Title: Destiny Means Nothing
Chapter: Two
Author: White Knight_7
Pairing: Xander/Tara
Rating: 12, maybe a 15 (For US readers, I think that confers to a PG-13 or PG-15)
Summary: After a brush with death, Xander ends up rethinking his place in the Scooby Gang, and his relationship with a certain shy witch...
Feedback: Yes please, this is my first real attempt at fanfic and so any ideas you have are welcomed as long as they are constructive.
Author's Notes: This is set after the first episode of Season Five. Basically that means that Dawn is around and every one except Xander, Giles and Anya have just started the new college year. This is not an overtly bashing piece but as always if you want to create an unconventional pairing there might be some friction. Also, this is NOT a 'Xander gets a power and the author completely changes the character' story. There's something special about him no doubt, just no real powers involved. B/S shippers, PISS OFF MATE!
Disclaimer: What idiot invented this thing anyway. Here goes. I don't own any of these characters, I'm just altering certain events in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer universe for my own benefit, to bolster the MEAGER T/X reservoir out there and show everyone what Joss should have paired people up with.
The light gradually faded and around him, the world fell back into place and the darkness was gone from his mind. All over his body, his nerves found out he was awake and went into overdrive, aches and pains flooding his senses. Raising one tube-laden arm to his neck, he felt for a wound the vampire had given to him, running one finger over the bandages to make sure all the events of the previous night were real. The nightmares he endured bothered him enough, but some of the events in them were highly disturbing. People dying all around him, his friends, soldiers and countless others he couldn't identify. An overwhelming feeling of guilt overcame him, but then he remembered the other major character in this twisted play.
Tara.
He hadn't known her for very long, but she was a very nice person, helpful with all things magical, and above all made Willow happy. Despite the previous fraying of his relationship with his childhood friend, Xander still cared deeply for her and always liked seeing her happy. And Tara did that quite well and so was high on his list of good people.
* Tara and I seemed to have gotten on quite well since Willow introduced her to the group, but why would she show up in my dreams. Not that she isn't attractive of course, just in a quiet, subtler way. Danger Will Robinson, naughty thoughts about best friend's girlfriend could make Willow take up transmutation in a whole new way. But still, it seems VERY odd for her to show up in a dream, especially one that was so freakish. *
Waking from her light slumber, Tara once more glanced over at the bed of their fallen friend and to her complete surprise; he was staring back at her, brown eyes locked on blue.
"Hey", he said to the surprised witch in front of him.
"Uh, h-hey", she replied, a little unnerved by the way he was looking at her, as though he was sizing her up.
Breaking away from his gaze, she gently shook her sleeping girlfriend beside her. Getting no response, she shook her more vigorously until Willow awoke from her slumber, eyes weary.
"Honey, honey, Xander's awake", she told Willow quickly.
Looking up at the bed instantly she saw the tired form of Xander looking back at her, waving weakly. Dashing over to his bedside, Willow grabbed him and embraced him in a tight hug, ignoring the sounds of pain he was making.
"Will . oxygen required for survival", he croaked out. Hearing this she slackened her grasp to a light hug, smiling widely.
"You had us worried you big oaf! What were you thinking running into bug hairy danger like that, you nearly died! Try anything like that again and I'll kill you myself!" the young wicca said defiantly.
" I'm sorry Will, didn't mean to scare you. But please don't kill me, they don't change these hospital gowns very often", Xander said, and pulling some of the gown to his nose and sniffing it he continued," eeeww, definitely not the most hygienic of bedwear."
Hearing this both girls burst into laughter, glad to see their friend back into his punning ways.
"OH! I'd better go tell the others!" Willow said, shooting out of her seat to fetch the others into Xander's room and call Anya.
Entering the room hurriedly came Willow, Buffy and Giles; the two latter had relieved expressions on their faces.
Approaching his bed Buffy gave him a brief hug while Giles just patted him on the shoulder to show his appreciation at Xander's recovery. A few moments after the aura of glee had faded from Buffy's eyes, her expression changed into a deadly serious one.
" What the HELL were you thinking pulling a stunt like that? We barely managed to get you to the hospital in time!" Buffy said, and after a break from her tirade for a glare continued," Care to explain what the hell you were playing at?"
Getting used to this routine after he did something brash, Xander sighed and then told her,
"I was trying to get a jump on them, you know, stealth, surprise, attacking from the rear?" he tried to explain, apparently not having much effect on the angry slayer.
"Oh, don't try and trick your way out of this one, Xander. Maybe you shouldn't be patrolling with us at all. What you did was stupid, and thoughtless, and." Buffy said, running off a long list of points to him, but he interrupted her.
"Something you would do?" he jabbed verbally.
"Xander, I'm the SLAYER, its my job to do reckless things that endanger my life, it gets the job done. Nut you are just a regular HUMAN. You can't be doing those things and expect to come away undamaged, that's a great example" she said pointing her finger at the bite wound on his neck, covered by a large bandage at the moment.
"Guys?" Willow said, but when that didn't break their glares," GUYS! There is no point arguing about this now; Xander's in a hospital bed and you're far too pissed off to think about anything rationally. Let's just leave this until the morning, the nurse said that Xander should be released by then. Okay?"
