Part XI - "Papa Was A Rolling Stone"
As they walked, hand in hand, into Buffy's house, Xander was stunned by the difference he felt inside that house. It wasn't so much the physical aspect of her house that seemed different, everything seemed exactly the same here as it did in his own world. It was more of the emotional atmosphere that seemed changed. Normally, when Xander was in Buffy's house, he sensed desperation and defeat. The environment was clogged with pain, and the occupants seemed barely unable to bear up under the weight of day-to-day life. Xander attributed most of Buffy's pain to Angel. Who else was more responsible for stealing Buffy's youth and robbing her of her hope and dreams for the future? He stole her innocence and happiness, and taught her to doubt the power of true love. Something Xander never believed that Buffy and Angel shared. Certainly not like the love that Buffy and the Xander of this world seemed to share.
But this place, it was the complete opposite of its counterpart in his world. This place just radiated hope, and more importantly love. There wasn't even the barest trace of despair here. It almost seemed that in choosing him over Angel, Buffy changed her whole life for the better. Which, of course, is what Xander had believed the entire time the Buffy of his world was breaking his heart. But, even believing that, Xander would never have guessed at how drastic the difference would make.
Buffy began to wave her hand in front of Xander's face as he stood open-mouthed and frozen in her doorway. "Xand, you in there? You act like you've never been inside my house before." Buffy squeezed Xander's hand and leaned in close to whisper into his ear conspiratorially. As she spoke her lips were almost caressing his ear. "Of course you know, you do more than live here..."
Xander flushed deeply and leaned toward Buffy, her lips now pressed against his ear. Why does she keep acting like I'm 'her' Xander? God, please don't let Buffy be playing another game with my heart. I don't think my heart could survive it. "Buffy..." Xander managed to groan out, but more words were cut off when Joyce walked into the room.
Buffy's teeth were about to wrap around Xander's ear when she heard her mom cough. Buffy blushed a deep crimson, and turned her head to face her mom as she rested it on Xander's shoulder. "Umm... hi mom."
Joyce couldn't help but grin internally at her daughter and the man she loved, but on the outside she tried her best to glare. "Hi mom is right!" She tried to maintain her glare, only to fail as she looked at Xander tenderly. "Oh Xander! Thank God you're all right!" Before Xander could say anything, or even react Joyce had enfolded him in a large hug. "I was so afraid that we'd never see you again." Only Xander saw the small look of sadness that passed quickly over Buffy's eyes, and it broke his heart to see it. As Xander raised his hands to hug Joyce back, he saw the sadness in Buffy's eyes replaced with the same look she'd had since she saw him in the graveyard. He saw love in her eyes, love that belonged to him and him alone. "Now let me get a look at you." Joyce pulled away from the hug to inspect Xander. After going through a mental checklist, she turned to Buffy with a look of relief. "I don't want to know where he was or what happened to him, because I know that I won't like the answer. But I AM sure that it had something to do with the Hellmouth, and the only thing that matters to me is that Xander's back and he's ok." She turned to Xander and kissed him on the forehead. "You are OK, aren't you?"
Xander ducked his head to keep both of them from seeing the tears that were threatening to streak down his face. In fact, he was barely able to choke out a reply. "I'm fine Mrs. Summers, thanks for asking."
Joyce tucked her fingers under Xander's chin and raised his eyes to meet hers. "How many times is this now that I've told you to call me Mom?"
Xander's eyes nearly popped out of his head with Joyce's last statement. Mom? She wants me to call her Mom? Not even MY birth mother wants me to call her Mom! How close ARE we? For that matter, how close am I to Buffy, I mean even Angel never got to call her Mom. And he supposedly was Buffy's soulmate. I guess that notion doesn't really hold water now. "Umm... ok, Mom"
Joyce beamed. "That's better. Now I'm going off to bed. Now that I know that you're safe, I can sleep peacefully." Joyce kissed him on the forehead again, and hugged Buffy before going upstairs to bed.
As soon as Joyce was out of sight, Buffy walked forward and enveloped Xander in a much more intimate embrace than the one her mother gave him. Without even thinking, she leaned up and brushed her lips across Xander's. "She really loves you Xander. You know, she already considers you part of the family." Tears began to form in her eyes. "She was almost as heartbroken as I was when you disappeared."
Xander gently brushed the small tears from her face as he stroked her cheek. "What about now? What will you tell her?"
Buffy smiled softly at him. "Nothing. Like she said, the fact that you're here now is all that matters. It doesn't matter where you were before, what matters is that you're here now." She leaned up to nuzzle her face against Xander's neck. Nope, it doesn't matter at all. Whether you know it or not Xander Harris, you're not leaving my sight for a second. I'm not going to lose you again. Xander heard her sigh in contentment as she drew back slightly. "Now how about that tea you promised me?"
"As long as you keep your end of the deal." Xander grinned at her, his eyes locking onto her lips. He suddenly had a new reason to stare as she wet those full lips with her tongue. He just knew that his eyes were now darkened with desire. "You did promise to tell me how I came to be a resident at Chez Summers."
Buffy lips turned upwards into an almost feral grin. "Well, if that's what you want." Buffy gently intertwined her fingers with Xander's and turned to head towards the kitchen. She craned her head around and looked at Xander with a sexy gleam in her eyes. "I half-expected you to hold me to a different promise, maybe one with a few less clothes involved." As Xander sputtered and coughed, her grin grew wider and her eyes twinkled with a new light. "Looks like I'm going to have to retrain you."
Xander squeezed her hand and rubbed his thumb over the top of her hand. "Umm, is it too late to change the terms of my promise?"
