Xander walked out from the kitchen a fresh pitcher of strawberry daiquiris'. The sun shined down on Buffy's patio. With a slight breeze in the air Xander looked on smiling. "Who's up for a refill?"

Both Buffy and Wllow hoisted up their empty margarita glass. It was almost like something out of a Carona beer commercial with the girl in their bikinis. Buffy was wearing a bright Pink two piece that hugged her in all the right places and Willow's was a much more modest simple black.

Both of them had a beach towel wrapped around their waist. Xander was wearing board shorts and a simple Tommy Bahamas shirt he left unbuttoned. Xander filled up the girls glasses before filling his own and taking a seat at the table across from them. Xander took a quick sip. "Okay Summers you called us hear for some major announcement."

Buffy took off her sunglasses and smiled. "Oh come on. That can wait. For now lets."

Willow put her drink down shaking her head. "Oh no. You have been teasing all day. I want to know what is going on."

Buffy nodded taking another sip from the drink. "God you guys are so impatient."

Xander rolled his eyes. "Yeah yeah."

Buffy bit her lip reluctantly. "Okay I want you guys to be the first to know. Angel and I have been talking online for the last year."

Willow smiled. "You and Angel have reconnected?"

Xander put his feet up soaking in the son and put on his own sunglasses taking a sip from his drink "Angel even knows how to get online?"

Buffy ignoring the comment continued. "It started off as just an online thing. Than it switched to phone calls a few days a week. Next it was nightly and."

Willow smiled like a schoolgirl. "He was your first love and now."

Buffy dropped the news. "It feels like the right time to give it another go?"

Xander sat up. "Another go? I mean he is in LA and you have the duties to the slayers and council here. I mean not to poo poo your plan but LA to Cleveland is one hell of a drive."

Buffy shook her head. "We aren't doing the long distance thing."

Willow suddenly looked worried. "Is this you telling us you are moving to LA?"

Buffy put her hands up and shook her head. "Oh that was never part of the deal. I mean Angel knows how much work we put in to setting up the new council and being a home base for all the slayers so."

Xander rolled his eyes "So this is your way of telling us that he is coming here?'

Buffy nodded and took a drink. "And Xander I got sort of a favor to ask you."

Xander took another sip and leaned back in his chair. "Right cause I love the favors helping dead boy."

Willow rolled her eyes. "Are you going to keep up this dislike of Angel thing forever."

Xander sighed, "Well I could try to stop but that just seems hard and this is what I know."

Buffy cut him off. "You know what else you know. Construction."

Xander shook his head. "Oh boy am I not liking where this is going."

Buffy looked to him pleadingly. "Xander."

Xander took off his sunglasses and looked at her. "Buffy as your friend I want to talk to you about this plan. Putting aside all of the past Angel hostility I want to talk to you in a language mostly foreign to me. Pure logic. Okay. "

Buffy sat back crossing her arms and smiling. "I know what you are going to say. If it didn't work than why is it going to work now?"

Xander took another drink from his glass and refilled it. "Okay we can start there."

Buffy sighed. "When this thing started with Angel again I wondered the same thing. I am older now and smarter and some things have changed."

Willow seemed reluctant to say it. "Not to agree with Xander but what has changed?"

Buffy snapped eagerly. "So glad you asked. For one. Xander when I was asking you for help with construction."

Xander cut her off. "You want me to take out some windows and make a few dark rooms let me guess."

Buffy shook her head smiling. "Nope. Angel got a line on this new type of glass that filters the suns rays and it's totally vamp friendly. He said if he ships the windows down to you he would be willing to pay you to install them."

Xander breathed in a breath. "Buffy."

Buffy smiled "Think about it. I mean we are no longer forced to do a life in the dark. "

Willow sounded enthusiastic. "Wow that is kind of neat."

Xander shook his head. "Buffy what you are talking about is like trying to put a band aid on the Grand Canyon. I mean. There is still the one huge issue that I'm not sure you have an answer for."

Buffy shook her head. "I know what you are going to say."

