Something was up. Oz wasn't sure what it was, but it was something. He had been dating Willow for only a few weeks now, but he thought he had pinned down her moods pretty well in that time. Right now, Willow was uncomfortable and nervous. She'd been that way most of the night. So had Xander. Which brought only one possible thing to Oz's mind. Something's up.

Looking at Willow sitting in the passenger seat next to him, Oz couldn't help but feel bad for her. He'd known about her feelings for Xander even before they had really started going out. He thought that, given time, she could have those kinds of feelings for him, and he still believed that. The only one that could ruin it was Xander, and by the way they were acting, he probably had. This afternoon, when I came to pick Willow up. Xander had been there and he had been acting weird. Even for Xander. Willow too seemed flustered. And that had been the scene all night at the Bronze. Both her and Xander had acted distracted throughout the entire night, barely looking at each other.

"How'd you like the concert?" Willow asked softly, disturbing Oz's train of thought.

"I liked it." Oz commented seriously, taking his eyes off the road briefly to smile at Willow. "I think everyone had a good time."

Willow cast a glance toward the back of the van, where Xander had been sitting for the entire drive. "Yeah," she responded softly, and returned to gazing out the window.

"I was thinking," Oz said before Willow could zone out again. "After we drop Xander off, we could go for a drive or something. Talk."

In the light from the dashboard, Oz could see his girlfriend's eyes widen slightly. "Uh, I don't think so." She said awkwardly, looking down at her lap. "Actually, I was hoping you could drop me off first. I'm.not feeling to well all of a sudden."

Oz was silent for a moment, his eyes on the road. "If that's what you want," he said in his usually calm voice.

Ok, she obviously doesn't want to talk about what's bothering her right now, Oz thought as he came to Willow's street. "You want me to walk you in?" he asked. Usually he would just do it and not ask, but tonight was.different.

Willow obviously thought so too. "No, it's okay," she softly, attempting a smile. "I'll be fine." Her smile faded as she looked back at Xander. "Night Xander."

"N-night, Will." Xander's voice answered from the back of the van.

Oz caught Willow's eyes for a moment and held them. "I'll call you tomorrow, okay?" Willow nodded and gave him a genuine smile before opening the door and hopping out. Oz watched as she moved quickly up her walkway and pause only long enough to get her keys out. She opened her front door, gave Oz a small wave, and then closed it behind her. Satisfied that nothing would try to eat Willow between now and the morning, Oz's started down the street again, heading to Xander's house.

Silence ruled as the van made its way toward Xander's house. Oz looked in the rearview mirror a few times to see Xander watching him. The van didn't need the mirror since the windows in the back were blocked off. Devon liked having it up so he could check his hair on the way to gigs. Now, instead of reflecting the conceited lead singer of the Dingo's hair, it showed just how uncomfortable Xander was. I should say something to him, Oz decided as he pulled up to Xander's home. "So," the sometime werewolf said as Xander came to the front of the van. "Do you know what was up with Willow tonight?"

Xander looked like a deer caught in the headlights of a Buick. "What?" the dark-haired boy stammered. "Why would I know? I don't know! Have no idea, really!"

Oz watched as Xander maneuvered between the two front seats, trying to get to the passenger-side door. "I just thought that she might have said something to you. When you were at her house earlier."

Xander's hand froze on the door handle. "No. Willow didn't say anything," he said softly. Without turning to look at Oz, he opened the door and jumped out of the van. "Thanks for the lift," he said before he closed the door and jogged up to his house. He went in without looking back, leaving Oz and the van behind.

Turning the van back toward his own home, Oz couldn't help a small twinge of nervousness that popped into his head. Would Willow leave me if she thought that Xander was interested in her? Oz wondered as he drove thorough the darkness of Sunnydale. He was sure that the Willow he had first met would, but would the Willow he knew now? "Let her be my Willow," he asked the silence.

The silence, as it is want to do, stayed silent.





.___.___.





"How do you think they're doing?"

Giles voice caused Sidney to jump slightly in surprise, his ears grown accustom to the silence that had filled the library for the past two hours. "Well, I'm sure they're fine." The former Watcher told his friend, his hushed tones sounding impossibly loud to his ears. "I have every confidence in you're Slayer, and I know that Eddie can handle himself..."