*****
"Here." Xander turned away from the teakettle he'd just placed on the stove to face a cookie-wielding Buffy. Smiling he leaned toward her with an open mouth, waiting for her feed him the yummy looking cookie he held in her hand. "I made these while you were gone, they're your favorite." She placed her free hand on his chest as she raised the cookie to his lips. He responded by wrapping an arm around her waist and drawing her closer. He bit into the cookie, and soon thereafter, Buffy could hear Xander's contented grunts of pleasure. "Good?"
"Mmmm. Wow! These ARE my favorites! Buffy, when did you become such a good cook?" Xander was looking at her with a mixture of love and awe as he chewed happily on the delicious cookie.
Buffy gave Xander another full-teeth smile. "I'm so happy you like them. And I never had a reason to learn how to cook before I met you." She saw that a bit of chocolate was smeared at the corner of his mouth, and decided not to fight the urge. "There was a lot of things that were missing in my life before I met you Xander. Things that would still be missing if I'd picked ANYONE else but you." Leaning up she pressed her tongue to the corner of his mouth and began to lick up the smeared chocolate. "Mmmm. Tastes even better when it's on you." Buffy's grin grew as she licked her lips, wetting them once again. "Of course, I already knew that." Buffy took the opportunity to cop a quick feel and ran her hand down his chest, before turning around to take a seat at the dining room table.
"C'mon Xander, have a seat, and I'll tell you why you're living here." Xander turned down the eye on the stove and walked over to the dining table. But, he didn't take a seat. He moved behind where Buffy was sitting and began to rub her shoulders, kneading her muscles lovingly. "Ooh, Xander. You know just what a girl needs. Keep this up and I'll love you forever."
Xander paused his ministrations for a moment and leaned down to press his lips just behind her ear. "Buffy, there's nothing on Earth that could keep me from loving you." Buffy turned her head just enough to press her lips against Xander's briefly. "How about I massage, and you talk?"
Buffy stole another kiss before turning her head back around to face forward. "Well, like I said, you've been living here for about six months..."
*****
SIX MONTHS AGO
Willow was standing with her back to her locker waiting for Oz to show up for class. The halls were congested with talking people. Some were at their lockers, while others just congregated in the middle of the hall, forcing traffic to go around. In the time it took to blink, Willow heard her name called by two different people. To her left, moving toward her with his characteristic grace and nonchalance was her beloved boyfriend Oz. And to her right, moving towards her through the thickest congestion of students was Buffy. It took all of two seconds before Willow heard a grunt of frustration and the crowds started to part like the Red Sea. Some were fortunate enough to clear out of the path of the Slayer of their own free will. A few were lucky enough to only be roughly shoved aside. The unfortunate however, got a very personal introduction with the lockers on either side of the hall.
Willow looked back to her left to see Oz standing right next to her with a smirk on his face. Nodding towards the bodies flying across the hallway, Oz couldn't resist making a comment. "Well, that's certainly one way to get your way through the morning crowds. Not your usual, or even generally accepted way, but one way to do it."
Willow grinned at her boyfriend and pecked him lovingly on the lips. She turned back about to look at Buffy, and for the first time saw the look the Slayer had on her face. "I wonder what's gotten Buffy all worked up? Usually, around this time of the morning, she's all smiles."
Oz however, saw what wasn't plainly visible to everyone else. And with this insight, he had a possible answer to a question that many of the students were asking themselves this morning... 'Why me?'. "I'll give you one guess as to what's got her upset. Here's a hint, look at her hands."
Willow looked at Buffy's hands in confusion. What's wrong with her hands? They look fine to me. Everything seems in place, her nails are perfect, and the pale pink nailpolish that Xander loves is in mint condition. So what could possibly be wrong? Willow was about to turn around and ask her boyfriend what on earth he meant when she gasped in surprise. Buffy's hand... was empty. She turned back around to face her boyfriend with worry in her eyes. "Xander. She's not holding Xander's hand." Letting her emotions run free, as she always tended to do, Willow began to get frantic. "I don't even see him around... Oz, Xander ALWAYS walks Buffy to school! Even if he's got the flu, he walks her to class, if only to go right back to bed. Something's wrong!" As Willow turned around to wait for Buffy, Oz wrapped his arms around her waist, offering her comfort.
As Buffy got closer, both Willow and Oz could see the fear and worry in her eyes. After going through the mass of students like a Pro lineman, Buffy reached her friends. Once in the comfort of their presence, her whole demeanor changed. Her shoulders slumped, and she leaned against the row of lockers like it was the only thing holding her up. Wrapping her arms around her stomach, Buffy choked out an anguished query to the Wiccan and the werewolf. "Guys, have you seen Xander?"
A tear rolled down Willow's face as her fears slowly came true. "You mean he isn't with you? I mean, of course he isn't, cause then you wouldn't have asked us." Buffy managed a small smile at her friend. "So, he didn't walk you to school this morning? Xander loves that morning time with you, he loves being the first thing you see in the morning. I mean, Xander would have to be dead or dying to miss..." As soon as the words left her mouth, Willow wished she could grab them out of the air and stuff them back in. "Oops."
The pain and anguish on Buffy's face was plain for all to see. "Don't you think I haven't thought of that! Don't you think I came here hoping Xander was mad at me, or even just plain old forgot about me?" Buffy's tone was harsh and her voice was strained. "I'm sorry Willow. It's just that I was hoping he was here, and now that I know he isn't..." Buffy looked wistful as she pictured her great love in her mind's eye. "He's just a part of me that I can't bear to lose."
Willow nodded, looking at Oz with total love and adoration, letting him know that she felt like that about him. "Umm... well you know how Xander can be. Maybe he just didn't wake up... I meant wake up in time to walk you here. Umm..."
Oz kissed her on the top of her head. "I think what my beautiful girlfriend here is trying to say, is that maybe we should wait until first period is over before we jump to any false conclusions. That sound ok to you girls?" Buffy and Willow both glumly nodded at him, plainly not feeling as optimistic as he did.