Turning for the door, Buffy walked out briskly, finishing their argument, Willow staring at her retreating back.
"Fine" she said coldly.
Looking back to Xander, Willow said softly," We'll see you tomorrow. Coming Tara?"
"Just a minute honey", she said to Willow, who just left the room and waited out in the hallway for her girlfriend.
Looking at Tara like the boy who had his hand caught in the cookie jar, he said,
" So, I really screwed up didn't I?" he said mournfully.
"Maybe a little bit. But you really did a good thing today Xander. Spotting those vampires then getting, like, half of them is something to be proud of. But next time try to do it a bit safer, I think that might be a good idea" she said to Xander, sympathizing with him at Buffy's shouting match.
Standing to leave she gave him a little wave then left the room, just missing Anya who flew in the door to wards him. Hugging him tight, she recoiled a bit then said,
"I'm so glad you're okay. Please don't do that again, you really scared me. Almost as much as . bunnies" she said to her boyfriend.
" I'm sorry Ahn, I didn't mean to scare you, it was kind of a split second thing", Xander told his girlfriend.
"I'm sure, but . maybe you shouldn't go patrolling with them so much anymore? I mean what am I going to do to keep myself entertained at nights?" she said.
"You haven't been talking to Buffy have you? Because she said something very similar about two minutes ago. Except for the 'keeping her entertained at night' part." Xander said, obviously disgruntled at another person telling him to stop patrolling.
"You better not be. But it's just that I don't want to lose you to some nameless demon for no reason at all. You know, I had to drag myself from counting the cash register for this?" she said, hurt a bit by his words.
" But am I worth it?" he said mischievously, running his hands slowly up her back.
"Maybe" she said, then pulled away from him.
"I'll be back in the morning with coffee and doughnuts. Night night" she said affectionately.
Once Anya had left his room, he turned out his bedside light and fidgeted among the bed sheets, trying to find a comfortable way to sleep. As he drifted off in sleep, praying to all things holy that he wouldn't have to endure those nightmares again.
Awakening from his nightmare free slumber, Xander looked around his small hospital room, wincing as the rays of light from the window assaulted his eyes. Pulling himself up in the bed he looked around to see his room empty. Glancing over at the clock he noticed it was only 8:30.
*Huh, the guys won't have arrived yet, maybe I'll give them a surprise. * Xander thought to himself, dipping into the sports bag next to him and retrieved some of his clothes the others had brought.
Dressing himself haphazardly, trying not to stretch his neck too much, Xander got up out of his room and walked out of the ward and the hospital, handing his gown to the nurse's station.
The hospital was a hive of activity, nurses and orderlies running from one room to the other, shouting for assistance, further increasing the din. At the far end of the hall, an old man dressed in the uniform of a policeman came running down the hall, trying to escape the clutches of the hospital staff.
When he approached Xander, he stopped dead in his tracks, at looked at him like he had seem a thousand ghosts all at once. Backing away from Xander, the man staggered back into the wall, then said in a low, conspiratorial voice,
"You, you're not supposed to be here . what, how, you're . Leave me alone, please." the man said pressing his hands to either side of his head, as if he was trying to push something out of his skull, cowering in Xander's presence.
Walking slowly towards him, Xander held his hands up in the air, showing his intentions to the man before him.
"I'm sorry, what are you frightened of?" Xander said softly, trying to calm him down.
Screaming no, the policeman pointed all around Xander, as if to a hundred fireflies surrounding his head.
"You, and you, and you", he screamed, then finally pointed to Xander and uttered," . and YOU!"
"What, what do you mean?" Xander said, riled by this madman's accusations.
Before he could say anything else, the hospital staff caught up with the escapee and restrained him with leather straps to the metal gurney, covering his mouth with a gag. A hospital orderly approached Xander, and tried to explain the situation to him.
"Sorry about that, we try to keep all the patients from D-ward away from the regular hospital traffic, but a few of them always manage to make fools of us now and again", the junior doctor told him, a small smile tugging at his lips.
"D-ward, isn't that some kind of Looney Toons department, or something", Xander inquired.
"Yeah, it's where we keep all our mentally unstable patients. They seem to be coming in by the dozen these days," he said.
"Well, that's Sunnydale for ya, home of the weird and wacky", Xander replied with a half-hearted grin, as he considered the patient's words.
Hearing the shout for assistance from the nearby room, the young doctor blurted out,
"Sorry, but I gotta go. Se ya" he said dashing into the room and out of sight.
A little disturbed by the man's outburst, Xander snapped back to reality and began heading for the swinging double doors out of the hospital.
But something called him back. Instead of walking out of the front door, he took a left turn, followed by a succession of smaller turns that only someone as versed in the hospitals layout as he could pull off (when you're a friend of the slayer, hospitals seem to come with the turf).
Ahead of him lay an empty desk with a small flickering lamp on it; vacant of whatever nurse was supposed to be watching the ward ahead of him. Painted in large black letters were six bold words:
D-ward, Psychiatric and Mental Care.