Xander sighed. "Do you? This is your friend talking to you. A life with Angel means that you are going to have a life like a nun. You can't have that physical contact relationship. Buffy I know you. I also know you've enjoyed certain aspects of being the young single woman of the world."

Buffy raised an eyebrow. "Is that your way of saying I like to get laid?"

Xander shrugged. "You are human Buffy and part of being human is that we crave things. Things that Angel can't give you."

Willow looked at Xander a little angry. "Xander that is out of line."

Buffy shook her head. "No he is right. But." She stood up playing with her hands. "Like I said we have both grown."

Xander leaned back again in the chair. "Can immortal vampires grow?"

Buffy continued pacing. "I'm going to tell you both something but I need you to promise me 100 percent lips sealed on this." They both nodded. Buffy kept pacing. "Like I said we aren't the same people we were in high school. We have grown and realized things."

Willow found herself asking "What sort of things?"

Buffy looked out at her swimming pool. "We had the conversation one night. We said all of the stuff we were too afraid to say. We didn't hold back. I told him that no matter how much I loved him that asking someone to go a life with out sex was too much."

Xander sipped more of the drink but cried out in pain. Buffy looked at him concerned. "Xander?"

He groaned "Brain freeze."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Leave it to you to kill my serious moment."

Willow shook her head "Continue."

Buffy turned back around. "Anyways we thought on it for a while and I came up with an idea. An idea that I thought for sure he was going to shoot down."

Xander now curious asked. "What sort of idea?"

Buffy put her hands up. "No judgment here but we both are going to pick someone to be our sexual surrogate."

Willow looked confused. "What is that?"

Buffy answered like she had been practicing all day. "Well it is going to be someone that we can go to simply for sex. It's just a dry emotionless service so that neither of us are deprived.
Xander laughed. "For real."

Willow again threw back at him. "Xander."

Xander rolled his eyes. "Buffy this can't work."

Buffy pointed at him. "Ah but it can. See Xander this is the older. More mature smart enlightened Buffy and we talked about how this could work. What we would have to do to make it work."

Willow stammered. "What did you come up with?"

Buffy pointed to her smiling. "RULES."

Xander laughed. "Rules? Like what don't feed them after midnight."

Buffy sat back down. "Rule 1 we can't pick any exes."

Willow started doing a mental inventory. "So that rules out Spike Riley or Parker."

Buffy made a face. "Married, No and Ewww."

Xander shook his head. "Buffy."

She just cut him off. "Rule 2 No one that I could fall in love with. NO emotional investments or attachments allowed."

Willow opened her mouth to object. "Buffy that is…. Actually kind of good."

Buffy just smiled. "Don't act so shocked I can have a good idea now and than."

Xander tried to get a word in. "Buffy."

She cut him off again. "Rule 3. No one that is already in a relationship. Married engaged or dating takes you out of the field. I mean I don't want to ruin someone else's relationship."

Xander rolled his eyes "You really think this can work"

Buffy smiled and held her hand. "Rule 5 ensures it. Any time any of these rules are broken. Like lets Say Siri the Surrogate starts dating a woman than it's done and I find someone else. Rule 5 is our guarantee. It is basically the reset start back at level 1."

Willow looked a little surprised. "And Angel is okay with all of this."

Buffy nodded happily. "We came up with all of this together. "

Willow looked at her just realizing. "You skipped rule 4."

Buffy shrugged. "Oh Rule 4 just says we have to both agree on each others draft pick."

Xander sighed "Buffy I am putting everything aside and trying to be a friend here. If this is really. I mean if you think that this is what it will take to make you happy. If you think this can work."

Buffy nodded. "I do."

Xander let go of a deep breath. "I know how important Angel is to you and even though I could ream on you for hours about this."

Buffy took his hand. "I have your support."

He nodded. "You deserve happy. I have my doubts but I will keep quiet on them and say that I hope this all goes according to your plan."

Willow eyes lit up. "So who is your surrogate?"