*****
Buffy's patience outlasted the tardy bell by about five seconds. As the last of the straggling students filed into the classroom, Buffy began to look around frantically for her lover. The last student entered the classroom, shutting the door behind him, and still no Xander. Buffy turned towards Willow, who was sitting right next to her, and motioned to the empty seat behind her with an expression Willow was unaccustomed to seeing on the Slayer's face... fear. Knowing in the pit of her stomach that something had happened to Xander, Buffy stood up out of her chair and slung her backpack over her shoulders.
Just as she was walking out of the back door, the old battle-axe of a history teacher walked in. Placing her hands on her hips, her wrinkled face shifted into an ugly and menacing frown. "Just WHERE do you think YOU are going Ms. Summers? Or did it slip your mind that you were supposed to cut class today with your slacker boyfriend?"
Buffy's hand froze on the doorknob in utter shock and disbelief. She was willing to let the teacher's initial comments pass as just her usual old maid bitchiness, but the comment about Xander went too far! Buffy whirled about and with a fire burning in her eyes, pointed a well-manicured finger at the startled teacher. "That's STRIKE ONE!" Turning about, Buffy stormed out of the room, leaving the whole class praying they weren't strike three.
*****
Giles was busy sorting and thumbing through his copious volumes of books for impending prophecies Buffy would have to face, when he heard the sound of angry footsteps nearing the library. No sooner than he could turn around, he was face to face with a very determined Slayer, the library doors swinging back and forth behind her like some old Western saloon. "W- why he- hello Buffy. Shouldn't you be in class right now?"
Shaking her head slowly, her blond locks swaying around her face Buffy looked up with reddened and bloodshot eyes and said only two words. "Giles, keys!"
Giles only looked at Buffy in confusion. "Keys? What the devil do you need keys for?"
Buffy grunted in exasperation at her Watcher for not understanding. Holding up her hand impatiently, with her palm open in acceptance, Buffy repeated her order, only more verbosely. "Giles, give me your car keys. It's an emergency! I need to get to Xander!"
Giles looked up at Buffy from his books with concern. Although Xander was almost like a son to him, he could sometimes strain the Watcher's nerves to the breaking point. Giles decided to approach Buffy's anxiety with caution, realizing that when it came to Xander, Buffy was often less than rational. "Buffy are you sure that it's truly an emergency, and not just Xander being Xander?"
For the second time that day, Buffy's anger flashed, burning hotly in her beautiful green eyes. "Giles! I DON'T know. In fact, the only basis I have for this feeling is totally based on my gut feeling. Either you give me your keys, or get off your pompous British ass and go with me!"
Giles looked at Buffy, watched the fire in her eyes burn out, and saw it replaced by the fear and despair that she was hiding just under the surface. Standing up from his books, Giles enfolded Buffy in a fatherly embrace and murmured against the top of her head. "Let's go find Xander, Buffy."
*****
Buffy was about to burst at the seams as Giles's beat up old Citroen crawled down the street towards Xander's house. "My God Giles, how about entering the second half of the century, where cars can actually get you someplace, before it's too late?" Having said this Buffy crossed her arms over her chest, and looked forlornly out the passenger window.
Giles sighed at Buffy's comment, but decided to let it pass considering her state of mind. "Buffy, it will do us absolutely no good to arrive quickly if we are unable to arrive safely." Giles could only grin as he heard Buffy mutter something about stuffy old Brits under her breath.
After what seemed to Buffy like forever, they finally pulled up to the curb in front of Xander's house. Buffy almost ripped the old door off of its hinges and ran as fast as he could to the front door. Buffy tried the handle, and to her immense surprise, found it unlocked. Stepping inside she saw that there were no lights on, and there didn't seem to be anything else turned on for that matter. Turning towards Giles, she looked at him with true worry. "Giles, this is totally odd. Usually at the very least, you can find Xander's dad passed out drunk in front of the TV. But I don't even hear a TV running. I'm really scared Giles."
Taking off his glasses, Giles took a moment to think as he cleaned them with his handkerchief. After surveying the situation, Giles began to walk towards the den. "Buffy, I'll check around down here, perhaps it would be best if you searched the upstairs."
"Gotcha, seeing that I'm the girlfriend, and I've been up there a few times." At Giles's incredulous look, Buffy began to blush furiously. "Umm, I mean... Of course, never in the sense that you're thinking of." Merely raising his eyebrow in response, Buffy quickly rushed up the stairs, her face a deep shade of crimson.
Buffy walked the familiar path to Xander's room. Upon reaching the door, she softly ran her palm over the surface of the door, visions of visits and pleasures past flashing through her mind. Slowly she opened the door, half hoping to see Xander asleep on the bed. Unfortunately, all she saw was the usual scene of an unmade bed. Not seeing Xander anywhere in her sight, she moved to his closet, searching more out of a process of elimination than actual hope of finding him there.
After searching his closet for any sign of him and not finding any, Buffy was about to leave Xander's room, deciding that there was nothing here to help her find her true love. Just as she was about to close the door, she felt a tingling at the back of her neck. A tingling that made her feel like there was something she missed. Uh-oh! My Spidey-sense is tingling! Turning back around, Buffy took the room in, slowly surveying it.
Running her fingers through her silky hair in frustration, Buffy was about to shrug off her feeling as nothing, when she saw something. Something she had looked over, either not seeing it, or just shaking it off as unimportant. But as she looked at it longer and more closely, she saw that the speckles of red on the wall wasn't merely paint like she had thought, it was blood. And as she looked around the room, she saw that there was a LOT of those red speckles on the walls. Clutching her stomach almost like she was in pain, Buffy looked on the floor next to the bed, and saw something that she would swear in the future shaved years off of her life. Lying next to the bed, on the far side away from the door, was a pale and blood-covered hand.