Slowly pushing the doors apart, Xander walked slowly into the large room, the insane babbling of the patients filling his head immediately. He looked around at the various patients, hoping for no reaction, just an occasional stare or a maddened glance.
But the Harris family luck rarely extends beyond the poker table.
All the patients in the room sat up abruptly, straining to get out of their prison beds, all the while shouting,
"You, not you, no no you shouldn't be here" those words or something similar to them erupted from everyone in the room, crawling around in their beds, as if terribly afraid of what he might do to them.
*What the HELL is going on? Suddenly I'm making crazy people around me terrified out of their pants. I don't think I've ever gotten that kind of reaction before. They looked like they thought I was a debt collector coming to take their thumbs . * Xander thought to himself, very confused and a little freaked out by Sunnydale's insane population suddenly finding him so frightening.
Making a quick escape before anyone decided to take an interest in the racket they were making, Xander quickly turned and fled from the ward at top speed. Once he was far enough away from them, he slowed to a walking pace and purposefully made his way to the entrance, exiting into the bright morning sun.
After he left the hospital Xander walked over to his apartment, being sure to avoid the direction of the Magic Shop. Entering the empty apartment, he saw that Anya was indeed gone to work and it was clean as a whistle.
*I always wondered how Anya dealt with worrying when I wasn't around. Well at least I don't get critically wounded too often; otherwise she'd go Martha Stuart on me. *
Shedding his clothing, he jumped into the shower and welcomed the cold blast of water that followed. Relaxing against the tiled surface, he thought back to the odd events that had happened in the past two days, trying to make any sense out of them.
*If that weird dream wasn't enough now I've got every crazy person in Sunnydale staring at me like I'm the anti-Christ. And Tara. Barging in on my dreams like that. I mean, why not Anya or Buffy, hell even Willow. She's probably the oddest choice out of all the women I know. And gay, not a plus factor. *
Considering what he should do next, he switched the shower off and stepped out, walking over to the basin to give himself a quick shave. Lifting the bloodied bandages around his wound Xander reached for the first aid box he kept above the sink, to treat the minor injuries he often sustained on patrols with Buffy. Before he put the bandages back on, he studied the wound. The area surrounding it was near white drained of most of its colour from the vampire's bite, regardless of transfusions. One of Xander's greatest fears was being turned, he couldn't stand the thought of his dead body attacking and terrorizing his friends. After hearing from Willow about what he was like in the alternate reality, he didn't want the same thing to happen here.
*Next time Giles is training Buffy Maybe I should sit in on it. My fighting abilities are about the same as my high school grades. Almost non-existent. *
Resolved to his new course of self-preservation, Xander finished cleaning himself up and changing, before heading out the door of his apartment and off to the Magic Shop.
The bell chimed above the door as Xander entered the cluttered Magic Shop, dodging the assorted boxes stacked high at the front. Present in the shop was Buffy, Riley, Willow, Tara, Giles and Anya - apparently distributing orders to all others present.
Seeing Xander enter, Anya turned to him and excitedly said,
"Xander! What are you doing here! Shouldn't you still be at the hospital in that outrageously priced room of yours?" she said, a glimmer of worry shining through her money-crazed thought.
"Yes, we wouldn't want you injuring yourself again while your still weak" Giles added.
"Guys, I'm fine. The blood loss just took a bit of fight out of me. It's not like we're doing heavy work." he said, glancing around at the stacked crates around the shop and realization hit him, " oh dear God, its re- supply day isn't it?" Saying this, he observed many tired looks around the room telling him his statement was true.
"Aha! Tara and I can use a levitation spell to lift and sort the crates. No achy back work required." Willow suggested followed by a look from Anya that said it all.
"Are you insane! Any kind of magic spell cast around this amount of magical supplies could blow us all up! No, you'll just have to exercise whatever muscles you have. Unfortunately we won't be able to use Xander's large upper arm muscles, so Buffy that means double for you."
"Great, I'm a magical Buckaroo donkey." Buffy said, getting up from the table to start her work.
Obviously disgruntled by Anya's attitude, Giles said,
"Anya, would you care to explain why you are ordering me around in my own shop?" Giles said.
"Because I know the shops inventory better than you and you can carry more things than me." Anya replied.
Resigned to his task Giles just rose from his chair and began work. Willow too stood up and began to pick up some of the smaller items at the front of the shop, and arrange them in piles. That left Tara and him seated at the round table in the center of the shop. Looking at her, Xander noticed the weary look on her face and wondered why she was so tired.
"Why so tired wicked Wiccan witch of the west?" Xander asked, trying to perk up her spirits.
"History paper followed by many cups of coffee. And I'm not a wicked witch, just mildly mischievous." Tara said, grateful for the enthusiastic company, everyone else was resigned to the dreadful task of stacking.
"Enough with the alliteration already . dammit!" he said, realizing his mistake too late, then changed his voice into a deeper tone.
"Are you sure that was ALL that was keeping you awake last night?" he asked the witch suggestively, waggling his eyebrows for effect.
"HEY!" Tara said, slapping Xander on the arm, which just made him grin wider.
