Xander balanced the weight of the small black weapon in his hand. "How close do you have to be for it to work?"

"Within ten feet." Tony told him. "You'll probably want to practise aiming it though. Here, aim it at that wall."

Xander eyed the wall. "Are you sure?"

"Of course, just hold on a minute." Tony turned around and grabbed a screwdriver, before striding forward and stabbing it into the wall at about chest height. "There, aim for that hole."

Xander swallowed nervously. "Alright, and I just push this button?"

Tony backed away from the wall. "Yeah."

Xander held the weapon out in front of him, aiming it carefully at the hole in the wall, before pushing his thumb down on the button.

Immediately, a blue light appeared on the wall, three inches high and two inches wide of the hole, and then a bolt of lightning exploded out of the weapon and hit the blue light.

"Wow!" Xander stared at the smoking, black mark on the wall.

"There's no recoil." Tony pointed out excitedly. "And, with a bit of practise, the aiming should be easy. The instant the electricity hits a vampire, they'll do their dust thing, but you should probably avoid hitting people with it. The electrical current isn't as strong as lightning, but it's a hell of a lot stronger than a taser so it probably won't kill them, but it'll hurt like hell and might cause some brain damage."

"It's amazing." Xander told him seriously. "How does it work?"

"The laser creates an electromagnetic field which is strong enough to rip electrons off the air molecules in its path. The plasma then guides the electricity to the target."

Xander frowned as he tried to figure out what exactly that meant. "And plasma is?"

"The air molecules that are missing electrons." Tony explained. "The electrons are then used as the raw materials for the electricity."

"Oh, how many, uh, goes does it have? Do you have to reload it or recharge it?"

"Nope." Tony grinned proudly. "It does that all for you. You could fire it ten times in ten seconds and it still wouldn't run out of juice.

Xander rubbed his thumb along the side of the weapon. "Is there a safety?"

"Sort of." Tony stepped forward. "The button will only work if the thing pushing on it is between ninety three and one hundred and three degrees Farenheit, and if it can feel blood pulsing through it. So, if it's in your pocket, you won't be able to set it off by sitting on it or anything, and a vampire won't be able to use it against you."

Xander brought the button up to his eye. "That's actually kind of perfect."

"Yeah, well, I didn't want you to get attacked but not be able to use it because you couldn't get the safety off." Tony shrugged. "But, you probably shouldn't wear gloves. Not really a problem right now, since no one wears gloves in California, but still."

"Thank you, Tony." Xander told him, injecting as much sincerity into his voice as he could. "This is amazing!"

Tony swallowed. "Just stay alive."

"I will." Xander promised. "I haven't died yet, have I? And that's with three months of patrolling with a slayer around. Uh, speaking of the slayers, are there, um, more of these? That I could give to my friends?"

Tony winced. "Let's go upstairs and talk about that over a drink, alright?"

Xander's stomach dropped. "You don't have to if you don't want to. I mean, this is amazing and if I gave them one they'd probably start asking questions about where it came from and that would be bad, so…"

"I'm not upset." Tony interrupted him. "Just, I have some issues around this stuff and I want to explain why."

"Oh."

It took them less than three minutes to grab drinks out of the fridge and find a seat in the lounge and then Xander sat quietly, with his leg jiggling as he picked at the label of his root beer, waiting for Tony to say something.

"Right," Tony said eventually, leaning forward in his chair. "The first thing I need to tell you is that when I was a kid my dad had this business partner named Obadiah Stane. They were really close and, when my parents died, Obie ran Stark Industries until I turned twenty one."

"He died last year, right?" Xander frowned in thought. "His plane went missing."

Tony's expression twitched. "I'll get to that in a minute. Anyway, he kept working for the company even after I came CEO and he was pretty much the closest thing I had to family. Then, in 2009 I, uh, I was kidnapped by a terrorist organisation called the Ten Rings. They wanted me to build them a Jericho missile, but instead I built the first version of my Iron Man suit. I was there for three months and in that time I saw them do horrible things with my weapons, weapons that I had built to protect people."

Xander nodded slowly, he knew most of that already.

"It wasn't until I got home that I realised that," Tony swallowed heavily. "That Obie had been selling the weapons that I designed to them, and other terrorists, for years and that he'd actually paid the Ten Rings to, to kill me."