Screaming in terror, Buffy collapsed to her knees, her eyes riveted on the sight before her. "Giles! Giles! Get up here, now!"
*****
Buffy crawled on her hands and knees towards the hand that was extended just past the edge of the bed, praying that things weren't as bad as they looked. Just before she got to the hand, her eyes were drawn to what was lying just beyond the grasp of those extended fingers. Buffy felt tears spring to her eyes as she looked at the blood covered phone, bloody fingerprints seeming to cover all of the keys needed to dial her number, all but the last one. Oh Xander. Please don't be as hurt as I think you are. Please God, don't be that hurt! But, Buffy's thoughts were all for naught as she rounded the corner of the bed, seeing the most horrible sight she had ever seen in all her years of Slaying. In fact, it was all she could do to keep from throwing up. It wasn't until she heard the sound of footsteps and a sharp intake of air from Giles, who was now standing behind her, before she could even begin to move again. Tears were streaking down her face as she began to take in all of what she saw in front of her.
Xander's extended hand was facing palm up, and was covered with blood. Small cuts and welts criss-crossed the palms of his hands, wound that could only be caused by holding the palms outward in a defensive posture to ward off blows. As she moved her eyes upward from his hand, Buffy gasped as she saw the welts and bruises covering his arms. In a few places, Buffy could even see nasty looking finger shaped bruises. Buffy paused long enough in her examination of Xander, to speak to Giles in a shaky and anguished voice. "Giles, go call an ambulance! Get them here quick!" A thought hitting her, Buffy reached down and gently placed her fingers around Xander's wrist, checking for his pulse. She found one, but it was slow and faint. Turning to yell downstairs to Giles, her mouth dropped open when she realized that he was still there. "That's TWO! Giles, he doesn't exactly have what you'd call a steady pulse, so how about you get your British ass downstairs and call 911!"
Turning back to Xander, she restarted her visual examination at his feet, wishing she could find the bastard who did this to her lover. Unfortunately, the pajama bottoms he had on kept her from seeing any injures he might have sustained to his legs. What she could see however, was that one, if not both, of Xander's legs were bent at unnatural angles. On closer inspection, she saw that one leg of Xander's pajamas was torn because of a compound fracture. Oh Xander... Who on earth could have done something like this to you? Her vision very blurred because of the tears flowing down her face, Buffy wearily continued to look him over. Her eyes were drawn to his bare chest, the chest that for more nights than she could count, had served as a safe and warm pillow for her head. Now, it was covered in angry looking welts and small cuts. Upon seeing his ribs, Buffy had to place a hand on the blood soaked floor to steady her shaking body. There were hardly any areas of his ribs that weren't covered in bruises, deep dark bruises, which could only signify severely broken ribs.
After seeing the rest of his body, Buffy wasn't so sure that she wanted to see the condition of Xander's face. However, ever if she wanted to at that moment, Buffy couldn't see his face because of the hair that was matted to his forehead. Very gently, Buffy moved as much of the blood caked hair out of her way as she could. As she did, she finally found the source of all of the blood pooled about him. Right below Xander's hairline was a nasty looking gash running from his temple to his eyebrow. Without a second thought, Buffy tore the sleeves off of her blouse so she could staunch the flow of blood coming from the gash. She felt her emotional control slipping as she saw the extent of the damage Xander's attacker had done to the face she loved to stare at. Both of his eyes were black and swollen completely shut. As she looked at his bloody and broken nose, she traced her small fingers over his bruised cheeks, careful to avoid touching his broken jaw. Leaning forward, she placed a loving kiss softly on his lips, whispering an 'I love you' against them.
Just as she was pulling away, she heard the paramedics running up the stairs. Tracing her fingers over his spilt lips, she stood up to make room for them. She stood in the corner of the room and watched them as they performed their own examination. That is until, one of the paramedics turned around and noticed her standing there and gave an order for someone to get her out of there. As one of the burly men dragged her from Xander's room, all she could wonder is why she wasn't struggling against the man taking her away from Xander. She really didn't come back to her senses until she felt a pair of warm masculine arms folding her into an embrace. She was about half a heartbeat away from pummeling the bastard who presumed he could touch her when she realized that it was Giles's arms that were offering her comfort.
She stayed in his embrace until she heard the paramedics hustling outside with Xander's inert form strapped to a stretcher. Completely unwilling to let them go without her, she pulled away from Giles and rushed after them, only stopping when the same hulking man grabbed her by the shoulders and asked her just where the hell she thought she was going. The anger in her eyes returned as she glared up at the towering hulk. "I KNOW exactly where I'm going! I'm getting on that ambulance with my boyfriend and I'm riding with him to the hospital!"
The big bruiser chuckled as he leaned over and got in Buffy's face. "I don't think so little girl. There's no way in hell I'm letting you on that ambulance, it's the rules. So why don't you walk your cute little butt over to your car and follow us to the hospital?"
Giles walked outside just in time to see Buffy give the paramedic a look of anger that caused all but the dumbest of vampires to flee in terror. He was about to intercede on the paramedic's behalf when Buffy sprung into action. "That's STRIKE THREE!" She grabbed his wrist and twisted it around, nearly snapping the bone in the process. The bruiser cried out in pain as he collapsed to the pavement. Buffy looked into his eyes as she applied a bit more pressure to his wrist. "Do I have your attention now, Cro-Magnon man? Listen good, because if you don't I'll snap your girlie man wrist like a twig! Are you reading me here?" She waited a few seconds for him to respond in the positive before continuing. "Now, I'm going to let go of your wrist, and you're going to make room for me to sit beside the love of my life, understand?" He nodded, and she let go of his wrist, waiting for him to make room for her. Giving the burly man a tight smile as she climbed into the ambulance, she called back to Giles for him to follow them to the hospital. She placed her hands at Xander's side as the doors were closed and the ambulance took off for the hospital.