"Sorry, force of habit." he responded apologetically.
Noticing the two idly chatting, Anya approached them.
"Xander, you shouldn't putting Tara off her work, we have a lot of boxes to sift through. And could you help with cataloguing if your just going to sit there." She said, annoyed at her boyfriend's chatty nature for once.
Rising from her seat, Tara walked slowly towards the crates to do her dues.
"Ugh, a full night of work yesterday and now manual labour today. I'm never going to get any rest at this rate." Tara thought to herself.
Hearing this as if it were words from her own mouth, Xander responded to them, unaware that no sound had left her lips.
"Don't worry Tara. I'm sure Willow will leave you alone tonight." He said jovially on his way to the training room to collect a few of the shops inventory books.
Turning swiftly towards Xander, she saw him enter the back room leaving her completely bewildered.
"But I didn't say anything."
Three and half hours later, the combined forces of Sunnydale's demon- fighting forces were all sitting around the table, finalizing the accounts that Giles that so cleverly forgotten to do since his purchase of the Magic Box. All this combined with Xander's incredible mathematical skills had left them with a lot of paperwork to sift through. Willow of course was in calculator heaven.
"All this maths is making me hungry. I'm gonna head to the burger place off Main Street anyone want?" Xander said to his assembled friends. Eager for food, they barked out orders at him of what they wanted. As he was walking out of the shop, Tara got up from her chair and said,
"Xander, do you want some h-help carrying all that?" Tara said, hoping he would say yes so that they could talk in private.
"Uh, sure Tara. See you guys later." He said, holding the door open for Tara then followed her outside onto the street.
After the had walked a short distance down the street in silence, Tara turned around to Xander as if to say something but then went back to staring at the pavement. A little worried by her odd behavior, Xander tried to find out what was wrong.
"Tara, are you okay? You seem a bit weirded out. And it's not that I don't appreciate the company but you don't usually volunteer for food-carrying duty." Xander said, probing her for answers.
"Uh, yeah I'm fine. Have you noticed anything . odd recently? Like voices in your head or something?" Tara said.
"I don't think so, unless you count my libido," Xander said, getting a giggle from his friend," why do you ask?"
"Are you sure? Maybe in a dream or just a casual thought?" Tara asked again.
At the mention of dreams, Xander quickly focused his eyes on the pavement and tried to avoid Tara's questioning.
"Xander?"
"This is going to sound very disturbing, and I'm not sure it's relevant." He said cautiously.
"Go on." Tara said, urging him on.
"Well, while I was in that coma, I started dreaming. Heavy dreaming. I won't go into it all the way but there was one part in the Magic Box. Everyone I knew was lying on the ground, dead. Everyone except you," he said, observed her carefully, then carried on.
"You came into the shop, everything else was in black and white, except for you. 100% techicolour. Then we both walked outside and I woke up. Strange thing is while I was still dreaming I thought I heard you say something, then when I was coming around I thought I heard you say the same thing. As I said, tres crytique." Xander said, finishing with a terrible French accent.
*Wow, he was dreaming about me? I didn't ever think guys thought of me like that? That's silly Tara, it sounded more like a nightmare than a dream. Ahh, drifting off topic. * She thought, staring off into the distance.
While they were talking, Xander had led them up to the fast-food counter and got their usual monster order to feed the gang. Once he had paid the cashier and both he and Tara were loaded up with bags of food, Xander continued their conversation.
"So Tara, what's with al the questions, hmm? Trying to find out my secrets? Come on, spill." He said, determined to find out what was going on with the young witch.
"Okay. In the Magic Box, you know when you were doing the accounts and then you made a BAD joke about Willow and me?"
"I vaguely recall, Inspector."
"I didn't say anything." Tara said to him.
"What do mean? I know it was a bad joke but no reason to blank it from your memory." He said, very confused now.
"No, I didn't say it. But I did think it, just not out loud." She said trying to gauge his reaction.
"Hold on, hold on. You're saying that I some how did the Vulcan mind thing from across the room?" He halted their walk back to the Magic Box then said,
"Cool."
"I don't know how it could've happened though. I mean, I tried this once with Willow already, but all it did was put some idiotic song in my head that she'd been listening to all day. God, I hate the Spice Girls." Tara said, annoyed by the memory.
"Cool it one second there Tara. This is probably some backfired spell or something; I'm certainly good at those. We'll figure it out. You're like, super-smart magic gal."
After saying this, Xander noticed Tara grin widely, then try and turn away from him, obviously embarrassed.
"I'm r-really not. Willow's much better at that stuff than I am." Tara said, trying to deflect attention away from herself.
Wondering when this psychic power would work, Xander took Tara's hand gently and concentrated.
"Now that's not true. Anyway, let's try and keep this between ourselves, and just don't think of anything involving, say, you and Willow both dressed in leather?"
Falling into the simple mind trick Tara thought of herself and Willow in leather. Much to both his surprise and enjoyment, Xander picked up a very good image in his mind of the two Wicca dressed in said leather.
Tara's fears were realised when she heard Xander's whoop of joy, which she followed up with a curt smack to the back of the head as they entered the Magic Shop.