Giles noticed his friend's voice trail off. "What's the matter?" he asked slightly worried.

"Oh, it's nothing," Sidney replied, trying to reassure his nervous companion. "Just an overactive imagination of an old man."

Giles couldn't help but grin. "Well, that's always been a problem for you, even when you were young. Remember what you told Mr. Tinny during 3rd year finals?"

Sidney thought for a moment then grinned himself. "Well it wasn't a complete lie."

The Watcher snorted. "You're term paper was stolen by KGB agents, who had mistaken it for a Defense Ministry report?"

Sidney did his best to look offended. "Well it was stolen!"

"You left it on a bench in Trafalgar Square!" Giles said, losing a battle not to burst into laughter. "That is not stolen!"

"Now that is a matter of opinion," Sidney said, raising his chin in defiance. "I went back and it was gone. In my opinion, that means it was stolen." Giles raised an eyebrow at his friend. "Alright, it did take me three days to remember where I had left it, but still."

Both men stared at each other and laughed. "What I find quite disturbing is that Mr. Tinny gave you an extension based on that story," Giles said through his laughter.

Sidney gave the Watcher a broad grin. "That was because I threatened to tell the Head Master that he and Mrs. Hurley spent their free periods shagging on his desk."

The look on Giles face was a cross between shock and mirth. "They were?"

"Oh yes," the Reanimator said in all seriousness. "I walked in on the two of them one evening, screwing each other rotten." A thoughtful look crossed Sidney's face as he remembered. "I remember thinking that Mrs. Hurley had a magnificent arse. It's really no wonder that the Head Master had her in his office everyday for tea."

Feeling slightly unsteady, Giles took a seat and stared at his friend in wonder. "Mrs. Hurley was having an affair with both the Head Master and Mr. Tinny?" Not waiting for any confirmation, the Watcher removed his glasses and shook his head slowly. "I had quite the crush on Mrs. Hurley during my first semester at school."

"You and every other young man in at school," Sidney replied with a smile. "Well, except for Jerrold and Richard.I think they liked Mr. Tinny better." Both men broke down in laughter again as they thought of their school day chums. As their laughter faded, they sat across from each other, smiling over the table.

"Up until recently, I've avoided thinking about.well my past as a whole," Giles said after a moment of silence. "I thought it best, all things considered, to leave the past alone. I've come to the conclusion that the past refuses to be ignored, and the harder one tries to ignore it, the more forcefully the past will intrude on the present."

Sidney watched the conflicting emotions play across his friend's face. Other's that didn't know Giles as well as he did, might not notice them, but Sidney did. "Rupert, I'm sorry if my coming here has caused you distress," the former Watcher candidate said softly. "I never meant to disrupt your life in any way. I know.some of what you must be feeling right now. Memories long hoped forgotten coming to the surface." Looking down at his hands, Sidney said almost to himself, "People you've.tried you're damnedest to forget as well."

Giles heard him none the less. "Yes, there are people I've tried to forget, but you were never one of them, Sidney." Rising from his chair, the Watcher moved around the table and kneeled beside his friend. "I never tried to forget you," he said gently.

Sidney looked startled and then smiled. "I was referring to myself, Rui." Looking down at his hands, the Reanimator almost blushed. "I did my best to forget you, Rupert." At his friend's shocked expression, Sidney smiled sadly. "I met two wonderful people at Oxford. The first was you. The second was Mary. And try as I might, I couldn't think of you, without eventually coming to Mary." The older man's eyes seemed to go out of focus, filling with equal parts grief and anger. "I do whatever I can to not think of Mary."

Giles knelled there in stunned silence. I never thought about how difficult our reunion would be for him. "I'm.sorry, Sidney," the Watcher said after a long moment. "When I called you, I was worried that our meeting after all these years would.remind me of the demons and specters that I had hoped I had left behind me. I did not think that you would have your own.difficulties." Giles finally stopped, realizing he was beginning to ramble.

Sidney laughed softly. "I'm glad to see some things haven't changed. Your mouth never could keep up with your mind, Rupert."

The sadness hadn't totally left the smile on Sidney's face, but Giles was warmed by the genuine amusement he saw in the other man's eyes. "Yes, well then why did I get a higher grade in Public Speech, then you?"