Xander stared at him in horror. That was horrible! It was like what Giles had done to Buffy, but ten times, a hundred times, worse!

"Then Obie tried to kill me again." Tony continued. "And he tried to kill Pepper so I...stopped him."

"So he didn't actually die in a plane crash?"

"No," Tony sighed. "There's an agency called S.H.I.E.L.D. that's very good at cover stories. They came up with it for me. Anyway, the reason I don't make weapons to sell anymore is because I know how easy it is for them to fall into the wrong hands. So I only make weapons for people that I trust."

Xander bit his lip. "And you trust me?"

"Definitely." Tony said seriously. "But, and don't take this the wrong way, but I don't trust your friends. Not to mention that I'm pretty uncomfortable with the idea of giving a bunch of teenagers dangerous weapons."

Xander nodded slowly. "I get that. Besides, I guess they don't really need them. Faith and Buffy are Slayers, Willow's a witch, Oz is a werewolf, and Angel is a vampire."

"It's like an episode of Vampire Diaries." Tony grinned.

"The only person who'd need one as much as I do is Cordelia." Xander told him seriously.

Tony sighed. "Cordelia your girlfriend."

"Who I trust one hundred percent." Xander told him sincerely. "I know what you said, and I totally get that, but what if I vouch for her?"

Tony was silent for a few seconds, before eventually nodding. "Alright, I'll give her the second one I built and make another one for me."

"Really?" Xander couldn't hide his grin. "You'd do that?"

"She's your girlfriend." Tony leaned back in his chair, and finally opened his bottle of root beer. "And I trust you."

9-9-9

Cordelia's response to the VampTaser was pretty much everything Xander was hoping it would be: impressed, grateful, and a confession that she would feel safer with it in her bag. Xander also felt safer knowing that he had something that could kill a vampire in seconds, though he did feel guilty that he wasn't able to give the rest of the scoobies one too. Still, he could understand where Tony was coming from and it was Tony's choice who got to use his weapons.

Besides, Buffy and Faith would probably turn their noses up at such a modern, and hands off, approach to slaying vampires - something that Faith proved to be true when Xander and Cordelia told her about the VampTasers at lunch few days later.

"It'd take away all the fun." Faith complained, sprawling on the grass.

"Not to mention the high risk of death." Xander added dryly.

"Yeah, well, I can see why it might be useful for you guys." Faith admitted. "I like a good tumble though. Like last night, man, could those little goblin things throw a punch. I still say that me and B could have taken them. Red's spell almost made it too easy."

"What?" Xander swallowed heavily and glanced towards Cordelia. "What happened last night?"

"Oh, there was this nest of these creepy, grey goblins out in the caves." Faith explained animatedly. "You guys missed a great slaying session last night. Pity you guys had the...uh, what exactly were you doing? Buffy kind of mumbled when she was explaining it."

Xander clenched his jaw. "What exactly did Buffy say?"

"Just that you couldn't be there 'cos you were busy doing something." Faith shrugged. "I figured you were hanging out with your other friends or something."

"Or something." Cordelia said flatly.

"I was at home working on my English essay." Xander said. "No one told us that something was happening."

"Huh?" Faith sat up in her seat and looked between them. "But Buffy said…"

"Buffy lied." Xander snapped angrily, before sighing. "Sorry, it's not your fault."

"Don't apologise, I'd be pissed too." Faith told him. "Hell, I am fricking pissed. B lied to me?"

Cordelia crossed her arms. "I don't know why you're both acting so surprised."

Xander glared at her. "Because Buffy's my friend!"

"I can't believe she fricking lied to me." Faith muttered. "Why would she…?"

"That's what I'd like to know." Xander interrupted.

"Maybe because she's a bitch." Cordelia suggested pointedly.

Xander shot her a dirty look because, while it wasn't as though he didn't know what Cordy thought of Buffy, and it wasn't that he didn't at least partially agree, but it wasn't exactly helpful right now.

He glanced at his watch, before sighing. As tempting as it was to go and find Buffy to confront her, there was no way he would be able find her in the five minutes they had until the end of lunch. Besides, maybe if he waited a few hours and confronted her after school he would have managed to calm down a bit.