Chapter: Two
Author: White Knight_7
Pairing: Xander/Tara
Rating: 12, maybe a 15 (For US readers, I think that confers to a PG-13 or PG-15)
Summary: After a brush with death, Xander ends up rethinking his place in the Scooby Gang, and his relationship with a certain shy witch...
Feedback: Yes please, this is my first real attempt at fanfic and so any ideas you have are welcomed as long as they are constructive.
Author's Notes: This is set after the first episode of Season Five. Basically that means that Dawn is around and every one except Xander, Giles and Anya have just started the new college year. This is not an overtly bashing piece but as always if you want to create an unconventional pairing there might be some friction. Also, this is NOT a 'Xander gets a power and the author completely changes the character' story. There's something special about him no doubt, just no real powers involved. B/S shippers, PISS OFF MATE!
Disclaimer: What idiot invented this thing anyway. Here goes. I don't own any of these characters, I'm just altering certain events in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer universe for my own benefit, to bolster the MEAGER T/X reservoir out there and show everyone what Joss should have paired people up with.
The light gradually faded and around him, the world fell back into place and the darkness was gone from his mind. All over his body, his nerves found out he was awake and went into overdrive, aches and pains flooding his senses. Raising one tube-laden arm to his neck, he felt for a wound the vampire had given to him, running one finger over the bandages to make sure all the events of the previous night were real. The nightmares he endured bothered him enough, but some of the events in them were highly disturbing. People dying all around him, his friends, soldiers and countless others he couldn't identify. An overwhelming feeling of guilt overcame him, but then he remembered the other major character in this twisted play.
Tara.
He hadn't known her for very long, but she was a very nice person, helpful with all things magical, and above all made Willow happy. Despite the previous fraying of his relationship with his childhood friend, Xander still cared deeply for her and always liked seeing her happy. And Tara did that quite well and so was high on his list of good people.
* Tara and I seemed to have gotten on quite well since Willow introduced her to the group, but why would she show up in my dreams. Not that she isn't attractive of course, just in a quiet, subtler way. Danger Will Robinson, naughty thoughts about best friend's girlfriend could make Willow take up transmutation in a whole new way. But still, it seems VERY odd for her to show up in a dream, especially one that was so freakish. *
Waking from her light slumber, Tara once more glanced over at the bed of their fallen friend and to her complete surprise; he was staring back at her, brown eyes locked on blue.
"Hey", he said to the surprised witch in front of him.
"Uh, h-hey", she replied, a little unnerved by the way he was looking at her, as though he was sizing her up.
Breaking away from his gaze, she gently shook her sleeping girlfriend beside her. Getting no response, she shook her more vigorously until Willow awoke from her slumber, eyes weary.
"Honey, honey, Xander's awake", she told Willow quickly.
Looking up at the bed instantly she saw the tired form of Xander looking back at her, waving weakly. Dashing over to his bedside, Willow grabbed him and embraced him in a tight hug, ignoring the sounds of pain he was making.
"Will . oxygen required for survival", he croaked out. Hearing this she slackened her grasp to a light hug, smiling widely.
"You had us worried you big oaf! What were you thinking running into bug hairy danger like that, you nearly died! Try anything like that again and I'll kill you myself!" the young wicca said defiantly.
" I'm sorry Will, didn't mean to scare you. But please don't kill me, they don't change these hospital gowns very often", Xander said, and pulling some of the gown to his nose and sniffing it he continued," eeeww, definitely not the most hygienic of bedwear."
Hearing this both girls burst into laughter, glad to see their friend back into his punning ways.
"OH! I'd better go tell the others!" Willow said, shooting out of her seat to fetch the others into Xander's room and call Anya.
Entering the room hurriedly came Willow, Buffy and Giles; the two latter had relieved expressions on their faces.
Approaching his bed Buffy gave him a brief hug while Giles just patted him on the shoulder to show his appreciation at Xander's recovery. A few moments after the aura of glee had faded from Buffy's eyes, her expression changed into a deadly serious one.
" What the HELL were you thinking pulling a stunt like that? We barely managed to get you to the hospital in time!" Buffy said, and after a break from her tirade for a glare continued," Care to explain what the hell you were playing at?"
Getting used to this routine after he did something brash, Xander sighed and then told her,
"I was trying to get a jump on them, you know, stealth, surprise, attacking from the rear?" he tried to explain, apparently not having much effect on the angry slayer.
"Oh, don't try and trick your way out of this one, Xander. Maybe you shouldn't be patrolling with us at all. What you did was stupid, and thoughtless, and." Buffy said, running off a long list of points to him, but he interrupted her.
"Something you would do?" he jabbed verbally.
"Xander, I'm the SLAYER, its my job to do reckless things that endanger my life, it gets the job done. Nut you are just a regular HUMAN. You can't be doing those things and expect to come away undamaged, that's a great example" she said pointing her finger at the bite wound on his neck, covered by a large bandage at the moment.
"Guys?" Willow said, but when that didn't break their glares," GUYS! There is no point arguing about this now; Xander's in a hospital bed and you're far too pissed off to think about anything rationally. Let's just leave this until the morning, the nurse said that Xander should be released by then. Okay?"