Now the smile Sidney gave Giles was one of true humor. "Rebecca Meier!" the Reanimator declared with a laugh. "She had the cutest habit of climbing through my bedroom window at night. When she did, practicing a speech on Byron's Legacy wasn't the foremost thing on my mind."

The image of Rebecca Meier came to into Giles head without warning. Long legs, smooth skin, dark hair. "I've never hated another human being more, then how I hate you at this moment, Sid."

Both men laughed out loud, once again filling the quite library with good cheer. "You could have had her you know," Sidney said, smirking at his friend's shocked expression. "She liked you from that time she saw you sleeping in your underwear on the sofa."

"She did not see me sleeping in my underwear!" Giles shouted indignity.

"When the air conditioner broke down during that heat wave, second year?" Sidney gave his friend an amused look. "She was leaving my room and saw you sleeping on the sofa, in your underwear, with the window open."

Giles opened his mouth to deny that any such event had taken place, then closed it as he remembered. A deep blush crept its way up from beneath his collar. "I.How." stuttering a dozen questions and accusations, Giles finally stopped and caught his breath. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Sidney gave him confused look, a slight grin on his lips. "What? That she saw you in your underwear or that she liked you because of it?"

"Oh shut up!" Giles said, getting up off the ground and brushing off his legs. "Let's get back to work shall we?"

Sidney smiled as Giles walked around the table and took back his seat across from him. Both men returned their eyes to their books, occasionally sharing a smile.



.___.___.



When Buffy saw Eddie fall out of the truck, she immediately ran towards him. She saw him clutching something in his hands, and screaming at the top of his lungs. At first Buffy had thought that he was shot, due to the gunfire she had heard in the speeding truck. When she saw the black handle of a knife attached to the top of Eddie's hand, she realized what had happened. "Eddie!" she cried as she finally reached him.

Turning to look at her, Buffy was stopped cold by Eddie's face. His face was a bitter mask of rage. His lips were pulled back in a snarl, exposing his teeth. Flushed and breathing hard, his nostrils seemed to open and close slightly with each breath. What truly stopped Buffy in her tracks were Eddie's eyes. Instead of the green they she had seen before, the eyes that stared at Buffy were as black as tar. For a moment, the Slayer thought she saw a crackle of blue electricity cross through them.

"Eddie?" she asked cautiously, keeping her distance from the Necromancer. "Eddie, it's Buffy."

Turning to give one last look in the direction the truck had sped off in, the male Slayer swore viciously and screamed again. "I know who you are!" he snapped when he turned back to Buffy, his eyes now back to normal, but no less angry. "I was stabbed in the hand, not shot in the head."

Taking a step toward him, Buffy regarded him carefully. "You okay?" The Slayer didn't see anything other then plain anger on her companion's face

"Yeah, just peachy," Eddie answered with a look that was more annoyed then angry. "Except for this pesky knife through my hand, I'd call this my best night ever!" Moving under a streetlight, Eddie inspected his wounded hand.

The woman in the truck had driven the knife completely through Eddie's hand, until the hilt of the handle pressed against the flesh. The blade had been long enough to not only go through the hand, but completely through the small metal box that it had held at the time. Even then, the tip of the knife protruded from the bottom of the box, a mixture of blood and some kind of blue substance dripping off it. In fact the hand, the box, and the handle of the knife were all covered in blood, making touching any of them rather unpleasant to Buffy. "Jesus!" Buffy breathed when she saw all this. "We should get help, take you to the hospital or something."

"And tell them what?" Eddie asked as he flexed his fingers slightly. "Sorry nurse, I was fighting with some zombies in an ally, and the bitch who was controlling them stabbed me in the hand for trying to save some guy she had snatched?" Looking up from his hand at Buffy, some of the anger left his face. "Look, I'm sorry if I'm acting like a dick, but I got a knife stuck through my hand. We don't need any help. I just need you to grab hold of the box for a second while get the knife out."

Buffy gave Eddie another look, now only seeing impatience and a twinge of pain in his eyes. Grabbing a hold of the box, she was careful not to cut herself on the tip of the knife that stuck out of the bottom. "Got it," Buffy informed the male Slayer as she tightened her fingers around the box.