It wasn't to be. In fact, if anything, the two classes that Xander had before the end of school just gave him more time to stew in his anger, and by the time he found Buffy and Willow sitting together on one of the benches in front of the school entrance was barely holding onto his temper.

"Xander," Willow greeted him with a smile. "We didn't see you at lunch."

"Cordy and I had lunch with Faith." Xander answered stiffly, before glaring at Buffy. "She told us about last night."

Buffy and Willow both winced. "Oh."

"Yeah, oh." Xander crossed his arms. "How could you not tell me and Cordy about it?"

Buffy rolled her eyes. "I'm not sure why you're getting so upset about it. It's not like it's a big deal."

"Not a big deal?" Xander asked loudly. "Really? That's what you're going with?"

Buffy and Willow exchanged a glance.

"Xander," Willow started soothingly. "It's not that we didn't want you there…"

"Because we totally did." Buffy chipped in.

"It's just that, we were worried that you might get hurt." Willow finished.

"Yeah, because I'm much more breakable that you." Xander snapped sarcastically. "Who was it who ended up in hospital last year?"

"I'm a witch!" Willow defended loudly, before looking around quickly to check that no one had heard her.

Xander snorted. "Yeah, 'cos the ability to float pencils is definitely going save your life."

"It might!"

Xander rolled his eyes, before turning back to Buffy. "So you just suddenly decided that it was too dangerous for me to be there? How is it anymore dangerous that it was a year ago?"

"It's not." Buffy admitted. But now that Faith's in town you don't need to put yourself in danger all the time."

"Did it ever occur to you that maybe I like putting myself in danger?" Xander snapped. "Well, not the danger part, but how am I supposed to just sit back and watch when I know all the stuff that's happening around me? Isn't that what you were whining about when you lost your powers?"

Buffy surged to her feet, forcing Xander to take a step back. "Whining? You think I was whining? My powers had disappeared! I was as helpless as…"

"As me!" Xander finished for her. "But you didn't curl up at home, out of danger, did you? No, you went and fought the vampire all on your own. At least I'm smart enough to take backup."

"Take backup?" Buffy repeated laughingly. "Xander, you are the backup. No, you're not even that. You're the guy who gets in the way and then falls over when he's trying to get away."

"Oo oo, he's like Shaggy!" Willow added excitedly. "You know, from Scooby Doo."

Xander bit his tongue in an attempt to prevent himself from yelling at them. "Nice to know what you think of me."

Buffy winced. "Look, Xander, the thing is that now that Faith's around we don't need you to keep putting yourself in danger."

"You had no right to make that decision for me." Xander told her.

"No right? Xander, I'm the Slayer. I have every right to decide who gets involved. I'm pretty much the only person who does have the right."

"You're not the Slayer, you're a slayer." Xander pointed out. "Remember that time you died and I saved your life. And just so you know, Faith knows that you lied to her and she's about as happy about it as I am."

"I don't even see why you're getting so upset about this." Buffy sighed. "It's not like you even hang out with us much anymore. You're too busy with Cordelia, and Faith, and your new friends."

"Are you kidding me?" Xander exploded. "I spend more time with you than I do with anyone other than Cordy who, just in case you forgot, is my girlfriend! How much time does Willow spent with Oz? How much time did you spend with Angel? Not to mention that you guys have stopped inviting me to things. Just because you can't handle that fact that you're not my only friends anymore, doesn't give you the right to cut me out!

"Xander, we're not cutting you out." Buffy rolled her eyes. "We're just making sure that you're safe."

9-9-9

"I know I'm probably supposed to get angry on your behalf," Tony commented over the phone, after Xander had told him what had happened. "But, honestly, if it keeps you safer…"

"What is it with people and wanting me to be safe all of a sudden?" Xander asked in frustration. "I've been fighting demons with Buffy for two years and I haven't been seriously hurt once!"

"But all it would take is one bad day."

"You can't tell me you don't understand what it's like to want to help out." Xander pointed out. "You've got your Iron Man suit."

"Which makes me basically invulnerable."

Xander grimaced. "It's not like Buffy's not risking her life every time she fights too. She's already died once. Why does she get to risk her life, and I don't?"

"If it was up to me, none of you would be risking your lives." Tony told him. "You're kids."

Xander sighed. "We're eighteen. And I can't just sit back and pretend that I don't know that there are evil things out there killing people. I've got to do something."