Buffy raised her glass taking a drink. "Well Angel showed me the picture of his last night. It is a woman named Nina. Nice lady and she seems friendly enough. Checks all of the boxes. That just leaves me to find my surrogate."

Xander feeling a bit awkward as he asked. "Anyone in mind?"

Buffy shook her head. "Not yet."

Willow grabbed her arm excited. "I could help you."

Buffy felt a little taken back? "Help me find my sexual surrogate?"

She nodded. "It would be like that game Guess Who?"

Xander laughed and poured another drink. "I've played Guess Who before. I don't' remember getting naked at the end."

Willow ignored him. "It's just a simple program where we put in any possible contenders and than we eliminate them based on your perimeters. We could upload pictures and have all of the info in Data storage at the watchers council."

Xander cut her off. "Stealing data to get Buffy laid. Eh what the hell. I guess there are worse reasons."

Buffy smiled getting on board. "So if I said no fatties."

Willow nodded. "We cut anyone off that is over 220 pounds."

Buffy bit her lip. "Eh 190"

Willow shrugged. "Done. It wouldn't take much."

Xander pointed to Willow already buzzing. "Number 1 make it so."

Buffy took his empty glass. "I'm cutting you off."

Xander stood up. "Well that's fine cause I " he took off the Tommy Bahama and tossed it to the chair. "Feel a cannon ball coming on."

Willow yelled knowing how close they were to the pools edge. "Don't you dare."

But it was too late as he jumped in the air tucking his knees in high as he performed a splash worthy cannon ball. The water splashed out of the pool and soaked Buffy and Willow. Buffy yelled at him. "XANDER!"

A few hours had passed. Willow and Xander had left and Buffy was napping comfortably on the couch when she heard the door bell ring. Buffy yawned, her hair a mess and gone was the bikini replaced were comfy shorty shorts and an old Sunnydale high t shirt. She opened the door to find an eager Willow held an old lap top out. "Hey Buffy I went home and got to working on that program."

Buffy looked at her sympathetic. "Oh Willow you didn't have to do that right away. I mean giving up one of your weekends so you can work on building a computer program seems."

"Like an insane amount of fun. It totally is"

Buffy laughed and shook her head. "We both have a very different idea of fun."

Willow walked in to the house opening the lap top. "So I entered basically every male in the school in to this data base. I didn't stop there though. I put in Angel's contacts like Gunn and Lorne Connor"

"Whoa slow down girl. I'm pretty sure Angel's kid ain't making the cut."

"My point is I threw out the net and I cast it real wide. "

Buffy sat on the couch and opened the laptop. "How does this work?"

Willow standing behind the couch pointed to the question mark icon. "Click on that."

As it opened Buffy looked at a screen full of tiny photos and number at the top of the window. "What is this 339 number?"

"Like I said I cast the net pretty wide. But just for fun let's say you want to eliminate the bald guys."

Buffy nodded. "Let's not just say it. Do it."

Willow laughed and worked along the side clicking on bald. "Okay now I push the eliminate and." The number jumped down to 313. "okay now your field is a little more narrow."

Buffy smiled. "Oh wow that is cool."

Willow walked around the side and sat next to her "Okay so lets get to a little hacking and a slashing."

Buffy turned to her. "Willow I really appreciate you making this but I think. I should do this by myself."

"Really?"

"I trust you. You know I do. I just feel like if I am going to pick a guy the first one I have t run it buy is."

She nodded understanding. "Angel."

"So you aren't mad."

"Nah I get it. Keep me in the loop and we will be even."

She nodded. "I promise." She stood up to leave. "I made the user interface pretty simple but if you have any problems."

"Willow I'm sure I got this."

She stood up and turned to the door. "Oh make sure and delete the program. That is after all a laptop that will have to go back to the school and."

"They can't you know access this from other computers can they?"

"Buffy I promise it is safe. I'm not an amateur." With that she walked out the front door leaving Buffy with the laptop.