As they walked, hand in hand, into Buffy's house, Xander was stunned by the difference he felt inside that house. It wasn't so much the physical aspect of her house that seemed different, everything seemed exactly the same here as it did in his own world. It was more of the emotional atmosphere that seemed changed. Normally, when Xander was in Buffy's house, he sensed desperation and defeat. The environment was clogged with pain, and the occupants seemed barely unable to bear up under the weight of day-to-day life. Xander attributed most of Buffy's pain to Angel. Who else was more responsible for stealing Buffy's youth and robbing her of her hope and dreams for the future? He stole her innocence and happiness, and taught her to doubt the power of true love. Something Xander never believed that Buffy and Angel shared. Certainly not like the love that Buffy and the Xander of this world seemed to share.
But this place, it was the complete opposite of its counterpart in his world. This place just radiated hope, and more importantly love. There wasn't even the barest trace of despair here. It almost seemed that in choosing him over Angel, Buffy changed her whole life for the better. Which, of course, is what Xander had believed the entire time the Buffy of his world was breaking his heart. But, even believing that, Xander would never have guessed at how drastic the difference would make.
Buffy began to wave her hand in front of Xander's face as he stood open-mouthed and frozen in her doorway. "Xand, you in there? You act like you've never been inside my house before." Buffy squeezed Xander's hand and leaned in close to whisper into his ear conspiratorially. As she spoke her lips were almost caressing his ear. "Of course you know, you do more than live here..."
Xander flushed deeply and leaned toward Buffy, her lips now pressed against his ear. Why does she keep acting like I'm 'her' Xander? God, please don't let Buffy be playing another game with my heart. I don't think my heart could survive it. "Buffy..." Xander managed to groan out, but more words were cut off when Joyce walked into the room.
Buffy's teeth were about to wrap around Xander's ear when she heard her mom cough. Buffy blushed a deep crimson, and turned her head to face her mom as she rested it on Xander's shoulder. "Umm... hi mom."
Joyce couldn't help but grin internally at her daughter and the man she loved, but on the outside she tried her best to glare. "Hi mom is right!" She tried to maintain her glare, only to fail as she looked at Xander tenderly. "Oh Xander! Thank God you're all right!" Before Xander could say anything, or even react Joyce had enfolded him in a large hug. "I was so afraid that we'd never see you again." Only Xander saw the small look of sadness that passed quickly over Buffy's eyes, and it broke his heart to see it. As Xander raised his hands to hug Joyce back, he saw the sadness in Buffy's eyes replaced with the same look she'd had since she saw him in the graveyard. He saw love in her eyes, love that belonged to him and him alone. "Now let me get a look at you." Joyce pulled away from the hug to inspect Xander. After going through a mental checklist, she turned to Buffy with a look of relief. "I don't want to know where he was or what happened to him, because I know that I won't like the answer. But I AM sure that it had something to do with the Hellmouth, and the only thing that matters to me is that Xander's back and he's ok." She turned to Xander and kissed him on the forehead. "You are OK, aren't you?"
Xander ducked his head to keep both of them from seeing the tears that were threatening to streak down his face. In fact, he was barely able to choke out a reply. "I'm fine Mrs. Summers, thanks for asking."
Joyce tucked her fingers under Xander's chin and raised his eyes to meet hers. "How many times is this now that I've told you to call me Mom?"
Xander's eyes nearly popped out of his head with Joyce's last statement. Mom? She wants me to call her Mom? Not even MY birth mother wants me to call her Mom! How close ARE we? For that matter, how close am I to Buffy, I mean even Angel never got to call her Mom. And he supposedly was Buffy's soulmate. I guess that notion doesn't really hold water now. "Umm... ok, Mom"
Joyce beamed. "That's better. Now I'm going off to bed. Now that I know that you're safe, I can sleep peacefully." Joyce kissed him on the forehead again, and hugged Buffy before going upstairs to bed.
As soon as Joyce was out of sight, Buffy walked forward and enveloped Xander in a much more intimate embrace than the one her mother gave him. Without even thinking, she leaned up and brushed her lips across Xander's. "She really loves you Xander. You know, she already considers you part of the family." Tears began to form in her eyes. "She was almost as heartbroken as I was when you disappeared."
Xander gently brushed the small tears from her face as he stroked her cheek. "What about now? What will you tell her?"
Buffy smiled softly at him. "Nothing. Like she said, the fact that you're here now is all that matters. It doesn't matter where you were before, what matters is that you're here now." She leaned up to nuzzle her face against Xander's neck. Nope, it doesn't matter at all. Whether you know it or not Xander Harris, you're not leaving my sight for a second. I'm not going to lose you again. Xander heard her sigh in contentment as she drew back slightly. "Now how about that tea you promised me?"
"As long as you keep your end of the deal." Xander grinned at her, his eyes locking onto her lips. He suddenly had a new reason to stare as she wet those full lips with her tongue. He just knew that his eyes were now darkened with desire. "You did promise to tell me how I came to be a resident at Chez Summers."
Buffy lips turned upwards into an almost feral grin. "Well, if that's what you want." Buffy gently intertwined her fingers with Xander's and turned to head towards the kitchen. She craned her head around and looked at Xander with a sexy gleam in her eyes. "I half-expected you to hold me to a different promise, maybe one with a few less clothes involved." As Xander sputtered and coughed, her grin grew wider and her eyes twinkled with a new light. "Looks like I'm going to have to retrain you."
Xander squeezed her hand and rubbed his thumb over the top of her hand. "Umm, is it too late to change the terms of my promise?"