"Do you?" Tony asked. "I mean, sure it's terrible, but if they don't need you, do you really need to keep putting yourself in danger?"

"Yes!" Xander snapped. "What sort of person would I be if I didn't?"

"A sensible one." Tony replied. "Look, let's take vampires out of the scenario here. You don't think that everyone in, I don't know, Chicago, knows that there are people being murdered regularly in alleys? Does that mean that everyone and their grandmother goes out to try and stop them? No, because it's not their job and they're not trained for it."

Xander squeezed his eyes shut. "I can't just do nothing."

"I know the feeling." Tony sighed. "As to your friends, well, I've got to say that they don't sound all that great. And it seems like they've been doing this sort of crap all year."

Xander opened his mouth to defend them, before realising that he had nothing to say on their behalfs. "Yeah. I don't know what happened. We used to be so close, but now it's like we're always fighting and, when we're not fighting, it's because I'm making sure I don't mention anything that will upset them. I can't do anything right in their eyes this year, but then they'd probably say the same thing about me."

"I know I've said this before," Tony started. "But you'll make new friends at college."

"Yeah," Xander agreed sadly. "Except I wanted to be friends with them for the rest of my life."

9-9-9

Xander arrived at school the next morning prepared to spend the day pointedly ignoring Buffy and Willow, but then he saw their worried expressions. Clearly something hellmouthy was going on. So, after double checking his theory with Oz (who confirmed that Willow had said, that Buffy had said, that Giles had said, that the Sisterhood of Jhe were going to try and open the hellmouth), Xander swallowed his pride and approached them with an offer to help.

Then they sent him out for doughnuts and Xander was done. He picked up the doughnuts of course, it would have been petty not to, but after he'd dropped them off (and confirmed that there was nothing else they wanted him to do) he walked out of the library and didn't look back.

Then he rang Cordy (who he'd barely seen all day) and asked her if her evening was free. He needed to do something interesting, if he didn't then he'd spend the entire night worrying about the end of the world (and feeling sorry for himself).

Cordelia arrived at the mansion an hour later looking paler than Xander had ever seen her, but she greeted Xander with a smile and a kiss as she usually did.

"Where were you today?" Xander asked, as they settled down on the couch. "You just disappeared at lunch."

Cordelia shifted, so that she was resting against Xander's side, and leaned her head against his shoulder. "I was around. How was your day? Did you make up with Buffy and Willow?"

Xander looked down at her in concern, it wasn't like Cordelia to deflect a question so clumsily. "Not really. You know those demon they fought without us? Apparently they're trying bring about a big, scary apocalypse thing. I offered to help, but they just sent me out for doughnuts. Apparently I'm not even good for research any more. Tony says that some friendships don't last forever and that I'll make new friends at college."

Cordelia leaned her cheek against his chest. "So you're definitely going to college then?"

"Yeah," Xander said, letting out a deep breath. "I guess so. I was thinking that we could maybe go together."

Cordelia didn't say anything.

"Or, if not together, like in the same town or something." Xander added quickly. "But we don't have to, if you don't want to."

"I'm not going to college."

Xander frowned down at her. "What do you mean? Of course you're going to college. You applied to, like, ten of them. You were the one who helped convince me that I wanted to go."

Cordelia's breath hitched. "Apparently Daddy's hasn't paid his taxes in twelve years. He's been charged with tax evasion and they've taken away everything. We only get to keep the house because it's in Mom's name."

Xander rubbed Cordelia's arm comforting, as her breathing continued to hitch. It sounded as though she was barely managing to contain her sobs.

"Mom's already filed the divorce papers. She thinks Daddy's going to prison." Cordelia's tears were soaking into Xander's shirt. "I asked to her to sell the house, so that I could go to college - it's not like she needs twelve bedrooms - but she said no. She said that she needed it all to help her find her third husband. She doesn't even care that I'll be left without anything!"

"When did you find out?" Xander asked awkwardly.

"Two days a-ago." Cordelia's voice broke, and her sobs became audible. "I...I don't know what I'm going to do. Everyone's going to find out and…"

"Why?" Xander interrupted. "Couldn't we just not tell them?"

Cordelia sniffed. "Percy's dad is one of Daddy's business partners."