Taking a breath, Eddie took the handle of the knife in his left hand, spread the fingers of his right hand straight and pulled. Eddie remained silent as the knife came out on the first pull. Pulling his hand away from the box, he calmly inspected his hand, tightening the fingers into a fist and then relaxing them. "No nerve damage," he muttered as he looked at the actual wound on his hand. "Clean cut." Looking up at Buffy, the boy smiled painfully. "Hurts like a sonofabitch, though."

"So you're going to be okay?" Buffy asked as she looked at his hand. Blood seeped from the wound on both the top and the palm of the hand. "Should probably get it cleaned up right way."

Eddie didn't say anything as he tried to stop the blood from staining his shirt. "Bloody hell," he swore, giving up the fight and tearing the sleeve of the shirt. "You know, I'm going to bury that knife in that bitch's skull when I get a hold of her." His tone was almost conversational as he tied the cloth around his hand. "And it's not even because she stabbed me in the hand with her cheap-ass knife. Nope! It's because now my fucking head hurts from when SHE THREW ME OUT OF THE FUCKING TRUCK!"

Buffy again took a step back from the Necromancer, surprised by the sudden burst of anger. "Right.about this?" she asked tiredly, waving the bloody metal box in front of Eddie. "What is it?"

Eddie gave the box an irate look. "One way to find out is to open it and look," he answered, finished tying the fabric around his hand. When Buffy simply looked at the box skeptically, Eddie snorted and grabbed the box. Fiddling with the latch with his wounded hand, the lid finally opened and both Slayers peered at the contents with confused expressions. "She stabbed me over this?"

Looking in the box, Buffy was surprised to only four asthma inhalers filled with some kind of blue liquid. The knife had broken through one of the inhalers, spilling the blue liquid over the black foam that held the inhalers. "What is this stuff?"

Pressing a finger against the foam in the box, Eddie's finger came away covered in the liquid. He brought it to his nose and sniffed it. Again the confused look came to his face. Finally, he stuck the finger in his mouth and tasted the liquid.

"What the hell do you think your doing?" Buffy shouted, slapping his hand away from his mouth. "For all you know that could be poison! Or some weird magic stuff that'll turn you into a gerbil!"

"First off, OW!" Eddie shook his wounded hand. "Watch the Slayer- strength when slapping the hand! Jeez!" When Buffy looked embarrassed enough, he continued. "And it's some kind of drug. Part meth, part.something else." Giving the inhalers another look, he frowned. "Great. More drugs. There aren't enough things crawling around this burg that will kill you, let's go throw new and funky drugs into the mix!"

Buffy looked at the vials of blue liquid again. Drugs? Jeez, now that 'Gang on PCP' story doesn't look so insane. "You think there's more?"

"There's always more." Eddie closed his eyes and sighed. "Always. The zombies are probably working for a cartel that has their eyes on Sunnydale." Turning to walk back down the ally, Eddie seemed to grow tired in an instant. "Probably a middle ground for stuff coming in from Mexico and headed for distribution in LA and San Francisco."

Buffy watched with concern as the male Slayer stopped walking and sat down beside a zombie, leaning back against the wall. "You sound like you've had to worry about this type of stuff before," she said as she walked after him, crouching down to look at him.

"Oh yeah. Seems me and Sid can't help but run up against one drug cartel or another." Again he closed his eyes and sighed. "Colombian, Russian, Mexican, Brazilian, South African, Japanese, Chinese.we've banged heads with them more times then either of care to remember. One of the few reasons I was looking forward to coming to Sunnydale is because I thought I wouldn't bump into gangsters. Vamps, zombies, ghouls, werewolves, big jelly-looking things with eyes.yeah, those I expected. Not cartels."

Buffy looked down at the seemingly innocent looking metal box in her hand. "You think it's going to be a problem?"

Eddie nodded tiredly. "Yeah, it is. But we'll deal with it." Smiling slightly, the Necromancer raised an eyebrow at Buffy. "You surprised me a bit tonight. You did really well. I know fighting zombies is a lot different then fighting vamps, but you kicked some ass tonight. And when truck-lady turned everything to shit, you kept your head."

