Mutant Enemy Television, Inc. owns Buffy the Vampire Slayer. My use is in no way meant to challenge any established copyrights. This piece is not intended for any profit on the part of the writer, nor is it meant to detract from the commercial viability of the aforementioned, or any other, copyright.  Any similarity to any events or persons (either real or fictional) is unintended.

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X - Dealing With It

            Xander walked into the Magic Box on Monday morning, surprising Anya by not being at work.  "What are you doing here?" she asked, concern obvious in her voice.

            "I couldn't go to work today," he explained.  "I just... I don't know.  I can't get over what happened the other day."  He looked around, making certain that he and Anya were alone.  "I killed a guy, An.  Not only that, I killed a priest."

            "You had to do it," Anya said softly, grasping Xander in a tight embrace, trying to comfort him.  She knew that he had hardly slept since Tara had been rescued, but she hadn't been aware of how upset he actually was.  "He would have killed Willow," Anya reminded her boyfriend.  "He would have killed me, too."

            "I know," Xander admitted.  He was about to say more when the bell at the door rang softly, and both Anya and Xander turned to see Willow and Tara walking into the store.

            "Hi," Willow said meekly.  Tara just kept her eyes directed toward the floor, seeming unwilling to even make eye contact with anyone.  "Couldn't go to work?" she asked Xander.  He shook his head.  "Neither of us could handle school today," Willow muttered.

            "Why don't we go to the diner and get a chocolate malted," Anya suggested.  They all turned to her with the same confused look on their faces, and she simply shrugged her shoulders in response.  "Well, it always cheers me up," she explained.

            "When is Giles getting back?" Willow asked.

            "Any minute now," Anya answered.  "He said he'd be here by the time we open.  Buffy should be picking him up at the airport.  Guess she would have to, since she was borrowing his car and all."

            "I still can't believe he let her do that," Xander said, a small smile creeping across his face. "She may be a great slayer, but her driving skills leave a lot to be desired."  Everyone gave a small chuckle, and for the briefest of moments everything seemed as pleasant as it had before the Inquisitor had come into their lives.  "I don't think we should mention any of what happened to Buffy or Giles," Xander suggested.

            "Why not?" Tara asked, finally deciding to take part in the conversation.

            "I don't know..." Xander replied.  "It's just that, well, she always does everything around here, you know?  This could be our little secret.  We can all know that when push comes to shove, we can fight the good fight even without the chosen one."

            "I'm fine with that," Willow said.

            "Me too," Tara added.

            "It'll also prevent us having explain why we killed a priest," Anya commented.  Xander winced at her words, and the mood darkened once again.  "Oh, I'm sorry," she apologized.

            "Well, at least this time you realized you said something wrong," Xander said.  "At least it seems like we're making progress."  He forced a smile onto his face.  "Now let's go get that chocolate malted before we have to open this place, huh?"

Fin