"So we tell Percy to keep his mouth shut." Xander decided. "It's not like it's anyone's business."

Cordelia shook her head against his chest. "He won't listen. Besides it's not like it even matters." Her breathing hitched again. "I'm never going to go to college."

"I'll pay for you to go." Xander offered.

Cordelia sat up so fast her head almost hit Xander's chin. "What? You think I'm some kind of charity case?" She poked Xander's chest with her finger. "Well, think again, Mister! Mom might be willing to sell herself off to the highest bidder, but I…"

"I mean, I'll lend it to you." Xander corrected quickly, trying not wince at the sight of Cordelia's red and puffy eyes. "You can repay me back when you've graduated and are earning money and stuff. It's not like I'll even miss it."

Cordelia narrowed her eyes at him. "I bet you think you're so special now that you're the rich kid on campus."

Xander shook his head desperately. "Of course not! Come on, Cordy, you know me better than that. I was just trying to help."

Cordelia's angry expression crumbled as she slumped back against him. "I'm sorry." Her entire body was wracked with sobs.

Xander wrapped his arm around her held her close. "I mean it, though. I'll pay for your college tuition if you need me to."

"Why?"

"Because I love you." Xander told her. "Because, thanks to Tony, I have more money than I know what to do with. Because I'm hoping to go to college with you next year. Because," He swallowed nervously. "I'm hoping that I'll get to spend the rest of my life with you, which would just make it it a good investment."

Cordelia turned her head to look up at him. "You think about the future like that?"

"All the time." Xander admitted. "I know that it's stupid, since we're way too young for that sort of thing, but I really want to marry you one day."

"Me too." Cordelia mumbled into his shirt.

Xander tightened his arm around her as his heart soared with joy. "You do?"

"Yeah, and not just as my first husband." Cordelia added. "I don't want to be like Mom."

"I may be a bit biased here, but I don't want you to be like your mom either." Xander smiled.

"She thinks you're cute." Cordelia told him. "Apparently you remind her of a pool boy that her parents had when she was my age. If she ever finds out about you being Tony Stark's son she'll probably try and convince you to become her third husband."

Xander shuddered. "I didn't need to know that."

Cordelia choked out a laugh. "No, neither did I."

There was a long pause, before Xander decided to bring the conversation back on topic. "So, it sort of makes sense for me to pay for your college stuff."

"But what if we break up?" Cordelia asked. "Wouldn't it make things awkward?"

Xander frowned. "I guess. Maybe we could ask Tony. He might have some ideas. I'm going down to see him again on Sunday. Do you want to come?"

Cordelia sat up and stared at him. "You're inviting me to go meet Tony Stark? Are you sure he won't mind?"

Xander shrugged. "Yeah, I mean, I know he's interested in meeting you, and it's not like I haven't met your parents."

9-9-9

When Xander woke up the next morning, it to the wonderful sight of Cordelia sleeping next to him. She was dressed in a pair of his pajamas of course, there was no way Cordy would have agreed to stay otherwise, but the sight of her in his bed was just perfect.

He watched her sleep for a few minutes, glad that she was looking calmer than she had the previous evening, before reaching for his phone to check his messages. A few seconds later he was nudging Cordelia urgently.

"Cordy, wake up! Someone blew up the school last night!"

Cordelia mumbled a complaint, before her eyes suddenly opened. "What?"

Xander was scanning through the different messages he had received to try and get a better idea of what had happened.

"Larry says that school's cancelled because someone blew it up. Buffy says the same thing, except that the bomb mostly just damaged the boiler room, and that last night's apocalypse has been resolved."

"The apocalypse was last night?" Cordelia asked, pushing herself further up her pillow. "And they didn't call us?"

Xander was trying to ignore that. "Willow says no one was hurt and wants to know if I want to hang out today."

Cordelia sniffed haughtily. "She's probably just trying to crawl back into your good books."

"Yeah," Xander sighed, and laid back down beside her. "I don't really want to see her. Or Buffy."

Cordelia shifted until her head was resting against his shoulder. "What do you want to do?"

"I don't know. Maybe we could go down and see Tony." Xander suggested. "Or I could chat with Percy, see if he'd be willing not to mention what's going on with your dad."

"Screw Percy." Cordelia told him. "So what if he talks? I'm Cordelia Chase. I can handle anything he wants to throw at me."