"Well, I have done this sort of thing before," Buffy said, smiling despite the double-edged compliment. "And I gotta say, you surprised me too. More on the side of 'I can't believe he's hanging out of truck' sort of surprise, but still the good kind."

"Yeah, well lets not break an arm slapping ourselves on the back," Eddie said with a quite laugh. "Don't want to give each other a big head, do we." Grinning, the Necromancer looked around again. "What happened to our not so friendly vamp? You dust him?"

Looking around the ally, Buffy wasn't surprised to find Angel had disappeared. "He took of when things got rough. He does that sort of thing a lot." Glancing at the zombie at her feet, the Slayer sighed. "What should we do with the Backstreet Boys over here?"

Eddie glanced around the ally as well, taking in the scattered remains of the zombies. Some lay still, while others still moved, searching for their prey or food, or in this case, both. "Here," the Necromancer said, tossing Buffy his car keys. "Go to the car. In the back, where I keep the weapons, are two big orange containers filled with gasoline. Grab'em and come back here."

"What are you going to do?" Buffy replied, looking down at the keys in her hand.

"I'm going to drag our friends here into a neat little pile. Easier to burn that way. I'm also going to look for my gun." Pulling himself up off the ground, Eddie looked toward the entrance of the laneway. "I think it might be around here somewhere, and I'd rather not have the cops, or worse, some kid find it."

Buffy watched as Eddie grabbed a hold of the zombie in front of him and started to drag it down the ally. Shrugging, she turned and started toward to jog out of the ally and towards Eddie's car.

.___.___.





As soon as Eddie heard Buffy's footfalls fade, he dropped the zombie he had been dragging. Taking a good look at it's head and face, Eddie left it alone and went to the next closest. "Come on ya bastards," he muttered as he slapped away a hand that tried to grab him. "One of you has to be in good enough condition."

The male Slayer found a zombie that suited his needs. It gurgled helplessly at him as Eddie kneeled down beside it. "Shhh."the Necromancer said soothingly, calming the zombie down until it stared up dumbly at him. "Shhh. It's okay. It'll be over quickly, I promise." Tracing the bloody fingers of his wounded hand over the zombie's face, Eddie whispered softly. "I'm.sorry. You just have something I need. Nothing personal." Eddie thought that the zombie's face, which was that of a boy not much older then him, looked afraid.

Ignoring the look, Eddie calmed himself, letting his fingers roam over the cold, dry flesh of the face. When he was ready, the Necromancer drove two fingers into the zombie's eyes, pushing back until they slipped all the way into it's brain and hooking them in with a curl of his fingers.

The zombie and Eddie both went rigid as Eddie began to drain the magic that had reanimated the corpse. Along with the magic, came the short- term memory of the zombie. The memories played a like a slide show in Eddie's mind. Snapshots of a cave and a man with a painted face. Snippets of what looked like some kind of warehouse or processing plant. The face of the woman from the truck. The face of the vampire. Parts of the fight. All of these flew by at the speed of thought, and Eddie did his best to catch a few, like the face of the woman, the warehouse and the man with the painted face.

When he had drained the last of the magic from the zombie, Eddie relaxed with a exhaling of air he hadn't realized he'd been holding. Pulling his fingers out of the now completely dead zombie, the male Slayer rose of the ground. Wiping his fingers on his ruined shirt, he took another breath before resuming to drag the zombies into a pile.

A minute or two after he was done, Buffy returned with the containers of gasoline. "Any problems?" he asked as he leaned against a wall and toyed with an unlit cigarette.

"Nope," Buffy replied as she stopped in front of the pile of zombies. "Car's where you left it, turned off alarm without incident, key worked.no problems at all. You?"

"Not a one. Let's get this over with." Taking one of the canisters, Eddie began to douse the zombies with gasoline. Buffy joined him after a moment and they had thoroughly soaked the corpses in a matter of minutes. Motioning for Buffy to stand back, Eddie stared at the zombies for a few seconds and then turned and started to walk away from them. Before Buffy could ask what was up, smoke started to rise from the bodies.

Eddie couldn't help but smile as Buffy watched as flames engulfed the corpses, quickly burning with the added gasoline. "Wow," the Slayer said as she watched the flames rise and the zombies blacken. "That's some neat trick. You must be fun at parties."