Turning for the door, Buffy walked out briskly, finishing their argument, Willow staring at her retreating back.
"Fine" she said coldly.
Looking back to Xander, Willow said softly," We'll see you tomorrow. Coming Tara?"
"Just a minute honey", she said to Willow, who just left the room and waited out in the hallway for her girlfriend.
Looking at Tara like the boy who had his hand caught in the cookie jar, he said,
" So, I really screwed up didn't I?" he said mournfully.
"Maybe a little bit. But you really did a good thing today Xander. Spotting those vampires then getting, like, half of them is something to be proud of. But next time try to do it a bit safer, I think that might be a good idea" she said to Xander, sympathizing with him at Buffy's shouting match.
Standing to leave she gave him a little wave then left the room, just missing Anya who flew in the door to wards him. Hugging him tight, she recoiled a bit then said,
"I'm so glad you're okay. Please don't do that again, you really scared me. Almost as much as . bunnies" she said to her boyfriend.
" I'm sorry Ahn, I didn't mean to scare you, it was kind of a split second thing", Xander told his girlfriend.
"I'm sure, but . maybe you shouldn't go patrolling with them so much anymore? I mean what am I going to do to keep myself entertained at nights?" she said.
"You haven't been talking to Buffy have you? Because she said something very similar about two minutes ago. Except for the 'keeping her entertained at night' part." Xander said, obviously disgruntled at another person telling him to stop patrolling.
"You better not be. But it's just that I don't want to lose you to some nameless demon for no reason at all. You know, I had to drag myself from counting the cash register for this?" she said, hurt a bit by his words.
" But am I worth it?" he said mischievously, running his hands slowly up her back.
"Maybe" she said, then pulled away from him.
"I'll be back in the morning with coffee and doughnuts. Night night" she said affectionately.
Once Anya had left his room, he turned out his bedside light and fidgeted among the bed sheets, trying to find a comfortable way to sleep. As he drifted off in sleep, praying to all things holy that he wouldn't have to endure those nightmares again.
Awakening from his nightmare free slumber, Xander looked around his small hospital room, wincing as the rays of light from the window assaulted his eyes. Pulling himself up in the bed he looked around to see his room empty. Glancing over at the clock he noticed it was only 8:30.
*Huh, the guys won't have arrived yet, maybe I'll give them a surprise. * Xander thought to himself, dipping into the sports bag next to him and retrieved some of his clothes the others had brought.
Dressing himself haphazardly, trying not to stretch his neck too much, Xander got up out of his room and walked out of the ward and the hospital, handing his gown to the nurse's station.
The hospital was a hive of activity, nurses and orderlies running from one room to the other, shouting for assistance, further increasing the din. At the far end of the hall, an old man dressed in the uniform of a policeman came running down the hall, trying to escape the clutches of the hospital staff.
When he approached Xander, he stopped dead in his tracks, at looked at him like he had seem a thousand ghosts all at once. Backing away from Xander, the man staggered back into the wall, then said in a low, conspiratorial voice,
"You, you're not supposed to be here . what, how, you're . Leave me alone, please." the man said pressing his hands to either side of his head, as if he was trying to push something out of his skull, cowering in Xander's presence.
Walking slowly towards him, Xander held his hands up in the air, showing his intentions to the man before him.
"I'm sorry, what are you frightened of?" Xander said softly, trying to calm him down.
Screaming no, the policeman pointed all around Xander, as if to a hundred fireflies surrounding his head.
"You, and you, and you", he screamed, then finally pointed to Xander and uttered," . and YOU!"
"What, what do you mean?" Xander said, riled by this madman's accusations.
Before he could say anything else, the hospital staff caught up with the escapee and restrained him with leather straps to the metal gurney, covering his mouth with a gag. A hospital orderly approached Xander, and tried to explain the situation to him.
"Sorry about that, we try to keep all the patients from D-ward away from the regular hospital traffic, but a few of them always manage to make fools of us now and again", the junior doctor told him, a small smile tugging at his lips.
"D-ward, isn't that some kind of Looney Toons department, or something", Xander inquired.
"Yeah, it's where we keep all our mentally unstable patients. They seem to be coming in by the dozen these days," he said.
"Well, that's Sunnydale for ya, home of the weird and wacky", Xander replied with a half-hearted grin, as he considered the patient's words.
Hearing the shout for assistance from the nearby room, the young doctor blurted out,
"Sorry, but I gotta go. Se ya" he said dashing into the room and out of sight.
A little disturbed by the man's outburst, Xander snapped back to reality and began heading for the swinging double doors out of the hospital.
But something called him back. Instead of walking out of the front door, he took a left turn, followed by a succession of smaller turns that only someone as versed in the hospitals layout as he could pull off (when you're a friend of the slayer, hospitals seem to come with the turf).
Ahead of him lay an empty desk with a small flickering lamp on it; vacant of whatever nurse was supposed to be watching the ward ahead of him. Painted in large black letters were six bold words:
D-ward, Psychiatric and Mental Care.