Xander reached for her hand and squeezed it. "Very true. Anything we should do to get ready? Like pre-battle preparations or something?"

"I love you, Xander Harris." Cordelia pushed herself up on her elbow and kissed him.

Xander wasn't sure what he'd said to deserve Cordelia's burst of affection but, as he pushed himself up to deepen the kiss, he decided that he didn't care.

9-9-9

As it turned out, Tony was busy that morning and wouldn't be able to see them until after lunch. He was apologetic about it, though Xander wasn't really sure why, and suggested that they could still drive down earlier and spend their morning perusing the Malibu malls.

Xander didn't think that he could've come up with a plan that he was less enthused about (except for spending the morning with Willow), but Cordelia seemed excited about the idea so they were on the road within an hour.

It was the first time that Xander had driven himself all the way to Malibu, since Happy normally met him in Oxnard, but thankfully Tony had installed a top of the line, Stark Industries GPS into his car which guided them in the right direction.

The first mall they stopped at wasn't in Malibu at all, but was in Thousand Oaks which was about halfway between Oxnard and Malibu. The outside of the mall was intimidating, looking more like a fancy hotel than anything, but Cordelia didn't seem cowed by it at all.

Xander was impressed. There was no way he would have guessed that her family had just gone bankrupt if he hadn't already been told. She strode through the mall with just as much confidence as she usually did, despite the fact that it taken Xander most off the hour long drive to convince her to let him buy her the things she normally would have bought herself.

They spent two hours at the The Oaks Shopping Centre, in which time Cordelia managed to find herself a dress, pair of shoes, and a blouse, and Xander three pairs of very tight jeans, four shirts, and a jacket that she assured him could (and should) be worn at places other than a formal dance, before driving the half an hour to the Malibu Country Mart.

The Malibu Country Mart couldn't have been more different from The Oaks if it had tried. It was sort of rustic and had funny little statues all over the place. There were monkeys on a seat, sheep doing the cancan, and a jester who seemed to be spilling water out of three teacups. It also had good clothes shops though, at least Cordelia seemed to think so, and Xander barely managed to convince her to agree to sit down at a cafe for lunch.

Eventually, a few hours, and more than a few new outfits, later it was time for them to meet Happy so that he could drive them to Tony's house. Xander tried to keep his relief from his face but, from the half amused, half guilty expression on Cordelia's face, he didn't think that he had been successful.

According to Happy, the drive from the Country Mart to Tony's place would only take ten minutes and within five minutes of their drive Cordelia's grip on his hand was like a vice.

"What if he doesn't like me?" Cordelia whispered, glancing nervously at Happy.

Xander frowned, unused to seeing any kind of insecurity from her. "Of course he's going to like you. You're Cordelia Chase."

Cordelia bit her lip. "I know, but he's Tony Stark."

Xander rubbed his thumb across her hand. "Yeah, I know. That part is still kind of terrifying for me too."

As nervous as Cordelia was, Xander was dreading her seeing the paparazzi outside Tony's gate - regardless of how many times he had visited Tony they still made him nervous. But strangely the sight of the paparazzi actually seemed to calm Cordelia down and by the time Happy parked the car in front of the mansion she seemed back to her usual confident self.

Tony bounded out the front door a few seconds later, a huge grin on his face, and Xander quickly scrambled out of the car to greet him.

"Hey, Tony."

"Hey," Tony returned, before looking around dramatically. "Where's this famous girlfriend of yours? I was starting to think that you had made her up. Why else would you have never brought her to meet me? Not to mention that from what you've told me she's way out of your league and, wow," He paused as Cordelia stepped out of the car. "You were definitely right. Waaay out of your league. What are you thinking dating him?"

Cordelia made a point of looking at the mansion behind him. "I don't know, he certainly has some things going for him." She brought her gaze back to Tony. "Not to mention that the men in his family clearly age well."

Xander stepped forward with a grimace. "Cordy, I already have the knowledge that your mom thinks I'm cute burnt into my brain, I don't need the fact that you think my father's cute burnt in there alongside it."

"Of course I'm cute." Tony smirked. "I'm more than cute, I'm sexy. I'm the sexiest man alive according to People's Magazine."

