Author: Lucinda

rating: pg/pg 13

main characters: Buffy, Marie, Xander, mentions of Willow and Logan

eleventh in the 'Such A Nice Girl' series.

Pairings: mention of past tense Buffy/Angel, speculation and debate about Xander/Marie, mention of Xander/Cordelia, developing Joyce/Logan

disclaimer: I do not own any characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer or X-Men the movie.

distribution: Twisting the Hellmouth, Paula - anyone else please ask first

note: post X-Men movie 1, Movie 2 did not happen. Start of season 3 for BtVS.

Marie sighed as Buffy settled on the end of the bed. The day had been spent shopping for new clothing for the soon to be starting school year. It was looking more and more like they'd be staying in Sunnydale after all. Especially from the way that Logan was looking at Joyce...

She knew exactly what Logan saw in Joyce, because there were still... well, echoes of Logan was the best way to describe it. And there was a fainter echo from Joyce, considering that she'd touched her before she'd left Sunnydale. It was weird to know so exactly what someone else saw in a person because there was an echo in your own head... Was that what it was like to be a telepath?

"So, if Xander broke up with Cordy, would you ever consider...?" Buffy asked, her fingers twirling around a lock of her hair.

"Buffy." Marie looked at her, trying to glare like Logan would. "It's not your life, why are you so darn worried about whether I do or don't date Xander? You already said you didn't want him."

"Is it such a bad thing to want someone to have a happy relationship?" Buffy shrugged, trying to look innocent as she glanced aside. "I just want someone to be happy."

"Right... You're tryin' to meddle in my life." Marie crossed her arms, remaining on her feet. "Why don't y' just get your own boyfriend and be happy on your own?"

"Marie..." Buffy widened her eyes, trying to look innocently persuasive. "I know that you like him. And he likes you, I'm sure of it."

"Stop it! Stop it right there!" Marie tried to focus on the anger, instead of letting herself get upset and teary over the fact that a relationship - with Xander or anyone else - was impossible right now. "Get your own guy t' be happy with! Live your life and stop meddlin' with mine! I don't see any reason why you couldn't have a boyfriend anyhow."

"It's not that easy." Buffy looked down, her voice dropping. "I tried that, I had a guy. His name is... was Angel, and everything was great."

"Angel?" Marie sat down, curious where this would go. "Not to many guys I know with a name like that. They'd say it sounds too girly."

"He wasn't girly at all. Tall, with shoulders, and spiky dark hair, and chocolate eyes that I could just drown in..." Buffy sighed, looking dreamy eyes at the memories.

Marie wondered what the catch was. Something had to have gone wrong, or else they wouldn't have found Buffy hiding in New York, all alone. "What happened?"

"He was a vampire. What we didn't know... there was this horrible spell, something a bunch of gypsies cast on him a long time ago. If he ever... When we..." Buffy took a deep breath, tears rolling down her face. "None of us knew about the bad part. And one night, Angel and I... we... It was special, and wonderful, and everything that it's supposed to be when you're in love."

"What did the spell do?" Marie was a bit confused about the whole spell part. And what could some spell cast a long time ago do to Buffy's boyfriend when they made love?

"When he woke up, he wasn't my Angel anymore. He was... he'd gone evil." Buffy whispered, more tears falling. "He... what he said... and then... he killed people, he stalked me, terrorized us all. And then he... the evil version, he was going to end the world."

"How did you stop him?" Marie asked, her voice as soft as she could manage.

"It was... There was only one way. I could have done it if he'd stayed evil, but he looked... I think he was my Angel again, after the portal was starting to open. And I had to... I had to do it for the whole world!" Buffy was practically wailing now.

"For the whole world... Is that why you left?" Marie still had no idea what Buffy was talking about. Something about a portal, the end of the world, and Angel going good again, right before Buffy had... what? What had Buffy had to do?

Buffy nodded miserably, her arms now full of a pillow that she was squishing tight against her chest. Her next words were barely over a whisper. "I didn't have any choice really. BUt it hurt too much. I couldn't stay here, not after... Mom flipped about the Slayer thing, and then with Angel dead... I had to leave."

"That's terrible." Marie offered a very careful hug, not wanting to accidentally touch Buffy's skin. "I can see how much it hurts you."

Buffy nodded, making a few unhappy sniffles as she struggled to rein back her tears. "I just want someone to be happy."

"Buffy, I'd like to be happy too. And your mom wants to be happy, for all of us to be happy. But you can't try to run everyone else's lives." She sighed, feeling her own tangle of attractions and fears. "I don't know if there could be somethin' with me and Xander, but I'll find out on my own timeline, not yours."

Across town, Xander sat on the couch at Willow's house, his fingers tracing around and around the top of an unopened can of soda. Nervously, he stammered a question. "So... Wills. Do you think... me and Marie? Could it work?"

"You and Marie..." For a few moments, WIllow was quiet, her expression unreadable. "I don't know. I do know that she's nice, and that's always good."

"But..?" Xander prompted, worried by the way that Willow was taking all of this. It was almost like someone had... no, it wasn't like someone killing her puppy. Willow didn't have a puppy, and she'd gotten much more upset when her fish had been killed.

"There would be complications." Willow's words were slow, carefully chosen, as if she was picking through an obstacle course. "She's a mutant, and I'm pretty sure that you're okay with that..."

"I can deal with that!" Xander interrupted.

"But her mutation... she doesn't have control over it." Willow looked at him, her eyes full of worry. "It's... she wouldn't mean to hurt you, but her ability... it's dangerous."

"What are you saying? That she's not safe?" Xander felt confusion, worry, and a bit of anger. Was Willow trying o warn him away from Marie? Did she think that Marie was a danger?

"Until she learns to control her ability, she can't touch anyone. Not skin to skin. Nobody. That means..." Willow paused, her expression hard to read. "No closet make-out sessions because you can't kiss her. No smoochies at the theatre. Certainly no... well, she can't touch you. Or Buffy, or anyone."

Xander blinked, not having considered that. "That must really suck."

"Yeah." Willow agreed, her voice falling. "I know that she was going to try to work with Giles to learn some control, but... we can't be certain that it would work, and even if it does, it could take a while."

For a few minutes, Xander sat there, considering what Willow had said. No skin to skin contact. "Okay, other than that complication, do you think we could work?"

"Other than... well, that's a pretty big something." Willow sighed, a small smile tugging at her lips. "Maybe. I think you two could be really good friends, maybe more. Just... well, don't rush after her just because Cordelia broke up with you."

"Why not?" Xander wondered what sort of reasoning Willow could be using. If he wasn't with Cordelia, why not see if Marie wanted to do something?

"If you jump right into dating someone else so quickly after breaking up with Cordelia, they might think that they're rebound girl. The one who's just there to distract you from your pain, and Marie deserves better than that." Willow explained.

"I guess that makes sense." Xander shook his head, and finally opened his pop. "So, maybe we should all go on a picnic or something? A group thing, not quite so date like?"

"Sure." Willow's voice was soft, and almost sad. "It would also give you sort of a safe time to figure out if you even want to try, sort of like a predate."

Xander stood up, smiling at his best friend. "Thanks. I'll have to talk to her tomorrow."

end NG11: Just A Few Thoughts.