halted her kick.

"I think that's enough training for the day" Giles stated out of breath.

"Are you sure I've only done half of what I normal do with Angel, and that last roundhouse was kind of sloppy" Giles assured her that she had done enough and sent her along to class as he went to put ice on his arms.

Buffy was halfway to class when she heard a commotion behind her turning around she saw student s jumping to the side of the hallway and Principal Flutie breaking his rule about running in the halls, looking down she saw the cause for all the distress crouching down she caught and stopped the little pink pig in its tracks.

"Oh thank goodness you stopped him, naughty Herbert, you gave Principal Flutie quite a scare didn't you" He then noticed all the students that had gathered around which Buffy noticed included Angel, he had gone with Joyce to give her some help at gallery for a show that weekend.

"Students I like you to meet our new mascot Herbert" the principal announced a few of the students applauded and Angel went over to scratch the pigs head, and to stand closer to his girlfriend, who was absorbed with the little piglet in her arms.

"He's so cute" Buffy exclaimed she looked into her boyfriends eyes and he smiled at the complete innocence and happiness in her eyes.

"He's not cute he's a ferocious warrior" Principal Flutie exclaimed and again some students applauded and cheered.

"He doesn't exactly look mean" Angel commented then he spotted the foam cut outs in the principals hands, everyone watched as the principal but a green razor spine on Herbert and some tusks as well, soon though the principal sent everyone to class but as Buffy tried to hand Herbert back to the principal the piglet started to panic so Flutie just got her and Angel to follow him to Herbert's cage. All the way there he talked about school spirit and how things were in the old days.

It began to rain and by the time they had Gym it was pouring, so the coach declared that they were going to play doge ball, Buffy, Angel and Willow were on team while Xander, Kyle and the others were on the other, Angel felt that strange feeling and when he focused it seemed to be radiating from Xander and the bunch of kids that had entered the Bronze the night before.

"Watch out" he muttered to Buffy who nodded and squeezed his hand, though what they could do with everyone around was beyond her.

The Game began it was hard and brutal it was pure doge ball take no prisoners, that's how Xander's team seem to be playing, though when did Xander get so good at any sport was the question, he dodged every ball easily and helped take out most of the students on Buffy's team, the slayers however weren't giving up and between the two of them managed to even things up.

Buffy almost got knocked out of the game when she saw Xander hit Willow with the ball, the look in his eyes made her think of a vampire in a hunt, predatory and calculating, Angel's quick warning managed to save her, she looked over to her boyfriend and realised they were the only ones left while on the other team was Xander, Kyle and his bunch and strangely enough Lance.

Angel and Buffy prepared themselves for the others to start throwing balls, and both were shocked when they turned and started to attack Lance, even when the boy was on the ground they didn't give up, it took a few moments for them to get over the shock of Xander doing something like that before they rushed over and helped lance up. Both Buffy and Angel gave them a challenging stare the kind that made most vamps back down, but Xander just smirked and walked off with Kyle's group.

They shared a look there was something definitely hellmouthy going on, they just didn't know what but both silently agreed they wouldn't give up till Xander was back to his old self.

TBC