*****
"Here." Xander turned away from the teakettle he'd just placed on the stove to face a cookie-wielding Buffy. Smiling he leaned toward her with an open mouth, waiting for her feed him the yummy looking cookie he held in her hand. "I made these while you were gone, they're your favorite." She placed her free hand on his chest as she raised the cookie to his lips. He responded by wrapping an arm around her waist and drawing her closer. He bit into the cookie, and soon thereafter, Buffy could hear Xander's contented grunts of pleasure. "Good?"
"Mmmm. Wow! These ARE my favorites! Buffy, when did you become such a good cook?" Xander was looking at her with a mixture of love and awe as he chewed happily on the delicious cookie.
Buffy gave Xander another full-teeth smile. "I'm so happy you like them. And I never had a reason to learn how to cook before I met you." She saw that a bit of chocolate was smeared at the corner of his mouth, and decided not to fight the urge. "There was a lot of things that were missing in my life before I met you Xander. Things that would still be missing if I'd picked ANYONE else but you." Leaning up she pressed her tongue to the corner of his mouth and began to lick up the smeared chocolate. "Mmmm. Tastes even better when it's on you." Buffy's grin grew as she licked her lips, wetting them once again. "Of course, I already knew that." Buffy took the opportunity to cop a quick feel and ran her hand down his chest, before turning around to take a seat at the dining room table.
"C'mon Xander, have a seat, and I'll tell you why you're living here." Xander turned down the eye on the stove and walked over to the dining table. But, he didn't take a seat. He moved behind where Buffy was sitting and began to rub her shoulders, kneading her muscles lovingly. "Ooh, Xander. You know just what a girl needs. Keep this up and I'll love you forever."
Xander paused his ministrations for a moment and leaned down to press his lips just behind her ear. "Buffy, there's nothing on Earth that could keep me from loving you." Buffy turned her head just enough to press her lips against Xander's briefly. "How about I massage, and you talk?"
Buffy stole another kiss before turning her head back around to face forward. "Well, like I said, you've been living here for about six months..."
*****
SIX MONTHS AGO
Willow was standing with her back to her locker waiting for Oz to show up for class. The halls were congested with talking people. Some were at their lockers, while others just congregated in the middle of the hall, forcing traffic to go around. In the time it took to blink, Willow heard her name called by two different people. To her left, moving toward her with his characteristic grace and nonchalance was her beloved boyfriend Oz. And to her right, moving towards her through the thickest congestion of students was Buffy. It took all of two seconds before Willow heard a grunt of frustration and the crowds started to part like the Red Sea. Some were fortunate enough to clear out of the path of the Slayer of their own free will. A few were lucky enough to only be roughly shoved aside. The unfortunate however, got a very personal introduction with the lockers on either side of the hall.
Willow looked back to her left to see Oz standing right next to her with a smirk on his face. Nodding towards the bodies flying across the hallway, Oz couldn't resist making a comment. "Well, that's certainly one way to get your way through the morning crowds. Not your usual, or even generally accepted way, but one way to do it."
Willow grinned at her boyfriend and pecked him lovingly on the lips. She turned back about to look at Buffy, and for the first time saw the look the Slayer had on her face. "I wonder what's gotten Buffy all worked up? Usually, around this time of the morning, she's all smiles."
Oz however, saw what wasn't plainly visible to everyone else. And with this insight, he had a possible answer to a question that many of the students were asking themselves this morning... 'Why me?'. "I'll give you one guess as to what's got her upset. Here's a hint, look at her hands."
Willow looked at Buffy's hands in confusion. What's wrong with her hands? They look fine to me. Everything seems in place, her nails are perfect, and the pale pink nailpolish that Xander loves is in mint condition. So what could possibly be wrong? Willow was about to turn around and ask her boyfriend what on earth he meant when she gasped in surprise. Buffy's hand... was empty. She turned back around to face her boyfriend with worry in her eyes. "Xander. She's not holding Xander's hand." Letting her emotions run free, as she always tended to do, Willow began to get frantic. "I don't even see him around... Oz, Xander ALWAYS walks Buffy to school! Even if he's got the flu, he walks her to class, if only to go right back to bed. Something's wrong!" As Willow turned around to wait for Buffy, Oz wrapped his arms around her waist, offering her comfort.
As Buffy got closer, both Willow and Oz could see the fear and worry in her eyes. After going through the mass of students like a Pro lineman, Buffy reached her friends. Once in the comfort of their presence, her whole demeanor changed. Her shoulders slumped, and she leaned against the row of lockers like it was the only thing holding her up. Wrapping her arms around her stomach, Buffy choked out an anguished query to the Wiccan and the werewolf. "Guys, have you seen Xander?"
A tear rolled down Willow's face as her fears slowly came true. "You mean he isn't with you? I mean, of course he isn't, cause then you wouldn't have asked us." Buffy managed a small smile at her friend. "So, he didn't walk you to school this morning? Xander loves that morning time with you, he loves being the first thing you see in the morning. I mean, Xander would have to be dead or dying to miss..." As soon as the words left her mouth, Willow wished she could grab them out of the air and stuff them back in. "Oops."
The pain and anguish on Buffy's face was plain for all to see. "Don't you think I haven't thought of that! Don't you think I came here hoping Xander was mad at me, or even just plain old forgot about me?" Buffy's tone was harsh and her voice was strained. "I'm sorry Willow. It's just that I was hoping he was here, and now that I know he isn't..." Buffy looked wistful as she pictured her great love in her mind's eye. "He's just a part of me that I can't bear to lose."
Willow nodded, looking at Oz with total love and adoration, letting him know that she felt like that about him. "Umm... well you know how Xander can be. Maybe he just didn't wake up... I meant wake up in time to walk you here. Umm..."
Oz kissed her on the top of her head. "I think what my beautiful girlfriend here is trying to say, is that maybe we should wait until first period is over before we jump to any false conclusions. That sound ok to you girls?" Buffy and Willow both glumly nodded at him, plainly not feeling as optimistic as he did.