Cordelia stepped forward until she was standing next to Xander. "I don't know about that," She said, slipping her hand into Xander's. "I prefer the younger model."

Tony's mouth dropped open in shock, before the edges turned up in a grin.

It didn't come as any surprise to Xander that Cordelia and Tony got along like a house on fire. Both of them had similar senses of humour and were equally unconcerned with what the general population thought of them. It was nice to see them interacting and, while he'd been a little worried they might get along so well that he felt left out, that never happened.

Tony showed Cordelia around the house, and then around the workshop, before finally showing her his garage where Xander's ferrari was sitting alongside of all Tony's equally expensive cars. All in all the tour took almost half an hour, but eventually they were all sitting on the chairs in front of the gigantic fishtank with colds drinks in their hands.

"You said there was something you wanted to talk to me about?" Tony asked, leaning back against his chair.

Xander exchanged a look with Cordelia who was sitting beside him, before turning back to Tony. "Yeah."

"You're not getting married are you?" Tony asked, leaning forward suddenly. "Because you are definitely, definitely too young."

Xander barked out a laugh. "No, no marriages today. We haven't even graduated from high school yet."

Tony looked relieved, as he slouched back against his chair. "Alright then. So what's going on?"

Xander swallowed nervously. "The thing is that, uh…"

"My father has been charged with tax evasion." Cordelia explained simply.

"Right," Xander nodded. "And so I said that I'd pay for her college tuition, but then we thought that might make things awkward in the future."

"No kidding." Tony commented.

"So I thought I'd ask if you had any ideas." Xander finished, squeezing Cordelia's hand nervously.

Tony frowned. "Well, first, I've got to tell you that tax evasion is the least of your father's problems right now. He has been charged with tax evasion but, despite being a felony, it's not the main charge - Insider Trading is."

"What? How do you know that?"

Tony's eyes flicked towards Xander. "JARVIS keeps track of the people that are important to me. When I found out about Xander, I added you and his other friends to the list."

Cordelia's expression was pinched. "So what does that mean for Daddy?"

"It means that he could spend up to twenty years in a federal prison." Tony told her, before wincing when Cordelia's expression crumbled. "But it probably won't be that much. It's more likely to be around ten years."

"What was he thinking?" Cordelia asked indignantly. "Didn't he care that he was risking everything?!"

Tony looked uncomfortable. "But, uh, regarding your college tuition issues - I'll start up a scholarship fund for California colleges (you were planning on going to a California college, weren't you?) and you can be be one of my first recipients."

9-9-9

It took a week and a half for the school to be declared safe for students again, and Xander and Cordelia spent most of that time together at the mansion avoiding Buffy and Willow. They spend the first few days in Xander's apartment, talking, finishing their homework, and making out, before starting to spend more and more time on the bottom floor with Angel. On their fourth day off school, Oz and Faith were there, practising their Tai Chi stuff with Angel, and then they just never left except to go home each night (and in Oz's case to hang out with Willow).

If felt weird, almost as though they were starting a new group without Buffy or Willow, but Xander knew that that wasn't true. After all, while he and Cordelia might have been being cut out of the group (however much Buffy and Willow might deny it), Oz was Willow's boyfriend, and Angel was Buffy's...whatever it was that they were calling it now, and Faith was Buffy's sister/rival slayer.

If the group split up, as was looking more and more likely, Xander doubted anyone would follow him and Cordy. The others were still integral, and useful members of the Scooby Gang. Still, it was nice to hang out with them all.

The only awkward part was when, on the day before school started back, Cordelia and Faith both forgot that Oz didn't know about Tony and so accidently let the cat out of the bag. The information that Xander was Tony Stark's son actually managed to flap the unflappable Oz, but but he promised not to tell anyone - and especially not Willow.

Xander didn't really understand it. He didn't think he would have agreed to keep a secret of that magnitude from Cordelia, especially not a secret regarding one of her best friends. But then he also wouldn't have spent the majority of their impromptu week off school hanging out with people that weren't Cordy.

9-9-9

School started back on a Monday and, as Xander got dressed for the day, the knowledge that he would be seeing Buffy and Willow for the first time since they had excluded him had him pulling on his letterman jacket in a fit of pique. He had never actually worn his letterman for anything other than official swim team stuff, because him wearing it would remind them that he was on the swim team, but he wasn't sure he cared anymore.

