Chapter 4
Chapter 3 is complete now too.
It is late afternoon at the Summers' house. Xander sits propped up in his best invalid position nestled in the corner of the couch, his feet on the coffee table that he himself has repaired more times that he can count. He has spent the afternoon on the telephone catching up on his own real-life things. In the past months, even before losing his eye, he has let his own life slide. Somewhere along the line, he became convinced that there was no need to worry too much about the non-existent future.
This morning changed all that. He had showered, dressed, come downstairs, taken his meds and patiently allowed Willow to dress his wound. After all this, he fished out a pad of paper from the kitchen drawer with "Joyce" scrawled in pink cursive at the top of every sheet.
He wrote a two-page to-do list and then started on the list. He called the insurance company - "yes, the car accident was horrible. Thank you for all your help, yes, the deductible has been met."
He called the personnel dept. at the Sunnydale Construction Company - "yes, it was a good thing that he choose to carry that extra personal disability policy. You just never know what could happen.yes, he was covered at 75% of his salary for the next twelve months."
He called his boss - "Yes, I'm still alive, thanks for the flowers. Yes, I'm staying with some friends while I recover. Great, a job waiting for me when I return. Thanks, Bill."
He called the bank and his apartment complex. He wrote checks. He caught up on everything. He made a call to the doctor that he had been referred to for getting a glass eye fitted. "Yes, I understand that it will be about twelve weeks. We have to wait until everything is healed and there is no sign of infection, great, thank you."
He even called his Mom and Dad. Though he wasn't sure why. "Just checking in, by the way, I was in an accident. Actually, a pretty bad one.no I'm not suing anyone."
He is checking off number 12 on his list of 14 things, when he is roused from his work by Buffy. She is standing in front of him looking slightly drawn, as usual, and guilty too which is also usual these days since night this latest idiot took his eye. He braces himself for another heart-felt apology and then suddenly wonders if she has come about Dawn. Maybe, she knows where Dawn spent the night? Oh well, it's not the end of the world if she does know - ah, the end of the world is already here.
He looks up and smiles to reassure her, prompting her to get on with it. Lately, Buffy's communication style has left a lot to be desired.
"Um, Xander, can we talk for a minute? I have something to ask you." She speaks softly as she sits down beside of him. She grasps his hand as she sits so he figures that it's another guilt speech and not a "How dare you touch my little sister" speech.
He is surprised when she looks at him and says, "It's Dawn."
He jumps in, "Now, Buffy, it's not what you think."
She interrupts his interruption - "What? I'm just worried about her. I mean, if something happens to me. Who will take care of her? I guess, what I'm saying is, can you, will you - I know it's a huge imposition - but this morning, when I went in to check on you and there she was - with you. It all seemed to make sense. I mean, will you, will you take care of Dawn? Will you promise to take care of her? I want her out of here when this whole thing goes down. I want to know that she's somewhere safe. Even if we manage to stop this, I don't think."
She coughs and looks down. She goes on more softly now, "I don't think I will be here, here to take care of her. You know?"
About one hundred things hit him at once - she saw them this morning? She wants to get he and Dawn out of the way, great, the child and the invalid - what a pair! She wants him to take care of Dawn, to be her guardian, her surrogate father if he understands her correctly. She - Buffy - doesn't expect to make it through this period.
He tries to process through all of this information as fast as he can. She is looking expectantly at him. He is going to have to answer her before he's ready. "You want me to take care of Dawn?"
"Yes. You love you. You love her like I love her. You would never let anything happen to her if you could help it."
Again, Buffy's words trigger a cascade of individual tangents - she knows he loves her sister. Only how and to what degree is the question. Buffy is looking for a parent for Dawn. Yesterday, he would have agreed that his feelings toward her were 100% parental but today. Well, today is a different story all together. Now it's the Xan-man's turn to feel guilty.
Somewhere along the line, he has learned to stick as close to the truth as you can at all times. It heads off problems down the line. He turns to face Buffy directly, taking both of her hands in his own. "You are right, Buffy. I do love Dawn. I would take care of her whether you asked or not, you know that."
This is all the declaration she needs, Buffy hugs him tightly and kisses his cheek. She is crying down. She pulls back and exclaims, "Oh Xander, this is more than I should expect from you."
He sets her further away from him. Her tears are unnecessary and cause him discomfort. "It's OK, Buffy. Don't think another thing about it."
With this promise made, Buffy wearily gets up and heads out to the backyard to check on training before heading back to the hospital to check on the injured.
Xander feels like he can finally breathe. That's the last thing he expected. Still a little voice inside his head is happy that at least on some level he has Buffy's blessing. Given the chaos, he rationalizes that now is not the time to confess his less than honorable intentions towards her little sister.
