Title: Silverback Pride
Rating: T (Although it could get Dark)
Chapter: 11
Author: Jonathan
Category: Xander/Buffy Eventually
Spoilers: Season 1 AU. Stats from "The Pack" We're hitting "I Robot…You Jane" This time around.
Summery: Answer to a FanFic Challenge. Xander Harris took a different animal spirit that day.
Disclaimer: Buffy: the Vampire Slayer is owned by Fox, UPN, Whedon, and ME. Tarzan is owned by Edgar Rice Burroughs' family.
Special Thanks: William Gilmor, Cyclone, Nu_klear, Silent Bob Foley


Buffy Summers was the first to wake up that morning. It was due to the morning sun light that cascaded upon her features. Her eyes opened within seconds. She took her hand and rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

When her hand left her eyes, Buffy first saw a strange wall. It wasn't a wall from her bedroom and this confused her. She tried to sit up to try and figure this out but soon discovered she was somewhat restrained. Buffy looked down and found two strong arms holding her in place.

Buffy looked at them confused, but soon remembered what happened the night before. She didn't want Xander to be alone last night. He revealed some emotional fronts and it looked like he needed someone to hold him, someone to be there for him.

Buffy lifted her head off what was soon discovered to be Xander's chest and smiled. She soon saw the sleeping face of Xander Harris looking down at her. Buffy couldn't help but smile at the image. He had a warm smile.

She expected to see his dream look face, but it was nowhere to be found. Actually, strike that, it was there, but it was different. It actually looked like that face evolved into a more serene tranquil version.

It actually made her wonder that maybe Xander did sleep better last night. After everything that happened the last couple weeks, Buffy figured Xander needed some comfort.

She smiled at the young man. Buffy looked at the clock by the bed and saw that they still had some time before they had to get going to school. Buffy brought her head back on his chest, allowing her to hear the steady beat of his heart. She moved slightly, just enough to get comfortable.

"Watch it…Buff…"

Buffy smiled at his sudden voice. "Didn't mean to wake you."

"It's alright." Xander grunted slightly. "Just be careful; it's still tender."

"Sorry." Buffy winced.

He looked at her, "Just be careful." Xander took his arms back and pulled himself into a comfortable position. Satisfied, he draped his arms back around her back. "I know it's been a week, but it's still tender."

"I just don't like how the fight ended between you two."

He shrugged, "Didn't have a choice. Darla was going to kill me, I had to do it the way I did."

"But you almost killed yourself. You drove the spear into your own chest."

"The key word here is almost." Xander kissed her forehead. "I didn't do anything I knew I couldn't walk away from."

"But you still did it, Xander. You still speared your chest."

"Speared my chest, yes." He recalled. "But I also speared right through Darla, broke her arms, and dusted her ass."

She settled down and rested her head again. "I just worry about you."

He rubbed her upper arm. "I worry about you too, Buff. Always will."

"It's time to get up, kids!" They heard Joyce yell from downstairs. "I know you two slept together. I'm timing you. Breakfast's on the table."

"This can't be good." Xander said to his friend. "She knows we slept together."

"Relax." Buffy smiled at him, "If we were in trouble, she would've come in here and yelled at us." She withdrew herself from Xander's grasp, regretting the sudden loss of contact sadly.

"I'm just glad you're doing alright." Buffy made her way off the bed.

Xander scratched the back of his neck. He watched Buffy as she leaned against the dresser. "We better get going. We'll get showered, eat breakfast, do a little training, and then head to school. Our moms are going to work early."

Xander got to his feet and approached her. He grinned, "To save time…we could shower together?"

She smirked, "I don't think so, Xander." Buffy headed for the door. She turned back, "But…I do believe I might personally enjoy some wet naked fun time…" Buffy grinned and headed for the bathroom. "I'll see you downstairs."

Xander just watched her as she headed for the bathroom.

"Oh no, my life is not complicated. Not one bit."


Buffy and Xander made their way to school. Ever since Xander and his mother moved into the Summers house, Buffy and Xander had been walking to school together. They would use that time to either talk about simple trivial matters or sometimes just talk, and got to know each other better. Both of them enjoyed this time and often looked forward to it every day.

It was their own time, their own special time. They would sometimes reflect on what happened the night before or what classes they had to go through during the day. There were even times when Buffy would give Xander suggestions on his training.