He'd arranged to pick Cordy up from her house (since the IRS had taken her car) and, if the hickey she gave them while they were parked outside her house was anything to go by, she approved of his wardrobe choices. Well, either that or she was trying to piss Buffy and Willow off as well. Xander thought that it was probably a mixture of the two.

Walking into school in a letterman jacket that in no way hid the hickey on his neck and Cordelia at his side in the hottest dress that she had bought in Malibu, felt both strange and wonderful. How was he now this guy? The one who all the younger students stared at in awe and the older students all acknowledge with a nod, fist bump, or actual greeting?

He knew that at least half the stares were probably due to the fact that the news about Cordy's dad's arrest had gotten around, but none of the looks felt malicious or mocking. Well, not until they met Buffy, Willow, and Oz in the corridor near their lockers.

"Really, Xander?" Buffy asked, eyeing Xander's jacket in disdain. "Don't you think it's a little much?"

Cordelia smirked scornfully. "I didn't see you minding the letterman jacket last year when you were cozying up to Cameron Walker."

"Is that a hickey?!" Willow squeaked suddenly.

Cordelia's smirk turned smug. "What can I say, I like a man in a letterman."

Buffy snorted. "A man? Putting it on a little strong there, Cordy."

"Where've you been, anyway, Xander?" Willow asked, leaning back against Oz who was watching the confrontation with a flat expression. "You didn't reply to my texts all week! And when I went around to your house your mom told me that you were out."

"I was hanging out with Cordy." Xander told her, forcing himself not to glance towards Oz.

Willow's nose wrinkled. "Well, why didn't you reply to my texts? We could have hung out."

Cordelia rolled her eyes. "Why do you think he didn't call you? Maybe we just didn't feel like hanging out with people who lied to us."

Buff shot her an incredulous glare. "You can't seriously still be upset about that. It was weeks ago."

"A week and a half ago." Xander corrected, tightening his hand on Cordelia's hip.

"Is that why you're all…" Buffy waved her hand towards them. "You're trying to spite us because we hurt your feelings? Grow up, Xander!"

Xander shook his head. "Not everything's about you, Buffy."

Buffy crossed her arms over her chest. "Why else would you be wearing a letterman jacket and walking around like you think you're Finn Hudson."

Xander frowned in confusion, who was Finn Hudson?

"Finn?" Cordelia asked. "That's the best you could come up with? Xander is totally Nate Archibald."

Buffy and Willow both looked incredulous.

"Nate? Really?" Buffy asked. "Are you blind or something?"

"Hey, Xander!" Percy called suddenly from across the hall. "You and Cordy up for a party at mine tonight? Or are you hanging with the geeks again?"

Xander turned towards him with a grin, relieved to have an escape from the conversation that was no longer making any sense to him. "Sounds great!" He called back, after quickly glancing at Cordelia to check. "Count us in."

"Hanging with the geeks?" Willow spluttered. "We're not geeks, are we? Oz, are we geeks?"

Buffy raised an eyebrow. "You let him arrange your social calendar now, Cordy?"

"Being a geek isn't a bad thing." Oz told Willow comfortingly.

Cordelia eyed Buffy disdainfully. "I trust Xander, unlike some people."

9-9-9

Tony couldn't help but be excited when Xander rang and asked if he and his girlfriend could come visit him for the day. He'd been wanting meet Cordelia for months, but hadn't wanted to mention it to Xander in case he came off too pushy. It was frustrating to realise that he had a board meeting to attend (even if he was only attending it by video conference), but at least it would be over by the end of lunch.

Cordelia was like a breathe of fresh air and it had been great to have the opportunity to watch Xander interact with someone other than Tony, Pepper, Happy or the AIs. Tony hadn't been particularly impressed by what he'd heard about most of Xander's friends (despite never having met them he had put Buffy and Willow into the same category as Justin Hammer), but Cordelia seemed sort of perfect for Xander.

Watching them interact, Tony thought they looked a bit like a married couple - the happy kind. It actually made Tony feel sort of lonely. He'd never wanted to get married. He'd seen how cold and formal his parents' marriage had been and had never wanted to inflict that on anyone he knew. Not to mention that he'd never really met anyone who he'd been remotely tempted to spend the rest of his life with.

Other than Pepper.