TBC
Chapter 3 is complete now too.
It is late afternoon at the Summers' house. Xander sits propped up in his best invalid position nestled in the corner of the couch, his feet on the coffee table that he himself has repaired more times that he can count. He has spent the afternoon on the telephone catching up on his own real-life things. In the past months, even before losing his eye, he has let his own life slide. Somewhere along the line, he became convinced that there was no need to worry too much about the non-existent future.
This morning changed all that. He had showered, dressed, come downstairs, taken his meds and patiently allowed Willow to dress his wound. After all this, he fished out a pad of paper from the kitchen drawer with "Joyce" scrawled in pink cursive at the top of every sheet.
He wrote a two-page to-do list and then started on the list. He called the insurance company - "yes, the car accident was horrible. Thank you for all your help, yes, the deductible has been met."
He called the personnel dept. at the Sunnydale Construction Company - "yes, it was a good thing that he choose to carry that extra personal disability policy. You just never know what could happen.yes, he was covered at 75% of his salary for the next twelve months."
He called his boss - "Yes, I'm still alive, thanks for the flowers. Yes, I'm staying with some friends while I recover. Great, a job waiting for me when I return. Thanks, Bill."
He called the bank and his apartment complex. He wrote checks. He caught up on everything. He made a call to the doctor that he had been referred to for getting a glass eye fitted. "Yes, I understand that it will be about twelve weeks. We have to wait until everything is healed and there is no sign of infection, great, thank you."
He even called his Mom and Dad. Though he wasn't sure why. "Just checking in, by the way, I was in an accident. Actually, a pretty bad one.no I'm not suing anyone."
He is checking off number 12 on his list of 14 things, when he is roused from his work by Buffy. She is standing in front of him looking slightly drawn, as usual, and guilty too which is also usual these days since night this latest idiot took his eye. He braces himself for another heart-felt apology and then suddenly wonders if she has come about Dawn. Maybe, she knows where Dawn spent the night? Oh well, it's not the end of the world if she does know - ah, the end of the world is already here.
He looks up and smiles to reassure her, prompting her to get on with it. Lately, Buffy's communication style has left a lot to be desired.
"Um, Xander, can we talk for a minute? I have something to ask you." She speaks softly as she sits down beside of him. She grasps his hand as she sits so he figures that it's another guilt speech and not a "How dare you touch my little sister" speech.
He is surprised when she looks at him and says, "It's Dawn."
He jumps in, "Now, Buffy, it's not what you think."
She interrupts his interruption - "What? I'm just worried about her. I mean, if something happens to me. Who will take care of her? I guess, what I'm saying is, can you, will you - I know it's a huge imposition - but this morning, when I went in to check on you and there she was - with you. It all seemed to make sense. I mean, will you, will you take care of Dawn? Will you promise to take care of her? I want her out of here when this whole thing goes down. I want to know that she's somewhere safe. Even if we manage to stop this, I don't think."
She coughs and looks down. She goes on more softly now, "I don't think I will be here, here to take care of her. You know?"
About one hundred things hit him at once - she saw them this morning? She wants to get he and Dawn out of the way, great, the child and the invalid - what a pair! She wants him to take care of Dawn, to be her guardian, her surrogate father if he understands her correctly. She - Buffy - doesn't expect to make it through this period.
He tries to process through all of this information as fast as he can. She is looking expectantly at him. He is going to have to answer her before he's ready. "You want me to take care of Dawn?"
"Yes. You love you. You love her like I love her. You would never let anything happen to her if you could help it."
Again, Buffy's words trigger a cascade of individual tangents - she knows he loves her sister. Only how and to what degree is the question. Buffy is looking for a parent for Dawn. Yesterday, he would have agreed that his feelings toward her were 100% parental but today. Well, today is a different story all together. Now it's the Xan-man's turn to feel guilty.
Somewhere along the line, he has learned to stick as close to the truth as you can at all times. It heads off problems down the line. He turns to face Buffy directly, taking both of her hands in his own. "You are right, Buffy. I do love Dawn. I would take care of her whether you asked or not, you know that."
This is all the declaration she needs, Buffy hugs him tightly and kisses his cheek. She is crying down. She pulls back and exclaims, "Oh Xander, this is more than I should expect from you."
He sets her further away from him. Her tears are unnecessary and cause him discomfort. "It's OK, Buffy. Don't think another thing about it."
With this promise made, Buffy wearily gets up and heads out to the backyard to check on training before heading back to the hospital to check on the injured.
Xander feels like he can finally breathe. That's the last thing he expected. Still a little voice inside his head is happy that at least on some level he has Buffy's blessing. Given the chaos, he rationalizes that now is not the time to confess his less than honorable intentions towards her little sister.
TBC