Xander found that always good. He would even try out her suggestions sometimes with her. Not even Giles in the matter. It was something that they would do together, whether it's at the library or in one of their rooms.

They even did a quick session before school, just after Joyce and Jessica left for the day.

Xander groaned slightly. He rubbed the back of his shoulder as the two of them walked. "You really put your strength into that one."

"Slayer strength." Buffy grinned and shrugged, "But I'm not the only one strong, y'know. You got stronger when you started having those dreams."

"Yeah, blame the guy with the Jungle man dilemma." He smirked.

"I don't know if I'd call it a dilemma, Xand." Buffy remarked, matter-of-factly.

"What would you call it?" He replied.

"I dunno, power creep?" Buffy half-joked.

"I think you could call your slayer abilities power creep too." Xander told her.

"You're probably right." Buffy looked at him, she took that moment to weave her fingers with his as they continued to walk. "But you're going to have to watch your side more. Every time you hit with your left, you leave your right wide open. Someday, some demon is going to use that flaw and kill you."

"I'm new to this training thing." Xander said innocently.

"Which is why I'm bringing it to your attention, or would you rather have Giles tell you and repeat it over and over and over."

"He's only doing it because he wants us to learn." Xander commented.

"And I want us to learn about it too. But I also want to have fun."

"And we should have fun. I mean c'mon. We're teenagers. We're all about fun, and with the life we lead, I think we deserve it."

"I think I can sympathize."

"I think you would sympathize with that, Buff." He replied with a grin. "I'm actually thinking we could have fun tonight. You, me, Wills…it's a party waiting to happen. We should definitely Bronze."

"Bronzing does seem fun, and I do think you need a night away from your mother."

"Great. Bronzing it is then." He took a breath. "We'll just run it by Wills when we hit the school."

"I tried calling Wills yesterday. I couldn't reach her."

"She probably was too busy studying. Either that or she scanned more books."

"You did spend allot of time there."

"It wasn't so bad." He shrugged, "I just kinda felt with everything happening lately, I thought I should spend some time with Willow. And if we do the Bronzing tonight, we could expand that notion."

"There's nothing wrong with having Willow time."

"No there's not."


"Willow! Willow, hey wait up!"

Willow soon felt another presence approach her. "Oh, Buffy, I didn't see you."

"Or hear me." Buffy smirked and looked at her friend, "What was up yesterday? I tried your line, like a million times. I only stopped trying when Xander had another run in with his mom."

"How is he?" Willow's eyes softened, "He left the school in a hurry."

"He's coping. Finally."

She nodded, "Good. He needs to cope."

"Yeah, he does." Buffy told her. "But…what happened? What were you doing after that?"

"Oh, I was, I was talking." Willow answered.

Buffy's eyes widened, "Talking to?" Willow never replied. "Okay, that's it, you have a secret, and that's not allowed."

Willow took a step back, "Well, I sort of met someone." The thought of him brought a smile to her face.

"I knew it! This is so important! When did you meet?" Buffy asked in excitement.

"Yesterday… After Xander left."

"Does he go here? What's his name? Have you kissed him? What's he like?"

"No. Malcolm, no." She closed her locker door. "We just met. Kissing isn't even an issue yet, and very nice."

"You are a thing of pure evil for not telling me this right away?"

"I wasn't sure there was anything to tell. But last night, oh! We talked all night, it was amazing. He's so smart, Buffy, and, and he's romantic, and we agree about everything."

This could be good, Buffy thought upon impact. "What's he look like?"

She shrugged, "I don't know!"

The two of them continued to walk down the hall. Willow still had happy glow to her face. They soon entered the computer room where they found Fritz, Dave, and Xander sitting inside.

"Hey girls!"

Both of them looked at Xander in shock.

"When did you get here?" Buffy asked as Willow took the seat next to him.

"Remember when I was checking my e-mail this morning?" Buffy nodded. "Wills told me she was going to be here to help me with this IM thing. So I decided to meet up with her. I had a free, so I came here."

"You're trying to Instant Message? Thought you were never really into that."

He shrugged, "Never really had a reason to try. So, this is me interested."

"Seems our Wills met a guy."

"A guy huh?" Xander asked as he looked over from his terminal. "Is our Willow growing up?"

"I've been growing since day one, Xander." Willow said matter-of-factly.

