Unable to find Xander (and ultimately in no condition to mount any sort of a rational search, anyways), Buffy collapsed against a tree somewhere on campus and slid to the ground, crying her eyes out. Everything was going wrong in her life, and the one good thing-Xander-had started all wrong, and could very well cost her her friendship with Willow.

Eventually, Buffy was spotted, and embraced. She smiled when she noticed that it was Xander, again playing the White Knight. "Giles told me to look for you."

Buffy moaned. "He must think I'm an enormous slut now."

"No," answered Xander, "he's worried sick that the closest thing he'll ever have to a daughter just got brutally embarrassed by Faith."

"Giles said all that?"

"Not really," he admitted. "Mostly, he stammered his way around the whole part about Faith shooting you down. And, in case you were wondering, he didn't say any of this near Willow."

Hearing that was a very small comfort to Buffy, but in this case, even small comforts helped a lot. "God, look at me," she declared as she wiped her eyes, "I must be totally pathetic, crying over Faith. I'm not even sure if the whole 'having sex with girls' thing wasn't just a combination of hormones and adrenaline or something I really want, but she still got to me."

"Well, she's also the Slayer," suggested Xander helpfully. "It can't be easy for you, being told that you don't matter because you're not one anymore."

Buffy nodded as she admitted to herself that Xander had a huge point. "Pretty much. You and Will are about the only people who haven't changed their attitudes towards me, and we both know it won't be long before she hates me forever-"

"Don't say that," interrupted Xander. "She'll understand if we just-"

"No she won't," declared a blunt and unmistakeable voice.

It was Cordelia, and boy was she ever looking smug as she towered over the two lovers.

"When she finds out about you two, you'll be lucky if she doesn't turn you into a couple of slugs." Answering their worried looks, the cheerleader said, "Oh, no, I won't tell her. It'll be much more fun for me if she finds out herself, maybe while you two are screwing in the janitor's closet, or making out in the book stacks in the library, or whatever it is you two do when you're not in class. Come to think of it, that weird Anya girl seems to hate all three of you for some reason as well, so I bet she'd enjoy it, too." Turning and leaving with a cruel sense of pride, Cordelia left the two lovers to stew in their guilt.


"Buffy, is there something going on between you and Xander that I should know about?"

Well, that didn't take long, thought Buffy, as she had barely arrived for her study session with Willow. "Well, we have been spending a lot of time together….." And some of it with actual clothes on, Buffy added mentally.

"I've noticed," replied Willow. "You two are acting kinda weird."

Shit! thought Buffy, before declaring, "Well, he's been so good to me since I lost my powers." She blushed despite herself. "It's like he and you are the only people who aren't treating me like I'm some sort of disabled person."

"Oh my God!" shouted the redhead. "You are into him!"

"Maybe a little," Buffy admitted, now blushing furiously. Or a lot.

Willow's face fell into a sullen expression. "You're thinking about asking him out, aren't you?"

Buffy noticed how Willow's mood had changed, and immediately felt awful. "Do you want me to?" she asked, hopeful that there would at least be an acceptance of her and Xander.

"I'm with Oz," declared Willow, attempting to deflect attention from the 500 pound gorilla in the room. "I really can't tell you to not date Xander if you want to."

"Will, if you don't want me to, I won't," replied Buffy, in perhaps her biggest lie to her best friend yet.

"Just let me talk to him first," asked Willow sadly.

"OK," agreed Buffy, now feeling worse than ever.

"And don't hurt him, OK?" she pleaded.

"I won't," promised the blonde, feeling no less horrible for having told the truth in this one instance.

"So," declared Willow, completely changing her disposition as she opened her chemistry book, "what do you want to go over first?"

In spite of herself, Buffy found herself smiling at Willow for the rest of the night (confusing the witch in the worst way). Buffy couldn't place it exactly, but there was something about Willow's indomitable spirit that made her feel warm inside, and it was just one more thing that the former Slayer absolutely treasured about her Wiccan friend.