Putting the cigarette in his mouth, a single flame appeared in the palm of Eddie's hand. Leaning toward it, he lit the cigarette with a few drags. "It has its uses," he answered with a smile, blowing the flame out. "Come on. I'll give you a lift home."

As Eddie again started down the ally, Buffy gave one last look to the zombies, or more specifically, what was left of them. The fire was dying down, leaving nothing more then a few small black lumps, a lot of black smoke, and a lot more ash.

Then Buffy started after Eddie, reeking of dead things and smoke.

.___.___.





The drive to Buffy's house was uneventful and quiet. Nothing jumped out of the darkness at them, and no big-rig trucks tried to run them off the road. The conversation was nonexistent, as both Slayers road in silence. The only thing worth commenting on was that Eddie's wounded hand kept slipping off the gearshift and steering wheel. "You want to come in and clean that up?" Buffy asked as the Range Rover pulled up in front of her house. "I've got first-aid stuff coming out the rafters."

Eddie looked over at the house for a moment, noticing the darkened windows. "It's okay," he said, looking down at his hand, wincing slightly in disgust at the dried blood and dirty rag. "I can talk care of it when I get to Mr. Giles place, got my own stuff there. Plus, I don't want to wake your folks."

Buffy shrugged and waved away Eddie's concern. "My dad lives in LA and my mom's outta town for a couple days, so no one to wake up." Taking off her seat belt, Buffy opened the door and hopped out. "I'll get to use the front door for once, come on!"

Eddie gave another look to his hand and then at the mess he was making of the car. He'd smeared blood over the dash, the steering wheel, and the gearshift. Sighing, he took his seat belt off and jumped out of the car as well. Locking and setting the alarm, the male Slayer jogged up the walkway to catch up to Buffy. "You sure this is okay?" he asked as she fumbled with her keys. "I mean, I don't want to put you out or anything. You probably want to just go to sleep."

Grinning in triumph as she found the key to the front door and opened it, Buffy looked at Eddie. "It's fine, you're not putting me out, and I do want to go to sleep but I'd like to know you're going to have your hand in the morning." Walking into her house, Buffy motioned for Eddie to follow her. "So come in already!"

Taking a cautious look inside the house, Eddie stepped inside and closed the door behind him. Following Buffy, he took in his surroundings in a glance. Sofa, coffee table, TV, wall unit.the basic suburban house. "I like your house," Eddie called into the kitchen where Buffy had gone. "Really.normal looking."

"What'd you expect?" Buffy laughed from the kitchen. "You want something to drink? Water, soda, juice.and a weird green thing my mom made is what's on tap."

"Water's fine." Making sure to keep his bloody hand away from anything, Eddie walked around the living room. "I don't know what I expected. Weapons, big, dusty books on demons.maybe a rocket launcher or two."

Coming out of the kitchen with two glasses of water, the Slayer grinned. "Xander told you about that, eh?" When Eddie nodded, Buffy shrugged. "I keep what weapons I have in the house in my room, and Giles is book guy. I don't think my mother would understand why her daughter was so interested in demons and why she has so many crucifixes under her bed."

Looking over his glass, the Necromancer raised an eyebrow. "Your mother doesn't know that you're the Slayer?"

"No," Buffy said with a sigh. "Thinks I'm just a really, really rebellious daughter, with a habit of lighting schools on fire."

"Harsh," Eddie murmured with a wince. Looking down at the glass in his hand, he winced again, but for different reasons. "And I think I'm totally ruining this glass."

"Eww," Buffy said when she saw the bloody hand print Eddie had left on the glass. "I should probably show you where you can clean up. Follow me." With that Buffy and Eddie started up the stairs toward the bathroom.

Walking up the stairs, Buffy couldn't help but feel Eddie watching her. I hope it's with his normal eyes, because if I turn around and see him staring at my butt with those black eyes, I'm going to freak. Looking over her shoulder, Buffy saw that Eddie was indeed staring at her butt, but was relieved to see it was with his normal green eyes. It took Eddie a second to realize he'd been caught, but when he did, Buffy swore that he blushed. Laughing softly to herself she ran the last few steps to the top. "Bathroom is right through there," she said when Eddie reached the top. "I'll go get the bandages and peroxide."