Slowly pushing the doors apart, Xander walked slowly into the large room, the insane babbling of the patients filling his head immediately. He looked around at the various patients, hoping for no reaction, just an occasional stare or a maddened glance.
But the Harris family luck rarely extends beyond the poker table.
All the patients in the room sat up abruptly, straining to get out of their prison beds, all the while shouting,
"You, not you, no no you shouldn't be here" those words or something similar to them erupted from everyone in the room, crawling around in their beds, as if terribly afraid of what he might do to them.
*What the HELL is going on? Suddenly I'm making crazy people around me terrified out of their pants. I don't think I've ever gotten that kind of reaction before. They looked like they thought I was a debt collector coming to take their thumbs . * Xander thought to himself, very confused and a little freaked out by Sunnydale's insane population suddenly finding him so frightening.
Making a quick escape before anyone decided to take an interest in the racket they were making, Xander quickly turned and fled from the ward at top speed. Once he was far enough away from them, he slowed to a walking pace and purposefully made his way to the entrance, exiting into the bright morning sun.
After he left the hospital Xander walked over to his apartment, being sure to avoid the direction of the Magic Shop. Entering the empty apartment, he saw that Anya was indeed gone to work and it was clean as a whistle.
*I always wondered how Anya dealt with worrying when I wasn't around. Well at least I don't get critically wounded too often; otherwise she'd go Martha Stuart on me. *
Shedding his clothing, he jumped into the shower and welcomed the cold blast of water that followed. Relaxing against the tiled surface, he thought back to the odd events that had happened in the past two days, trying to make any sense out of them.
*If that weird dream wasn't enough now I've got every crazy person in Sunnydale staring at me like I'm the anti-Christ. And Tara. Barging in on my dreams like that. I mean, why not Anya or Buffy, hell even Willow. She's probably the oddest choice out of all the women I know. And gay, not a plus factor. *
Considering what he should do next, he switched the shower off and stepped out, walking over to the basin to give himself a quick shave. Lifting the bloodied bandages around his wound Xander reached for the first aid box he kept above the sink, to treat the minor injuries he often sustained on patrols with Buffy. Before he put the bandages back on, he studied the wound. The area surrounding it was near white drained of most of its colour from the vampire's bite, regardless of transfusions. One of Xander's greatest fears was being turned, he couldn't stand the thought of his dead body attacking and terrorizing his friends. After hearing from Willow about what he was like in the alternate reality, he didn't want the same thing to happen here.
*Next time Giles is training Buffy Maybe I should sit in on it. My fighting abilities are about the same as my high school grades. Almost non-existent. *
Resolved to his new course of self-preservation, Xander finished cleaning himself up and changing, before heading out the door of his apartment and off to the Magic Shop.
The bell chimed above the door as Xander entered the cluttered Magic Shop, dodging the assorted boxes stacked high at the front. Present in the shop was Buffy, Riley, Willow, Tara, Giles and Anya - apparently distributing orders to all others present.
Seeing Xander enter, Anya turned to him and excitedly said,
"Xander! What are you doing here! Shouldn't you still be at the hospital in that outrageously priced room of yours?" she said, a glimmer of worry shining through her money-crazed thought.
"Yes, we wouldn't want you injuring yourself again while your still weak" Giles added.
"Guys, I'm fine. The blood loss just took a bit of fight out of me. It's not like we're doing heavy work." he said, glancing around at the stacked crates around the shop and realization hit him, " oh dear God, its re- supply day isn't it?" Saying this, he observed many tired looks around the room telling him his statement was true.
"Aha! Tara and I can use a levitation spell to lift and sort the crates. No achy back work required." Willow suggested followed by a look from Anya that said it all.
"Are you insane! Any kind of magic spell cast around this amount of magical supplies could blow us all up! No, you'll just have to exercise whatever muscles you have. Unfortunately we won't be able to use Xander's large upper arm muscles, so Buffy that means double for you."
"Great, I'm a magical Buckaroo donkey." Buffy said, getting up from the table to start her work.
Obviously disgruntled by Anya's attitude, Giles said,
"Anya, would you care to explain why you are ordering me around in my own shop?" Giles said.
"Because I know the shops inventory better than you and you can carry more things than me." Anya replied.
Resigned to his task Giles just rose from his chair and began work. Willow too stood up and began to pick up some of the smaller items at the front of the shop, and arrange them in piles. That left Tara and him seated at the round table in the center of the shop. Looking at her, Xander noticed the weary look on her face and wondered why she was so tired.
"Why so tired wicked Wiccan witch of the west?" Xander asked, trying to perk up her spirits.
"History paper followed by many cups of coffee. And I'm not a wicked witch, just mildly mischievous." Tara said, grateful for the enthusiastic company, everyone else was resigned to the dreadful task of stacking.
"Enough with the alliteration already . dammit!" he said, realizing his mistake too late, then changed his voice into a deeper tone.
"Are you sure that was ALL that was keeping you awake last night?" he asked the witch suggestively, waggling his eyebrows for effect.
"HEY!" Tara said, slapping Xander on the arm, which just made him grin wider.