*****
Buffy's patience outlasted the tardy bell by about five seconds. As the last of the straggling students filed into the classroom, Buffy began to look around frantically for her lover. The last student entered the classroom, shutting the door behind him, and still no Xander. Buffy turned towards Willow, who was sitting right next to her, and motioned to the empty seat behind her with an expression Willow was unaccustomed to seeing on the Slayer's face... fear. Knowing in the pit of her stomach that something had happened to Xander, Buffy stood up out of her chair and slung her backpack over her shoulders.
Just as she was walking out of the back door, the old battle-axe of a history teacher walked in. Placing her hands on her hips, her wrinkled face shifted into an ugly and menacing frown. "Just WHERE do you think YOU are going Ms. Summers? Or did it slip your mind that you were supposed to cut class today with your slacker boyfriend?"
Buffy's hand froze on the doorknob in utter shock and disbelief. She was willing to let the teacher's initial comments pass as just her usual old maid bitchiness, but the comment about Xander went too far! Buffy whirled about and with a fire burning in her eyes, pointed a well-manicured finger at the startled teacher. "That's STRIKE ONE!" Turning about, Buffy stormed out of the room, leaving the whole class praying they weren't strike three.
*****
Giles was busy sorting and thumbing through his copious volumes of books for impending prophecies Buffy would have to face, when he heard the sound of angry footsteps nearing the library. No sooner than he could turn around, he was face to face with a very determined Slayer, the library doors swinging back and forth behind her like some old Western saloon. "W- why he- hello Buffy. Shouldn't you be in class right now?"
Shaking her head slowly, her blond locks swaying around her face Buffy looked up with reddened and bloodshot eyes and said only two words. "Giles, keys!"
Giles only looked at Buffy in confusion. "Keys? What the devil do you need keys for?"
Buffy grunted in exasperation at her Watcher for not understanding. Holding up her hand impatiently, with her palm open in acceptance, Buffy repeated her order, only more verbosely. "Giles, give me your car keys. It's an emergency! I need to get to Xander!"
Giles looked up at Buffy from his books with concern. Although Xander was almost like a son to him, he could sometimes strain the Watcher's nerves to the breaking point. Giles decided to approach Buffy's anxiety with caution, realizing that when it came to Xander, Buffy was often less than rational. "Buffy are you sure that it's truly an emergency, and not just Xander being Xander?"
For the second time that day, Buffy's anger flashed, burning hotly in her beautiful green eyes. "Giles! I DON'T know. In fact, the only basis I have for this feeling is totally based on my gut feeling. Either you give me your keys, or get off your pompous British ass and go with me!"
Giles looked at Buffy, watched the fire in her eyes burn out, and saw it replaced by the fear and despair that she was hiding just under the surface. Standing up from his books, Giles enfolded Buffy in a fatherly embrace and murmured against the top of her head. "Let's go find Xander, Buffy."
*****
Buffy was about to burst at the seams as Giles's beat up old Citroen crawled down the street towards Xander's house. "My God Giles, how about entering the second half of the century, where cars can actually get you someplace, before it's too late?" Having said this Buffy crossed her arms over her chest, and looked forlornly out the passenger window.
Giles sighed at Buffy's comment, but decided to let it pass considering her state of mind. "Buffy, it will do us absolutely no good to arrive quickly if we are unable to arrive safely." Giles could only grin as he heard Buffy mutter something about stuffy old Brits under her breath.
After what seemed to Buffy like forever, they finally pulled up to the curb in front of Xander's house. Buffy almost ripped the old door off of its hinges and ran as fast as he could to the front door. Buffy tried the handle, and to her immense surprise, found it unlocked. Stepping inside she saw that there were no lights on, and there didn't seem to be anything else turned on for that matter. Turning towards Giles, she looked at him with true worry. "Giles, this is totally odd. Usually at the very least, you can find Xander's dad passed out drunk in front of the TV. But I don't even hear a TV running. I'm really scared Giles."
Taking off his glasses, Giles took a moment to think as he cleaned them with his handkerchief. After surveying the situation, Giles began to walk towards the den. "Buffy, I'll check around down here, perhaps it would be best if you searched the upstairs."
"Gotcha, seeing that I'm the girlfriend, and I've been up there a few times." At Giles's incredulous look, Buffy began to blush furiously. "Umm, I mean... Of course, never in the sense that you're thinking of." Merely raising his eyebrow in response, Buffy quickly rushed up the stairs, her face a deep shade of crimson.
Buffy walked the familiar path to Xander's room. Upon reaching the door, she softly ran her palm over the surface of the door, visions of visits and pleasures past flashing through her mind. Slowly she opened the door, half hoping to see Xander asleep on the bed. Unfortunately, all she saw was the usual scene of an unmade bed. Not seeing Xander anywhere in her sight, she moved to his closet, searching more out of a process of elimination than actual hope of finding him there.
After searching his closet for any sign of him and not finding any, Buffy was about to leave Xander's room, deciding that there was nothing here to help her find her true love. Just as she was about to close the door, she felt a tingling at the back of her neck. A tingling that made her feel like there was something she missed. Uh-oh! My Spidey-sense is tingling! Turning back around, Buffy took the room in, slowly surveying it.
Running her fingers through her silky hair in frustration, Buffy was about to shrug off her feeling as nothing, when she saw something. Something she had looked over, either not seeing it, or just shaking it off as unimportant. But as she looked at it longer and more closely, she saw that the speckles of red on the wall wasn't merely paint like she had thought, it was blood. And as she looked around the room, she saw that there was a LOT of those red speckles on the walls. Clutching her stomach almost like she was in pain, Buffy looked on the floor next to the bed, and saw something that she would swear in the future shaved years off of her life. Lying next to the bed, on the far side away from the door, was a pale and blood-covered hand.