Eddie nodded and walked into the bathroom, picking at the makeshift bandage he had on his hand. While getting the first aid supplies from out of her closet, Buffy heard a very loud, "Son of a BITCH!" from the bathroom, over the noise of running water.

Grinning despite herself, Buffy grabbed the small white box of supplies and headed to the bathroom. "You okay in." For the second time that night, Eddie had managed to stop her dead in her tracks. Buffy stared at a now bare-chested male Slayer, as he did his best to wipe up the blood that was dripping on to the sink and tiled floor. Her eyes widened at Eddie's broad back, tracing the large burn scar she had noticed earlier as it wove a long and twisted path across his flesh. Bullet scars and what appeared to be a long slash of a knife scar peppered his back and chest like a morbid tic-tac-toe game. Yet the scars all looked very old, like something an old soldier would carry with them decades after the war was over. Buffy could tell that the definition of his chest, shoulders and back came from real work and training, and not from days in the gym.

Buffy continued to stare at Eddie, until the boy saw her reflection in the mirror above the sink. "Hey," he said with a sheepish grin. "I kinda.well, I kinda bloodied up your bathroom. Didn't want to ruin any of your towels, and since this shirt is already a loss."

Buffy, noticing that her mouth was open, closed it quickly. "Yeah.uh." looking down she noticed she was holding the first aid box. "Bandages!" she said, thrusting the supplies at him. "I'll.wait somewhere.else." With that, Buffy turned on her heal and escaped from the bathroom to the relative safety of the hallway. "Nice one Slayer," she muttered as she listened to Eddie bandaging his hand and cleaning up. "What is it about mysterious, half naked guys in your house that makes you turn into a moron?" A flash back of Eddie's bare chest popped into her mind. "Yeah, that's it."

"Summers?" Eddie called from the bathroom, his voice sounding embarrassed. "You wouldn't happen to have a.um.shirt I could borrow, would ya?"

"Breathe girl," the Slayer whispered to herself. "Uh, let me check." Running to her room, Buffy began to look through all of her drawers and her closet for something that didn't scream teenage girl. She finally found a rather asexual, very plain, but apparently small white t-shirt. "God, please let this fit him." Running back into the hallway, Buffy thrust the shirt into the bathroom without looking. "Is this okay?"

Silence from the bathroom for a moment, then Buffy felt the shirt pulled out of her hand. A second later, Eddie's voice answered. "It'll do. Thanks." A moment after that, the water was turned off and Eddie came out into the hallway. "Uh, sorry about that, seems my hand wasn't quite finished bleeding yet. All cleaned up though."

A quick look into the bathroom confirmed that Eddie had indeed cleaned up. "No problem." Buffy winced slightly at the tightness of the shirt that Eddie now wore, and a look at the bloody and tattered remains of his other one made the Slayer feel bad. "Sorry about your shirt, and about.your new shirt."

Eddie shrugged and started toward the stairs. "Ah, it's nothing. It's just a shirt. And I appreciate you loaning me this one. Wasn't keen on driving around town with no shirt on."

As Buffy followed Eddie down the stairs, she couldn't help but admire the male Slayer's butt. Hey, he stared at mine, she reasoned. It's only fair that I get to check out his. Equality! Buffy continued her example of feminist ethics until they reached the front door. "So, you going straight over to Giles' place?" she asked as Eddie turned to face her.

Eddie shrugged. "I guess. I'm not really tired, and my head is feeling better. Might drive for a bit, get the lay of the land, ya know?" Opening the front door, the Necromancer smiled. "Thanks for letting me clean up. I'll see you tomorrow."

Buffy felt herself grinning like a fool. "Yep! Library, bright and early!"

Eddie raised an amused eyebrow, smiled and then nodded. "Right then. Tomorrow." With that, the male Slayer turned and walked towards his car.

Buffy watched him, in the absurdly small t-shirt he now wore, walk to his car, get in and drive off. Closing the door and leaning against it for a moment, the Slayer let out a long breath. "Oh yeah. Tonight went well."

With a sigh, she climbed the stairs to the second floor again, and prepared for bed.