Buffy opened it up smiling. "Okay we got the baldies out of play. Let's find me a sexual surrogate." She looked up and down the screen. "Okay first we are drawing a line on weight." Buffy started to think. "No one over 200 and no one under 150" The number jut down dramatically. The number 313 suddenly cut over in half. The number hanging in the corner was now 147"She bit her lip looking at the height next. "Okay no short guys. You must be at least this tall to ride this ride." She eliminated every one under 5 foot 10. The number dipped again this time to 121.

Buffy hummed "Alright now that we have a general idea on body. No grandpas. Buffy clicked on age and thought to herself. She was 27 herself so the idea of dating anyone much older didn't sit well. "no more than 10 years older." As she set 37 as the ceiling. "And?' she clicked the button watching the number drop to 98,

"Okay so I guess we got to take out the married guys." 98 dropped to 66 "And the guys in relationships." 66 dropped to 32. She looked at the number. Buffy tapped her foot trying to think of a way to get it down lower. "Oh no red heads."

The number dropped to 31. "That didn't help much." She looked at the first photo of the first guy. She swore half his body weight was all in mustache. Buffy shook her head. "No facial hair." She made another click and this time it dropped to 19." Buffy shrugged. "Alright from here I can deal."

She started clicking through the profile pictures reading the details. She eliminated one on a spray tan saying he looked like he should work for Wonka. Another got eliminated cause Buffy remembered him cutting in line in front of her at Starbucks. At profile 5 she jumped back a bit when she saw his photo.

"Xander made the cut?" She put her finger over eliminate ready to push it but stopped. So far of the 19 there were 4 left after Xander and only 1 potential contender.

"I can't. I mean he is a friend and it would be strange and awkward but at the same time she doesn't have to explain things to Xander. He already knew the score and that did have a certain appeal to it.

She pulled her finger back. "Harris I'm not going to pick you but just need someone to compare the guy I pick to."

As she clicked though the last few. "Okay number 4 has a pizza face. See a dermatologist." She clicked looking at 3. "Oh God that mole on his chin is going to be all I will ever be able to look at. She clicked eliminating him. "number 2 she tensed up. "Oh God not enough wine in the world to make me screw Andrew. But to be fair that is probably mutual."

Buffy looked at the last one. The vampire staring back at her was her former lover Spike. "Sorry Spike but no past relationships." She clicked eliminate.

There were only 2 profiles left. Xander Harris and Beck Rayne. Buffy read through Beck's profile. He was no super model but he wasn't a toad. He had joined the school 7 months ago. They were reluctant to bring him on.

Beck's father was Ethan Rayne. Not only a tremendous pain in the ass but he was all kinds of evil. But Beck was the flip side to his father. He wanted to find a way to redeem the family name. He was incredibly talented when it came to magic but as good as he was he knew how good he was. He was cocky and confident and arrogant. Part of the point of this whole thing was to pick someone you didn't like.

Suddenly her phone rang out and she jumped up to answer it. "Hello."

"How's my girl."

Buffy was practically giddy. "Angel so glad to hear from you."

"You should be receiving a package tomorrow."

"What sort of package?"

"Just the windows. Did you talk to Xander?"

"Funny you should say that. I did talk to him about the windows. He is going to install them for me."

"Maybe there is hope for him after all."

Buffy chuckled "Hey I need to ask you something." She breathed a reluctant sigh. "Remember that whole idea of finding a sexual surrogate."

"Oh God Buffy please tell me you aren't considering him."

"It kind of makes sense. I mean. Run the check list. It can't be an ex. Xander and I have never dated. We don't have any kind of emotional attachment. I mean he's my friend but there is not even a whiff of romantic feelings for him."

"Yeah I believe you but."

"Rule 3 he is single. So it won't mess with or screw up any other relationship."

"Buffy he hates me and you know he is going to brag and gloat."

"You are wrong on this one. Xander is immature and a major goob at times but I know I can depend on him. He gave me his word that he would play it cool and I know him. He's not going to back out on that."

Angel took a second. "You don't feel even a hint of anything towards him?"

