[ ] denotes thoughts
**********
Part Four
The Bronze back room
"I thought Max was a guy," Faith remarked looking over at Xander. "Care to explain?"
"You told them I was a guy?" Max gave Xander a look.
"Well.. no.. Look I just said that I had a good friend from junior high who tried to drag me into all kinds of trouble. I might have... neglected to mention that you were a girl," he said squirming under two pairs of glaring eyes. Xander fumbled along quickly, "It's not like I talked much about LA. I mean, it never really came up, you know."
"You mean you didn't tell them anything about your life in LA? Geez Xander, I can understand not talking about some stuff, but not even telling them about me? Some friend you are," Max stated wryly.
"Can I help it if I just wanted to forget everything that happened for a while? It wasn't all that long ago y'know," he replied frustrated. "And, well, we've been kinda busy here."
Max reached out to comfort him. "I was just kidding, Xander. I can understand you not wanting to talk about it yet." Her voice grew quiet, "I know how much you loved her."
Xander blinked back unshed tears as he looked at his friends. "Ok, enough with the sad stuff. This is a great night! I have two friends in town that I haven't seen in months, so it's time to party!"
Xander grabbed Cordelia and Max by the hand to lead them out. "Come on, Faith. I want them to meet the others," he tossed back at her.
"Sure," Faith muttered. [Doesn't he have any guy friends?] she thought as she followed them.
Once back at the table, Xander introduced Max to the rest of the gang. Needless to say they were a bit surprised to see another friend from LA.
"So what brings you to Sunnydale, Max? Last time I heard, you and Pike had taken off together to go 'walkabout' across the country," Xander asked.
"Oh, um... well," Max started uncomfortably. "We ran into some vamps. He didn't make it," she finished quietly.
Xander went over to her and enfolded her into his arms. "Oh, Max, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I wish... I wish I could have..."
"No, Xander," she replied to him as she looked up into his eyes. "You couldn't have done anything. He made sure he held them off long enough for me get out of there. There were too many. If you were there, it would have been you who died. I know you. You would have taken his place to make sure we got out."
Xander didn't say anything more as he held her, letting her see the truth in his eyes. He would. With no hesitation.
The Scooby gang watched this with interest. They were learning more about their friend in a day than they had in eight months. One member, in particular, was watching the pair closely and wondering why this bothered her so much.
Someone else was watching as the two friends embraced. Buffy wondered who the woman was and how close she was to Xander. As the blonde viewed the events from her table with the rest of her 'friends', something growled from within.
***
A few hours later
The rest of the night was more upbeat as both Cordelia and Max filled the Slayerettes in on some of the events of Xander Harris' early life, much to his annoyance. They stayed away from anything remotely concerning vampires or fighting, but many of Xander's more embarrassing moments were brought to light.
"So you're telling me you taught Xander how to hotwire cars?" Faith asked Max.
"Yep. Slick, here, was the best! He could've cleared out LA if he tried. The fastest boost around. Only I couldn't get him steal a car for anything but a prank."
"A prank?" inquired Willow.
"Oh, yeah," Max continued with a laugh. "A few bullying jocks had taken to tormenting some kid in the freshman class. Xand decided to pull his 'knight-in-shining-armor' routine and help him out. So he goes and finds the lead guy's car, jacks it in the middle of the night, and drives it off to the stadium..."
"THAT WAS YOU?!?!" Cordelia blurted out making Max break out in laughter.
"Yeah, well, he deserved it. And I didn't even damage the car..." Xander replied with a grin.
"What did he do?" Faith queried.
"I don't know how he did it, but somehow Xander managed to put the jock's car on TOP of the stadium. He never said how he did it. It took a jumbo construction crane to get it down. Xander even left a printed note in the guy's locker telling him to stop bullying people around or he'd do something worse," Max told them proudly.
"Really? Damn, Xand, I never knew you had it in you to be vengeful. So are you going to fill us in on how you did it?" implored Faith grinning.
"Nope. Trade secret," Xander smirked.
Faith stared hard at him before letting out a sigh. "Remind me never to get in a prank war with you," she muttered earning a laugh from the group.
"Well guys, I think it's time for me to go," Max told them rising from her seat. "It was a pleasure meeting all of you. Xander, I need your number so I can give you a call to find a good time to get together."
"Sure." He quickly jotted his number down and handed it to her. "Do you want me to walk you home?"
"Nah, I'm good. I drove anyways. Later," Max said with a wave as she walked out the door.
"I think it's time to call it a night too," Cordelia spoke up as she rose. "I still have a few things to unpack tonight. I'll see everyone tomorrow." She noticed Xander was about to speak so she beat him to his question. "I drove, Xander. I'll be fine."
After Cordelia left the gang decided to call it a night and head home. They still had the Night of St. Vigeous coming and they would need the rest.
***
In an abandoned factory
"Are you sure this is the slayer?" the blonde vampire demanded of the cowering minion before him as he looked at the photo in his hand.
"Yes, I saw that she was the one who killed Andrew. She is too strong and fast to be just a human."
"Good," he said waving the grateful creature away. "Well, now that I know who the slayer is, it'll be that much easier to kill her on Saturday. This will be easy with the boost I'll get then."
From a darkened corner of the room, a voice called out, "Are we going to play, Spoike? Miss Edith wants to play."
Spike turned to the frail woman as she approached him. "Yes, pet. We'll play. We can make a few humans scream as their blood runs down our throats. After that I'll deal with the Slayer and get you strong again."
"Miss Edith says someone else has come to hurt the Slayer," she spoke peering down at the child's doll cradled in her arms. "They'll cause her pain from within. Make her bleed." Her face broke out in a wild insane smile, as she told him, "Then they'll take her kitten away. Can I have him?"
"Of course, Dru, we can get you your kitten," Spike whispered in her ear as he hugged her to him. "Then we can get rid of the pest and take over this town."
"The boy doesn't trust you. They follow him. I think sometimes that all my hair will fall out and I'll be bald," Drusilla crooned out.
[Only you Ducks,] Spike thought, [only you.]
***
Elsewhere
"Well?"
"I didn't have any problems. He still trusts me."
"Will you be able to bring him to me?"
"It will take a while to separate him from his new friends, but not impossible."
"How soon?"
"I don't know. It helps that he is keeping his friends distant. I can just encourage him to confide in me about things. There are a couple of people who are going to cause problems, though."
"Who?"
"Well, it seems that Xander has managed to find the new Slayer."
"How close are they?"
"He might want to be with her but she keeps him at a distance. It will help me out if she keeps this up. The more she pushes, the closer he'll get to me."
"And the other person?"
"She might be a bigger problem. As one of the few friends he has left alive from LA, he might go to her for comfort too. I don't know how much she might affect the plan."
"If you keep close to her, it should help minimize the problem. I will try to come up with a plan to get her out of the way while placing the blame where it suits us best."
"Alright. I'll stay as close to him as I can."
"Good. Before you go, tell me everything you know about this old friend of Xander's..."
**********
End Part 4
***