Screaming in terror, Buffy collapsed to her knees, her eyes riveted on the sight before her. "Giles! Giles! Get up here, now!"
*****
Buffy crawled on her hands and knees towards the hand that was extended just past the edge of the bed, praying that things weren't as bad as they looked. Just before she got to the hand, her eyes were drawn to what was lying just beyond the grasp of those extended fingers. Buffy felt tears spring to her eyes as she looked at the blood covered phone, bloody fingerprints seeming to cover all of the keys needed to dial her number, all but the last one. Oh Xander. Please don't be as hurt as I think you are. Please God, don't be that hurt! But, Buffy's thoughts were all for naught as she rounded the corner of the bed, seeing the most horrible sight she had ever seen in all her years of Slaying. In fact, it was all she could do to keep from throwing up. It wasn't until she heard the sound of footsteps and a sharp intake of air from Giles, who was now standing behind her, before she could even begin to move again. Tears were streaking down her face as she began to take in all of what she saw in front of her.
Xander's extended hand was facing palm up, and was covered with blood. Small cuts and welts criss-crossed the palms of his hands, wound that could only be caused by holding the palms outward in a defensive posture to ward off blows. As she moved her eyes upward from his hand, Buffy gasped as she saw the welts and bruises covering his arms. In a few places, Buffy could even see nasty looking finger shaped bruises. Buffy paused long enough in her examination of Xander, to speak to Giles in a shaky and anguished voice. "Giles, go call an ambulance! Get them here quick!" A thought hitting her, Buffy reached down and gently placed her fingers around Xander's wrist, checking for his pulse. She found one, but it was slow and faint. Turning to yell downstairs to Giles, her mouth dropped open when she realized that he was still there. "That's TWO! Giles, he doesn't exactly have what you'd call a steady pulse, so how about you get your British ass downstairs and call 911!"
Turning back to Xander, she restarted her visual examination at his feet, wishing she could find the bastard who did this to her lover. Unfortunately, the pajama bottoms he had on kept her from seeing any injures he might have sustained to his legs. What she could see however, was that one, if not both, of Xander's legs were bent at unnatural angles. On closer inspection, she saw that one leg of Xander's pajamas was torn because of a compound fracture. Oh Xander... Who on earth could have done something like this to you? Her vision very blurred because of the tears flowing down her face, Buffy wearily continued to look him over. Her eyes were drawn to his bare chest, the chest that for more nights than she could count, had served as a safe and warm pillow for her head. Now, it was covered in angry looking welts and small cuts. Upon seeing his ribs, Buffy had to place a hand on the blood soaked floor to steady her shaking body. There were hardly any areas of his ribs that weren't covered in bruises, deep dark bruises, which could only signify severely broken ribs.
After seeing the rest of his body, Buffy wasn't so sure that she wanted to see the condition of Xander's face. However, ever if she wanted to at that moment, Buffy couldn't see his face because of the hair that was matted to his forehead. Very gently, Buffy moved as much of the blood caked hair out of her way as she could. As she did, she finally found the source of all of the blood pooled about him. Right below Xander's hairline was a nasty looking gash running from his temple to his eyebrow. Without a second thought, Buffy tore the sleeves off of her blouse so she could staunch the flow of blood coming from the gash. She felt her emotional control slipping as she saw the extent of the damage Xander's attacker had done to the face she loved to stare at. Both of his eyes were black and swollen completely shut. As she looked at his bloody and broken nose, she traced her small fingers over his bruised cheeks, careful to avoid touching his broken jaw. Leaning forward, she placed a loving kiss softly on his lips, whispering an 'I love you' against them.
Just as she was pulling away, she heard the paramedics running up the stairs. Tracing her fingers over his spilt lips, she stood up to make room for them. She stood in the corner of the room and watched them as they performed their own examination. That is until, one of the paramedics turned around and noticed her standing there and gave an order for someone to get her out of there. As one of the burly men dragged her from Xander's room, all she could wonder is why she wasn't struggling against the man taking her away from Xander. She really didn't come back to her senses until she felt a pair of warm masculine arms folding her into an embrace. She was about half a heartbeat away from pummeling the bastard who presumed he could touch her when she realized that it was Giles's arms that were offering her comfort.
She stayed in his embrace until she heard the paramedics hustling outside with Xander's inert form strapped to a stretcher. Completely unwilling to let them go without her, she pulled away from Giles and rushed after them, only stopping when the same hulking man grabbed her by the shoulders and asked her just where the hell she thought she was going. The anger in her eyes returned as she glared up at the towering hulk. "I KNOW exactly where I'm going! I'm getting on that ambulance with my boyfriend and I'm riding with him to the hospital!"
The big bruiser chuckled as he leaned over and got in Buffy's face. "I don't think so little girl. There's no way in hell I'm letting you on that ambulance, it's the rules. So why don't you walk your cute little butt over to your car and follow us to the hospital?"
Giles walked outside just in time to see Buffy give the paramedic a look of anger that caused all but the dumbest of vampires to flee in terror. He was about to intercede on the paramedic's behalf when Buffy sprung into action. "That's STRIKE THREE!" She grabbed his wrist and twisted it around, nearly snapping the bone in the process. The bruiser cried out in pain as he collapsed to the pavement. Buffy looked into his eyes as she applied a bit more pressure to his wrist. "Do I have your attention now, Cro-Magnon man? Listen good, because if you don't I'll snap your girlie man wrist like a twig! Are you reading me here?" She waited a few seconds for him to respond in the positive before continuing. "Now, I'm going to let go of your wrist, and you're going to make room for me to sit beside the love of my life, understand?" He nodded, and she let go of his wrist, waiting for him to make room for her. Giving the burly man a tight smile as she climbed into the ambulance, she called back to Giles for him to follow them to the hospital. She placed her hands at Xander's side as the doors were closed and the ambulance took off for the hospital.