"Last week he was out of hamburger buns and he cut a donut in half and used that."

"Anything else?"

"Today he got a brain freeze drinking a margarita, went cross eyed and than cannon balled in the swimming pool."

"Now I feel like you are lying just to make me feel better."

"You can ask Willow."

"You want Xander?"

"I don't know. There is this other guy Beck. I just."

"We have rule 4."

"If you want to say you aren't cool with Xander or Beck I can go back to the drawing board."

"I want a no smack talk guarantee."

"Are you talking no smack talk about the surrogate thing or in general cause I can't promise."

"The surrogate thing Buffy."

She just laughed. "Okay. I will make that part of the deal." She paused for a second. "You know I love you. You and only you. No one can touch that."

"I know and I love you. I love you more than you'll ever know."

"Don't sweat this Xander thing. To be honest I'm leaning towards Beck. I will probably go with him."

"Well the good news is I started putting things in motion. I have hired a mover and appointed Gunn as the head of Angel Investigations in LA."

"All your bags are packed and you are ready to go?"

"We are really going to make it work this time."

"Yes we are."

"I love you"

She flipped over on her back. "And I love you too."

"Hey I wish I could stretch this out but."

"Duty calls?"

"Something like that. I will call you tomorrow."

As she hung up the phone she pulled herself up off the couch. With an early meeting she knew it was best to get some rest. She took one last look at the laptop. She looked at the two pictures on the screen. Her finger lingered for a second.

"Sorry Xander but" She clicked eliminate over Xander pictures. "Better to keep things neat and clean."

The next morning Buffy walked in to the school sipping her large coffee. In the time since all of the slayers had been been activated the scoobies did what they could to recruit. Part of recruitment mean having a place to train the new girls. It meant having a base of operations so that no matter where you were in the world you had some where to call home.

It wasn't just a home for the slayers though. Willow had some pretty powerful covens working with them. The money came from the original watcher's council. After being blown to hell they didn't really have much use for money so after digging Willow as unable to uncover a certain amount of it. More than that it didn't take long for the same agencies who funded the original council to reach out to them.

As it stood today they were on the way to having a slayer in every part of the world. When they started Giles was running the show. Lately though he had been loosening the reigns and giving Buffy more and more control. When it was time she would be the one who would lead these slayers in to the next generation.

As she walked in she went directly to the main office conference room The school was an a old Hospital. It was with in their budget and provided them with more than enough room. As she walked through the building she made her way to the conference room.

Xander was already in the room drinking a root beer and eating a Twinkie. Buffy shook her head. "Tell me that isn't your breakfast."

Xander took the last sip and threw the can in the garbage. "Covers at least one food group I think."

Buffy looked over the topics she needed to bullet point. She looked at the clock. It was 9 oclock and all of the seats around the table were full except for one. Andrew was late again. She shook her head and got started. "Okay I'm looking at the early reports and all signs are pointing in the right direction for the witch and slayer tag team combo. We all owe kudos to Willow this was one of your better ideas."

Willow blushed red and embarrassed from the praise. "Just a cog in the machine Buffy."

Buffy moved to the next bullet point. She looked to Vi at the end of the table. "Where are we on setting up a girl in Edinburgh?"

Vi shook her head. "I swear Buffy I think you gave me this job cause you hate me."

Buffy smirked "Can't be that bad."

Vi shook her head. "They claim to speak English but those Scotts are."

Buffy crossed her arms. "Is this you making excuses?"

Vi put her hands up "Woah relax. I talked with the Mayor and he wasn't totally naïve to the idea of what we do. He said he wants to meet with what ever watcher and slayer we assign to the post but he is open to us have a point of operation there."

Buffy snapped at her. "Well next time lead with that." She turned to Xander. "Weapons?"

Xander laughed, "I don't even get a sentence?"

Buffy just shook her head already agitated. "Xander don't be difficult."

Xander shrugged. "I'm not being difficult but so far this room has been nothing but good news. Vi got a Slayer placed it looks like. We haven't lost a girl in 9 months. Do you know how amazing that truly is?"

