Chapter 7: Just leave me alone.



Buffy shot up in front of Willow "What do you mean me and Xander?"

Willow was panicking "Ah-I didn't mean you and Xander I mea-mean't-Ah
(then she sighed sitting down back in her seat at the table as Buffy
sat back down with her.)

"Buffy, Giles told me not to say anything in case you and Xander weren't together in your reality. He thought you had too much on your mind already." Willow said then continued when Buffy didn't speak, "So, in your reality you and Xander aren't together?" Willow asked, almost whispering it.

Buffy looked shell shocked "No...I mean-I like Xander, but I-I don't
(she trailed off for a second looking down and then back up and
continued) "It's just I never thought that (she trailed off looking
back down).

{First I sleep with Angel, he loses his soul, kills Ms. Calender,
then I get thrown into this alternate reality thingy and in this
reality me and Xander are a couple or-or were before I was killed in
this reality.}

"You mean you don't lo-love Xander?" Willow asked.

Buffy getting up "I-I need to be alone...to think." she said out loud to no one inpaticular.

Willow watched her go and muttered to herself "Way to go Rosenburg."

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Giles was at home going through his volumes of books on alternate
plains (realities). So far he hadn't found anything of use and it was
starting to get under his skin, but that wasn't the only thing
wigging him out (as Buffy would say.) He had been recieving phone
calls lately from the watcher's council saying watchers were missing.
He was going to tell Willow and Xander, then Buffy had shown up from
an alternate reality leaving him more important matters. The council
said five of the watcher's council had turned up dead and three
others were missing. Plus on top of that they were having trouble
locating the next slayer. Giles was skimming over a book as he
thought about all of this and was about to move on to the next book
when something caught his eye, reading it he muttered "Oh Dear."
Getting up he picked up the phone and dialed the library. It was
busy, "Damnit" he muttered gathering up the books he needed as he ran out the door, heading for the library.

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It was night and Buffy was patroling, Xanderless. This morning she
was hoping to go patrol tonight and kick some undead butt, but now
she just wanted a quite walk.

{Yeah, that'll happen.} she thought as she walked down the street.

She kept hearing Willow in her head ("You don't love Xander?") over and over again. She thought about the time Xander asked her to the Spring Fling dance and how hurt he looked when she rejected him, and then after that when he saved her life, giving her CPR in the master's lair. She starting thinking about all the times with Xander, when she danced with him to make Angel jealous, when she came on to him in the library under that spell, when they had an almost more than friends moment after Xander staked Turesa the vampire who was a present to her from Angelus.

"God I have to get home." she said out loud, {what if while I'm here
Angelus kills Giles or Willow or Xand...} "No! You can't think about
that." she said out loud to herself.

"Talking to yourself again?" a voice said behind her to which she whirled around with stake in hand.

"Whoa! Don't shoot...or stake" Xander said backing up and looking at
the stake before continuing, "I went to the library to meet you and
Willow said you where already gone. I thought we were going to patrol
together?" he said.

"I bet you did." Buffy bit off.

"What does that mean?" he asked confused.

"I don't need a babysitter!" she said turning to walk away.

Xander got in front of her "Babysitter? What are you talking about?"

"Every since I got here its been, stay at my house, sleep in my bed,
now I know why, you think you and me are going to pick up where you
and *her* left off!" she said loud enough to wake the dead, which in
this town is not something you want to do.

"Oh." Xander said looking down, realising what she was talking about.

"Your damn right, Oh!" she said looking at him.

"Buffy I-I don't know what to say." he said looking down even more if
that was possible.

"No! You just wanted to pretend everything was okay and go on with
life like nothing ever happened." Buffy said.

That last statement sparked a flare in Xander, "How dare you! Like nothing happened? Do you know how it is to lose someone who was a part of your soul!" he shouted.

His words caught Buffy offguard for a moment then she regained her
composure, "Just go away...I want to be alone." she said almost
whispering it as she turned around and started walking away.

"Fine! Maybe I'll go and get myself killed. You would probably like
that wouldn't you!" Xander said yelling at her.

Buffy was about to turn around and answer him when someone else
answered instead.

"Maybe I can help with that." Darla said standing about twenty feet
behind Xander with two other vamps and the three eyed demon.
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