"I know…but this is a big deal. What's he like?"

"I met him after you left last night. I met him online."

Buffy showed a confused look, "On line for what?"

Her friend indicated the computer.

"Oh." Buffy replied in realization.

At that moment Ms. Calendar walked into the room. She wore dark glasses and held a mug of coffee in one hand and a book in the other.

"Morning, kids!"

Buffy looked at her as she sat down. Ms. Calendar saw her and then Xander by Willow. "Buffy, Xander, are you supposed to be somewhere?" She took off her glasses.

"Nope. We got frees." Buffy told her.

"Cool! But this is lab time, so let's make it a nice, short, visit, okay?"

Xander shrugged, "We have to go?"

"Do you plan on working?"

"Um…"

"Xan, we can do it after school, right?" Willow asked him. "I'm just saying it's going to have to be quiet and we'll be talking back and forth."

"Sure, I guess." Xander told her. He got to his feet.

Xander got interrupted by Willow's desktop. "You have mail."

"It's him!" Willow said with a smile. She opened her letter.

"I'm thinking of you."

"He's so sweet."

"It looks like she's busy anyways, Xand." Buffy said to her friend.

"What should I write back?"

"Yeah, looks like I lost her." Xander chuckled.

"I'm thinking of you, too!" She shook her head, "No, that's stupid."

"I think we better go." Xander told her, noticing that he was losing his friend to the pending conversation at hand.

Willow looked at her eldest friend, "We'll meet up after." She glanced at Buffy, "I could help you set up an IM account too."

The three of them were unaware as a camera looked closely at the two new students in the room.

Soon another e-mail popped onto her screen. Willow clicked it, "I found a poem that I think you might like."

She grinned, "Malcolm found a poem. That's so sweet."

"Wills…" Xander began…"I guess if you want to meet later…we can."

Meanwhile the terminals that were being used by Fritz and Dave started to change. Fritz's computer opened with a picture of Buffy Summers. Soon a text box appeared on top of her picture with the words, 'Watch her.' Across the room, a picture of Xander Harris appeared on Dave's computer. A box appeared with the words, 'Watch him.'

Willow grinned, "His name is Malcolm Black, he's eighteen, he lives in Elmwood, which is about eighty miles from here, and he likes me!"

"And you meet people like Malcolm Black online?" Xander asked in confusion.

"You can meet a ton of people online. It's a whole other network."

It was at that moment when Ms. Calendar went over to Friz's terminal. "Hey, Fritz…I'm, uh, lookin' at the logs. You and Dave are clockin' a pretty scary amount of computer time."

"New project." He replied.

She nodded, "Ooo, will I be excited?"

"You'll die."


"You sure we won't get caught?"

"We need to jack him in." Fritz nodded and entered the yard. "Everyone's gone. Buffy and Xander are at the library. Both Mrs. Summers and Mrs. Harris are at work. If we don't do this now, we won't get another chance."

Dave followed Fritz into the front porch. A bag was swung over his shoulders. "I just want to get in and get out."

Fritz went to the door and placed his hand on the knob. He gave it a twist. "Locked." He went to his bag that he carried and opened it. "Figures." He bent down to inspect the lock. "This shouldn't take too long."

He went into his bag and pulled out a bump key. He placed it in the keyhole. Taking a hammer, he started to hammer it down. Satisfied, he turned the knob and opened the door.

He withdrew it and they entered the house. "Give me three and you'll take the other four. We'll split them up around the house."

"My cousin says if we encrypt them properly, they should be untraceable."

"I knew your mullet wearing cousin Ash would be good for something."

"He has his moments." Dave replied. He went for the staircase. "I got up here."

That said, the two of them went for seven different rooms. Dave put four cameras in what he found out to be Buffy's room, Xander's room, Mrs, Summers', and Mrs. Harris' room. Fritz on the main floor, he put one in the den, one in the kitchen, and one by the dinner table.

"You got any more?"

Dave came down stairs. "Two more."

"They have a basement. We'll put them around their and then get out of here. Then he'll definitely be jacked in."

That said, the two of them went to the basement and put one by the washing machine and the other by the perishables.

"I think we're good. Let's get out of here." Dave told him. "We can view them from your house."

"Good. Let's go."

That said, the two of them left the Summers house and headed over to Fritz's to get the cameras to start recording.


TBC