"Sorry, force of habit." he responded apologetically.
Noticing the two idly chatting, Anya approached them.
"Xander, you shouldn't putting Tara off her work, we have a lot of boxes to sift through. And could you help with cataloguing if your just going to sit there." She said, annoyed at her boyfriend's chatty nature for once.
Rising from her seat, Tara walked slowly towards the crates to do her dues.
"Ugh, a full night of work yesterday and now manual labour today. I'm never going to get any rest at this rate." Tara thought to herself.
Hearing this as if it were words from her own mouth, Xander responded to them, unaware that no sound had left her lips.
"Don't worry Tara. I'm sure Willow will leave you alone tonight." He said jovially on his way to the training room to collect a few of the shops inventory books.
Turning swiftly towards Xander, she saw him enter the back room leaving her completely bewildered.
"But I didn't say anything."
Three and half hours later, the combined forces of Sunnydale's demon- fighting forces were all sitting around the table, finalizing the accounts that Giles that so cleverly forgotten to do since his purchase of the Magic Box. All this combined with Xander's incredible mathematical skills had left them with a lot of paperwork to sift through. Willow of course was in calculator heaven.
"All this maths is making me hungry. I'm gonna head to the burger place off Main Street anyone want?" Xander said to his assembled friends. Eager for food, they barked out orders at him of what they wanted. As he was walking out of the shop, Tara got up from her chair and said,
"Xander, do you want some h-help carrying all that?" Tara said, hoping he would say yes so that they could talk in private.
"Uh, sure Tara. See you guys later." He said, holding the door open for Tara then followed her outside onto the street.
After the had walked a short distance down the street in silence, Tara turned around to Xander as if to say something but then went back to staring at the pavement. A little worried by her odd behavior, Xander tried to find out what was wrong.
"Tara, are you okay? You seem a bit weirded out. And it's not that I don't appreciate the company but you don't usually volunteer for food-carrying duty." Xander said, probing her for answers.
"Uh, yeah I'm fine. Have you noticed anything . odd recently? Like voices in your head or something?" Tara said.
"I don't think so, unless you count my libido," Xander said, getting a giggle from his friend," why do you ask?"
"Are you sure? Maybe in a dream or just a casual thought?" Tara asked again.
At the mention of dreams, Xander quickly focused his eyes on the pavement and tried to avoid Tara's questioning.
"Xander?"
"This is going to sound very disturbing, and I'm not sure it's relevant." He said cautiously.
"Go on." Tara said, urging him on.
"Well, while I was in that coma, I started dreaming. Heavy dreaming. I won't go into it all the way but there was one part in the Magic Box. Everyone I knew was lying on the ground, dead. Everyone except you," he said, observed her carefully, then carried on.
"You came into the shop, everything else was in black and white, except for you. 100% techicolour. Then we both walked outside and I woke up. Strange thing is while I was still dreaming I thought I heard you say something, then when I was coming around I thought I heard you say the same thing. As I said, tres crytique." Xander said, finishing with a terrible French accent.
*Wow, he was dreaming about me? I didn't ever think guys thought of me like that? That's silly Tara, it sounded more like a nightmare than a dream. Ahh, drifting off topic. * She thought, staring off into the distance.
While they were talking, Xander had led them up to the fast-food counter and got their usual monster order to feed the gang. Once he had paid the cashier and both he and Tara were loaded up with bags of food, Xander continued their conversation.
"So Tara, what's with al the questions, hmm? Trying to find out my secrets? Come on, spill." He said, determined to find out what was going on with the young witch.
"Okay. In the Magic Box, you know when you were doing the accounts and then you made a BAD joke about Willow and me?"
"I vaguely recall, Inspector."
"I didn't say anything." Tara said to him.
"What do mean? I know it was a bad joke but no reason to blank it from your memory." He said, very confused now.
"No, I didn't say it. But I did think it, just not out loud." She said trying to gauge his reaction.
"Hold on, hold on. You're saying that I some how did the Vulcan mind thing from across the room?" He halted their walk back to the Magic Box then said,
"Cool."
"I don't know how it could've happened though. I mean, I tried this once with Willow already, but all it did was put some idiotic song in my head that she'd been listening to all day. God, I hate the Spice Girls." Tara said, annoyed by the memory.
"Cool it one second there Tara. This is probably some backfired spell or something; I'm certainly good at those. We'll figure it out. You're like, super-smart magic gal."
After saying this, Xander noticed Tara grin widely, then try and turn away from him, obviously embarrassed.
"I'm r-really not. Willow's much better at that stuff than I am." Tara said, trying to deflect attention away from herself.
Wondering when this psychic power would work, Xander took Tara's hand gently and concentrated.
"Now that's not true. Anyway, let's try and keep this between ourselves, and just don't think of anything involving, say, you and Willow both dressed in leather?"
Falling into the simple mind trick Tara thought of herself and Willow in leather. Much to both his surprise and enjoyment, Xander picked up a very good image in his mind of the two Wicca dressed in said leather.
Tara's fears were realised when she heard Xander's whoop of joy, which she followed up with a curt smack to the back of the head as they entered the Magic Shop.