Buffy nodded. "Yes I do know. Do you know why we aren't losing girls? We have everything perfect. Part of that means having a General who makes sure shit gets done and."

Xander shook his head. "We get there by working together but for the record we got the new inventory on weapons yesterday."

Buffy smirked "Was that so hard?"

Suddenly the conference room door flew open. "Sorry I'm late." Andrew quickly scurried to his seat. "Did I miss anything important?'

Buffy crossed the room to him. "Andrew if everyone else can be here on time."

Andrew nodded "I know and I'm sorry."

Buffy angry got in his face. "Do you know what sorry gets you in this job. It gets you dead. It gets 9 months turned in to 9 days or 9 hours."

Andrew looked confused. "What is 9 months?"

Buffy rolled her eyes. "You would know if you were here on time." She shook her head. "Andrew you are the tech guy what can you tell me about where we are on the whole headset in the field."

Andrew quickly flipped through his folder. "Headset communicators. It took me some time but I found the perfect one." He kept flipping through the papers looking for all his info. "It is with in our price range It is hands free and." He laughed awkwardly. "I think I left it in my room. "

Buffy ran her hands down her face shaking her head and closing her eyes in frustration. "Andrew do you want to be here?"

"Yes I do. I swear."

She barked at him angry. "THAN ACT LIKE IT."

Andrew looked like he was ready to cry but just nodded. As they walked through the rest of the meeting Buffy made all of them know she wasn't ready to back down. As it ended and everyone walked out Xander followed her to her office. "Buffy you were a little intense in there."

Buffy sighed. "If I am not intense people die."

"There has to be a middle ground Buffy. "

"Yesterday was my middle ground. Drinks at my house and hang with my friends but now we are at work and this is work Buffy. Work Buffy has to play things a lot tighter."

"I'm not saying don't' take your job serious but I feel like this is going to eventually kill you."

"I'm fine Xander."

"Just saying this cause I care."

Buffy stopped at her office door. "And I appreciate that but you let me do my thing and you do yours."

Before he could say anything she stepped in the office and closed the door. Back at the conference room Vi, Andrew and Willow were still talking.

Willow patted Andrew's back. "I know Buffy was hard on you."

Andrew opened his mouth "Yeah?"

Willow shrugged. "Things will get better?"

Vi shrugged. "Part of it was on you. You came to the meeting un prepared and late. But she was still wound really tight and."

Andrew blurted it out. "She needs to get laid."

Willow snickered but didn't say anything. "And on that note I have some witches that need talking to."

Buffy sat in her office going over the Monday morning work. It included looking at the new slayer recruits, upcoming reports of potential threats. All the little details in between. People had been telling her it was time to dole out some of the responsibility To her though the only way to keep all of the plates spinning was to do it herself.

She stayed in her office working through till lunch. As her stomach growled she turned off the video she was watching. She was currently taking notes on the new slayers. She was checking fighting styles looking for areas they are weak in and would have the watchers responsible for them take care of it.

She rubbed her eyes and stood up figuring she could finish it when she got back from eating lunch. She made her way to the cafeteria. As she scanned the room she saw Beck in the line getting his food. The cafeteria was a little bit of a public place to discuss the matter at hand. The plan was she would get her food and invite him for lunch in the office.

By the time she was through he was already sitting at the table in the cafeteria. She stepped to him but stepped back a second hearing him talking to Drake a fellow magic user.

"Look Drake it isn't that I don't respect the slayers it is just for everything I've had to WORK for they were naturally given. Sorry but I didn't wake up one day and bam I'm a comic book super hero. All of my talent was earned and all of their talent was just given. The truth is most of them don't care or even appreciate what they are given. They are spoiled children given a gift they don't appreciate and don't deserve."

Buffy looked at him angry and it showed on her face. She continued walking past him muttering "Dick"

As Buffy started to her office she found herself in front of Xander's office door. She gave it a quick tap and stepped inside. 'Xander we need to talk."